What is with....
Them pronouncing Tao the way they do?
shareBad/no research prior to filming?
shareWhich is funny because the DIRECTOR IS CHINESE!!! Either he knows nothing about his own culture, or he just didn't give a crap.
"When I die, my movies will live on..." -Heath Ledger-
[deleted]
Actually, if you know IPA (international phonemic alphabet) Wade's system makes a lot more sense. Unfortunately, the only people who use IPA are linguists, so when the general population sees "tao" they pronounce it as in "towel". If we all used IPA for spelling, this world would have one less reason to be annoying, but we don't, yet, and probably never will.
There's still no excuse for a Chinese director (even if he was born outside of China, not sure, still doesn't matter) to mispronounce it in any case.
This movie came out during a decade when anything Japanese, Chinese, or generally Eastern was made into some kind of kid's pop culture (Ninja Turtles, 3 Ninjas, etc). And mangled in the process.
The movie was made for a Western audience, and I'm sure Ronny Yu kept that in mind. He had it pronounced the way it's written, as "Tao," and also "The Land of Tao" sounds a lot cooler than the "Land of Dao."
So relax and quit being so uppity. I actually know the proper pronunciation but often say Tao just because I think it's a cooler word.