24 replies to this topic

[George Jarvis]

 

I'm learning Chinese (Mandarin). Is anyone else here interested in Chinese language, culture, etc?

I'm doing it because it's the most popular language on earth (and therefor marketable), and because I like the culture and traditions. 

 

If anybody's interested, we can talk about it.

 

One thing I think is great about Chinese is that it's a pictorial language; 马 will always mean "Horse," even if the person reading it pronounces it differently. And that's how it works - there many different dialects, but the writing (汉字 Hanzi) is always the same. 

 

This character, originally meaning a patterned window,
is now used almost exclusively as an emoticon.

 

It's also a pretty simple and fun language, once you get the hang of it. Unlike English, Chinese doesn't have a shitload of different tenses and what-all.

 

If you want to say Me, Myself, or I, it's 我 "Wo3."

Oh, there's more than one of you? Then you'd say 我们 "Wo3 men" (us).

The number you likely noticed after the word "Wo" is the tone. When you speak Chinese, it's tonal, meaning that different tones can completely change a word. This makes things fun, example below.

 

As I said, 马 means Horse. It's pronounced "Ma3" in Mandarin. Now this is where the fun with tones is; In Chinese, Mom is 妈妈, pronounced "Ma1 ma." That's right, if you say "Mom" wrong, you could be referring to her as a Horse. 

 

Saying "I love you guys" (我爱你们) in the wrong tone can actually

change the last word, making it "I love you door" (我爱你门)

 

And yes, that character, 妈, is literally a combination of the characters of female (女 nu3) and horse (马 ma3).

In Mandarin, "Mom" is literally "LadyHorse LadyHorse."

我爱你女马

 

If this doesn't make you giggle, nothing will.

[Perez]

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

[George Jarvis]

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

 

我不明白. 我是男?

[Fox Fire]

I'm a Taoist and love the Yin-Yang philosophy, but Chinese language sounds incredibly complex. I plan to learn Russian.

[George Jarvis]

I'm a Taoist and love the Yin-Yang philosophy, but Chinese language sounds incredibly complex. I plan to learn Russian.

 

I've got a couple books on Russian that I read over a little bit before I started Chinese. The hardest part of Chinese is just the tones and characters lol.

Russian is pretty easy too once you get the hang of the Cyrillic Alphabet. They're both really cool languages and I wish you удачи!!

 

Have you read the Tao-Te Ching?

[Perez]

 

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

 

我不明白. 我是男?

 

I honestly don't know what I said. lol 

[George Jarvis]

 

 

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

 

我不明白. 我是男?

 

I honestly don't know what I said. lol 

 

 

LOL it was gibberish 

[Fox Fire]

Have you read the Tao-Te Ching?

 

Of course. Many different translations of it. I know most of it by heart. I personally prefer and own a copy of Ralph Alan Dales translation.

 

 

And heres an online version

 

The Cyrillic alphabet would definitely be the hardest part. I know some Irish and even that confuses me sometimes.

[Yehom]

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

If you were trying to be funny, then don't

[Perez]

 

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

If you were trying to be funny, then don't

 

Did I say something bad in chines?

[Yehom]

 

 

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

If you were trying to be funny, then don't

 

Did I say something bad in chines?

No but the fact that just put in gibberish and assume it's kind of Chinese isn't funny

[Road2Victory]

 

 

 

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

If you were trying to be funny, then don't

 

Did I say something bad in chines?

No but the fact that just put in gibberish and assume it's kind of Chinese isn't funny

 

You sassy boi 

[Perez]

 

 

 

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

If you were trying to be funny, then don't

 

Did I say something bad in chines?

No but the fact that just put in gibberish and assume it's kind of Chinese isn't funny

 

 Bad boi, bad

[George Jarvis]

 

Have you read the Tao-Te Ching?

 

Of course. Many different translations of it. I know most of it by heart. I personally prefer and own a copy of Ralph Alan Dales translation.

 

 

And heres an online version

 

The Cyrillic alphabet would definitely be the hardest part. I know some Irish and even that confuses me sometimes.

 

 

Mine's by Robert Henricks, pretty good stuff. And it's a really good example of their traditions; very in-tune with nature and peace.

 

Irish is hard as fuck because Celtic languages are so uncommon - most people don't even know Irish, Welsh, and Scots are their own languages! I, personally, could never grasp it lol. 

 

 

 

 

 

hon shin shin wong wumi wa

If you were trying to be funny, then don't

 

Did I say something bad in chines?

No but the fact that just put in gibberish and assume it's kind of Chinese isn't funny

 

 

 

In his defense, most of it actually was words 

[Captain Crozier]

I all but failed Chinese because I couldn't "hear" those tones, 4 each per syllable, let alone replicate them or memorize their different meanings. (up, down, up and down and neutral )

Better hearing and getting to it earlier may have helped.  Anyway, best of luck

[George Jarvis]

I all but failed Chinese because I couldn't "hear" those tones, 4 each per syllable, let alone replicate them or memorize their different meanings. (up, down, up and down and neutral )

Better hearing and getting to it earlier may have helped.  Anyway, best of luck

 

I feel you; recognizing the tones is the hardest part imo. It's kind of funny though how two completely different words could sound so much alike!

[Road2Victory]

The most common language in the world is the most hardest language to write with over a thousand characters I wouldn't want to waste my time learning them all. Honestly Korean or Japanese would be a lot easier to take. 

[Fox Fire]

The most common language in the world is the most hardest language to write with over a thousand characters I wouldn't want to waste my time learning them all. Honestly Korean or Japanese would be a lot easier to take. 

While less complex than Chinese, they are both very complex in their own ways. Japanese for example is not just a single alphabet, but several alphabets/sub alphabets merged into one language. Korean symbols are also arranged in a strange, interesting way. 

[Road2Victory]

 

The most common language in the world is the most hardest language to write with over a thousand characters I wouldn't want to waste my time learning them all. Honestly Korean or Japanese would be a lot easier to take. 

While less complex than Chinese, they are both very complex in their own ways. Japanese for example is not just a single alphabet, but several alphabets/sub alphabets merged into one language. Korean symbols are also arranged in a strange, interesting way. 

 

Korean could be a much easier language to learn Chinese tho. 

I took a summer program about Chinese and I really didn't like how the pronunciations went for everything. Just imagine writing it. I know Chinese could be good for business practices, but it takes practice to perfect it and be fluent in it.  

 

Somebody should teach me Tagalog  instead. 

[Kaziocore]

wo mei you yi fu

 

 

 

The most common language in the world is the most hardest language to write with over a thousand characters I wouldn't want to waste my time learning them all. Honestly Korean or Japanese would be a lot easier to take.

While less complex than Chinese, they are both very complex in their own ways. Japanese for example is not just a single alphabet, but several alphabets/sub alphabets merged into one language. Korean symbols are also arranged in a strange, interesting way.

 

Korean could be a much easier language to learn Chinese tho. 
I took a summer program about Chinese and I really didn't like how the pronunciations went for everything. Just imagine writing it. I know Chinese could be good for business practices, but it takes practice to perfect it and be fluent in it.  
 
Somebody should teach me Tagalog  instead.

 

I know Tagalog :v