native speakers of languages other than english: i have questions for y'all

[PeeluckyDuckee]

being able to write chinese is one thing, writing it well in a presentable manner is another! my writing is plain ugly. Look at the chinese calligraphy, wow, definitely what I'd consider art.

Ever listen to chinese reporters talk? It hurts my ear trying to listen to them. Everything they say is so formal it's hard to decode in layman terms what they're saying, heh.

What I find funny is how my bro pays $300 to take a chinese course in University to have a caucasian teach him chinese, lol. So funny and somewhat pathetic at the same time.

Wish I grew up in Hong Kong, I'd know so much more chinese than I do now.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: PeeluckyDuckee
What I find funny is how my bro pays $300 to take a chinese course in University to have a caucasian teach him chinese, lol. So funny and somewhat pathetic at the same time.

Yeah, but he's not taking it to learn Chinese... he's taking it for the easy credit, right?

 

[gunblade]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: PeeluckyDuckee
What I find funny is how my bro pays $300 to take a chinese course in University to have a caucasian teach him chinese, lol. So funny and somewhat pathetic at the same time.

Yeah, but he's not taking it to learn Chinese... he's taking it for the easy credit, right?

Exactly what i did

 

[dighn]

hahaha i remember i took a mandarin class in high school to fulfill a 2nd language requirement for university. so easy. then i had to take a challenge exam for a higher level course i think i barely passed though cuz my chinese writing skills is rellay pathetic now.

 

[Dacalo]

I came to the states 14 years ago when I was 10 but I still can read and write Korean without any inconveniences

 

[dighn]

do you write it regularly?

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Dacalo
I came to the states 14 years ago when I was 10 but I still can read and write Korean without any inconveniences

Wow, that's pretty good... all my korean friends are as retarded as i am when it comes to their native language.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: gunblade
Well, I think I am much better than most here.

I can read both traditional and simplified, and write a hundred words essay in simplified chinese, with some help from dictionary.

Still I think reading skill is easier to preserve than writing since remembering is tougher but recognizing the character is actually easier.

funny i even forgot how to use a chinese dictionary...

Yeah, how the heck does one use a chinese dictionary?

from what i remember, you narrow it down part by part in a certain order according to certain rules. kinda like sectors i mean. but unlike english, no alphabet , you can't sound out a chinese character by its component parts. there may have been meaning way back in the words creation, but characters evolve through time and well no one has to time to know such things so really u just gotta remember em by um force

poor explanation, but its enuph, u can find more by yourself

and yea english/french etc are easier to hold on to. i can still remember how to read a little more frencht hen i do chinese grr.

 

[dighn]

yeah they are some pretty complex rules. you need to know a lot of chinese to use a chinese dictionary lol.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

More of a 50/50 kind of deal. He wanted to learn it and get credit for it as well. It was more of half chinese and half mandarin. Mostly wrote pin yin though.
There are many thousands of characters to chinese, one's got to have very good memory and the will to learn it. And even then I doubt the best out there knows all the characters.

Its a matter of utility. If you don't use it, you lose it.

 

[dighn]

"half chinese and half mandarin"?

 

[Looney]

My dad said something like 500 characters will get you through reading a typical newspaper... not sure how true that is though, since i literally don't know any but my name.

 

[0roo0roo]

how you type in chinese.. now thats

 

[dighn]

.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
how you type in chinese.. now thats

there are methods of typing that uses the different components/strokes of words and i hear it's pretty fast. then there's pinyin and the taiwnese's phoenetic system (really weird stuff)

i type in pinying and it's not too bad

 

[Looney]

You know, i actually use to have friends that typed in Chinese... for the life of me i can't remember though. I think it was very similar to pinying.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

I have one of those penpal jr. devices. You write it out by hand and it'll show up on the screen. Even if you don't know the entire word, you can write it out partially and the screen will show you possible matches.

 

[blakeatwork]

the Chinese language (s??), to an outsider like myself (Irish), sound incredibly complicated for something that makes up everyday communication...

How exactly is the language written in Chinese (Mandarin??).. In English, we have certain combinations, and i guess it works sort of like that in Chinese, but reading your guys' posts on losing how to write it makes me wonder exactly how difficult it is... I've forgotten most of the Gaelic and Celtic I knew growing up...

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: blakeatwork
the Chinese language (s??), to an outsider like myself (Irish), sound incredibly complicated for something that makes up everyday communication...

How exactly is the language written in Chinese (Mandarin??).. In English, we have certain combinations, and i guess it works sort of like that in Chinese, but reading your guys' posts on losing how to write it makes me wonder exactly how difficult it is... I've forgotten most of the Gaelic and Celtic I knew growing up...

Questions I'd like the answers to too. I also am not Chinese and all the Chinese friends I've had over the years were 3rd or 4th generation Canadian and pretty much Westernized. Outside of the little Red envelopes given out at Chinese New Year(in Canada the $50 bill is red! ) I'm pretty much ignorant of Chinese language/custom.

Is there an alphabet, or is each character a complete word/thought?

 

[dighn]

the chinese characters are made up from a combination of strokes. the strokes can be ontop of other strokes.

the simpler characters are made up of strokes only. most of the characters are made up from a combination of other characters plus a group of combination of strokes that are only used to make up words ie not standalone, sort of like suffixes and preffixes though much more complicated.