2009-03-06, 09:54 | Link #1741 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Age: 35
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I'm sorry but if your a chinese going to japanese, its easy, because those changes in kanji pronunciation are hold backs from the chinese system, hence that level is cleared. And if you understand english/romance languages conguation is not a problem. See also chinese speaking/reading also revolves around intonation, out right stating one language is harder than another is just a fallacy. Its to make ones epeen look good. I will give you that japanese is hard to learn, but so is korean. Chinese is really difficult because not only do you have the vast system of words, but you also 55 regional ethnic groups who also adapt the language to their needs. The vast size of china, and the sheer amount of people speaking different variants makes chinese hard, this doesn't even account for mandarin and cantonese speaking which in itself is really difficult. To "master" chinese would take 2-3 lifetimes, and the same goes for any complex language system. My point is don't just say japanese is harder you really can't compare apples to oranges.
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2009-03-06, 22:01 | Link #1742 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
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South Korean airlines avoid North's airspace after threat
It appears that North Korea intends on testing their satellite along with an UNHA-2 space carrier vehicle which is actually a re-designed Taepodong 2 missile in disguise. Thus, North Korea is making a threat in regards to the safety of international flights that enter their airspace. Keeping the consideration of an incident in 1987 where an unarmed civilian passenger plane (Korean Air) had exploded mid-air causing the death of all 115 people on-board, it is definitely too risk for any unarmed planes to enter North Korean airspace until further developments. I guess that means.. The only planes that can enter North Korean airspace and return safely are the ones prepared to be shot and are willing to shoot back; fighter planes. |
2009-03-07, 06:43 | Link #1743 | |||
On a sabbatical
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Wellington, NZ
Age: 43
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HOLD IT THERE. I've studied both. Chinese in Singapore at HCL level, Japanese in Japan at what I'd call at best, JL(B) [Japanese Language (Basic)] level.
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2009-03-07, 12:04 | Link #1744 | |
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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Hillary's gaffe 'resets' Russian ties
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2009-03-07, 13:23 | Link #1745 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
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When the Russian president corrected her misuse of wording, Hillary probably started laughing and thanked him for his correction. This reminds me... I wonder whether prime minister Taro Aso had done the same thing most of the times during his moments of gaffes, except a few occasions of actually misreading kanji characters. However, frequent using gaffes to strike at political enemies may cause high disapproval rates because the public sees it differently. If a politician intends on striking negativity, he or she should hold a firm grip onto the matter rather than jokingly because the opposition force may not view it as a mere gaffe or a joke. Hopefully, Hillary won't make gaffes too often. *chuckle* |
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2009-03-07, 14:26 | Link #1746 | |
思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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2009-03-07, 21:09 | Link #1749 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Age: 35
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ya, I mean hanyu is typical but mebbe only 60% of the population speaks it, and since cities are filled with country folk, their dialects actually differ even from the regional dialect, conversing with people in chinese is actually quite difficult. Communication wise Chinese is a very difficult langauge, unlike dialects in the America, the words are still recognizable, but dialect changes often affect intonation, and even change pingying of the words to suit their traditional style of speaking.
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2009-03-07, 21:19 | Link #1750 |
思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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In most cities in China, people can understand Mandarin. Also, knowing all the dialects is not a major part of knowing Chinese. I don't know Cantonese, my mother doesn't know Cantonese, my grandparents don't know it, but to say they don't know Chinese would be an incorrect statement. I just cited Mandarin since it is the dialect that everybody is "supposed" to know (800 million speak mandarin as opposed to 100 million who speak Cantonese, the next most common dialect).
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2009-03-07, 21:25 | Link #1751 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Age: 35
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ya but when you refer to jiaxianhua, then you open a whole can of worms, because to the people who are transplanted into cities, their rural dialects differ vastly, I agree with you I don't know cantonese, and the fact that all hk movies are cantonese tends to piss me off, that also goes for c-dramas. When you just look at lets say, hunan, each individual village has its own dialect, then theres the regional dialect of hunan, and this is just one province, also this doesn't even apply to ethnic based dialects which there 55 government recognized ones.
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2009-03-07, 21:27 | Link #1752 |
Observer/Bookman wannabe
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 38
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Actually, it was a tussle between Mandarin and Cantonese at the beginning of the last century, when the authorities struggled over which regional dialect to use. If I recalled correctly, Cantonese lost out by a narrow margin.
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2009-03-08, 05:02 | Link #1757 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Age: 35
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Lolz, I really can't stand lou dobbs, because he just reminds me of O'Rielly. These two just love the sound of themselves talking, but an assault of the liberties and freedoms of humans is wrong. I could say a bunch of immature things about the religious folk but that would defeat the purpose of the argument. It's sad that the free world is coming to the its knee's at the hand of the organization created to protect it. Other than Pakistan going into civil war and the Taliban winning, the next possible war starter actually isn't China but the UN. Wow, I never thought I would think the UN as a possible instigator for war, but this insane anti freedom movement is ridiculous. I'm not even gonna go into talking about UNICEF and their god awful attempt to protect 2d children while they let 3d ones starve.
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2009-03-08, 05:35 | Link #1758 |
Aria Company
Join Date: Nov 2003
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Somehow, I think Lou Dobbs is overreacting here, at least in regards to the US and the west. Even if he's right, the US constitution would override it here at least. The real problem is it gives a sense of legitimacy to nations that already have policies in place to restrict religion and free speech. Thanks to UN hating people like Lou Dobbs, stuff like this slips past. People just assume it's simply more nonsense and anti-UN retoric and ignore it. Rant long enough, and people just stop paying attention, so when a real issue comes up, they just ignore you, especially when you're missing the point even then.
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2009-03-08, 05:42 | Link #1759 |
Observer/Bookman wannabe
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 38
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Last one on issue of Chinese. From China History Forum (http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/lof.../t19429.html):
"Essentially, Kuomingtang had its roots originating from Canton (due to Sun Yat Sen). Guangdong was a strong base of Kuomingtang and Cantonese language tends to be quite influential among the Kuomingtang. In fact, Sun Yat Sen even favoured to using Cantonese as the national language of China (Guo Yu), but in 1911, there was an election of adopting which language as the official tongue of China. Cantonese lost 1 vote to Mandarin, leading to the fact that Mandarin became the Guo Yu (national language) of China."
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2009-03-08, 10:38 | Link #1760 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
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In other words, it makes no difference. |
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current affairs, discussion, international |
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