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Mahou Seitou
 
   
  
 
 
Since: 08-02-02
From: Singapore
Since last post: 7627 days
Last activity: 7627 days
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Simplicity of chinese language : Their structure.
There's hardly any grammar, (no tenses, no prefix postfix and etc)
The difficulty : The characters themselves (though you actually only need around 2000 of them to be effective, unless you're like trying to specialize in science/engineering/business speak)
Even more difficult : Character combinations that have alltogether different meaning from stand alone characters. And there are some combinations that have very similar meaning, but used in different circumstances. (This still confuses me loads, even till now)
As for pronounciations... there's actually a trend, which makes similar looking characters sound similar (then there's the problem of tone of course) Like for example : These 4 "MA" characters looks similar, reads similar, with different tones.
And each of them means : Mother, Numb, Horse, Berate, in order of tone, and these are not all the meanings to each tone. Horse and Harbor looks similar, but reads the same! (So imagine what happens if you pronounce them wrongly  ) So I can sympathise with those having difficulty learning the language as I was once like that (though I am still nowhere as good as I'd like to be)
There's also another pattern to the characters which holds true around 80% of the time I guess. Once you know the very basic characters like "MU" for wood, every other characters that contain "MU" should have somehing to do with wood. like the character "SHU" = tree (it has one "MU" in it). Two "MU"'s makes "LIN" which means forest, one "MU" on top of two other "MU"'s makes "SHEN" which means jungle. (which makes sense, one tree, more trees makes forest, even more trees makes jungle ). It's these little things that made me preserve to learn the language. I find them very interesting. |
DaiSHi
Moderator
 
Since: 05-03-02
From: California
Rating: 10 (400 pts)
Since last post: 7367 days
Last activity: 7367 days
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Originally posted by Mahou Seitou
As for pronounciations... there's actually a trend, which makes similar looking characters sound similar (then there's the problem of tone of course) Like for example : These 4 "MA" characters looks similar, reads similar, with different tones.
And each of them means : Mother, Numb, Horse, Berate, in order of tone, and these are not all the meanings to each tone. Horse and Harbor looks similar, but reads the same! (So imagine what happens if you pronounce them wrongly ) So I can sympathise with those having difficulty learning the language as I was once like that (though I am still nowhere as good as I'd like to be)
There's also another pattern to the characters which holds true around 80% of the time I guess. Once you know the very basic characters like "MU" for wood, every other characters that contain "MU" should have somehing to do with wood. like the character "SHU" = tree (it has one "MU" in it). Two "MU"'s makes "LIN" which means forest, one "MU" on top of two other "MU"'s makes "SHEN" which means jungle. (which makes sense, one tree, more trees makes forest, even more trees makes jungle ). It's these little things that made me preserve to learn the language. I find them very interesting.
still... seeing a water prefix doesn't really help me in guessing words like my middle name Pei. I don't even know what it means! too much guesswork if you don't know the word off the bat.
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Loki: DaiSHi 49/38 future knight, H.O.L.Y.Merchant OC
37002 exp and counting...
 Flower girls are the cutest... but not as cute as my Tina |
Kasatka
 
Since: 09-25-02
From: Palana, Koryak, Russia
Since last post: 7623 days
Last activity: 7880 days
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Woah.
Is anyone else thinking of that "All your base are belong to us" video?
...
Maybe I should get more sleep instead.
Languages based on latin are fairly simple compared to asian ones - *scoff* 29 Russian letters vs. what? >500 Chinese ones? 
That swf is hilarious BTW, thanks for posting that, you have enriched us all. 
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I cant help it!
I'm simple!
(edited by Kasatka on 09-25-02 01:25 AM) |
MingShun
 
Since: 05-10-02
Rating: 10 (400 pts)
Since last post: 7415 days
Last activity: 7415 days
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I asked my cousin...He said that he could recognize 20,000 chars was it?...My vocabulary doesn't even reach 500...sigh
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Capporing |
Kasatka
Since: 09-25-02
From: Palana, Koryak, Russia
Since last post: 7623 days
Last activity: 7880 days
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That's "...doesn't even reach 500" more than me, I'm afraid 
*chortle*
How many active languages are there (that are in use by, say, more than thirty million people) in the world? |
Mahou Seitou
Since: 08-02-02
From: Singapore
Since last post: 7627 days
Last activity: 7627 days
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Erhm.. 20000?
More like 2000 maybe (was there an extra zero?)
If your cousin really recognizes 20000 characters, then he/she'd have to be a chinese language professor. (The most commonly used chinese characters numbers off to around 3000, 5000 if you add more technical terms)
I don't think I can find 20000 characters in a chinese dictionary...
I'll go see one and roughly estimate. Report soon
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MingShun
Since: 05-10-02
Rating: 10 (400 pts)
Since last post: 7415 days
Last activity: 7415 days
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Ah, wakarimashita! Ganbatte!
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Capporing |
Kasatka
Since: 09-25-02
From: Palana, Koryak, Russia
Since last post: 7623 days
Last activity: 7880 days
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Ye-gods.
For the first time in my entire lifetime, I think I may be GLAD to speak english as a first language.
...
no...
...wait...
...*burp*...
False alarm. Sorry.
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Slang: Uses english words and letters, but
maintians none of the english meanings.
It's chaos I say! Bedlam! :: laughs hysterically ::
"What's going down in Funkytown?"
... I dont know... Taxes? Unemployment?
The cost of living? What IS going down in Funkytown, friend?
...what is going down indeed... |
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