News Stories

[Nosauz]

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.

[Shadow Kira01]

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.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Unless you speak and read Chinese, I'd call bullshit.

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.

For the complex use of any language, not just Chinese or Japanese, you have to know its literature and history to understand some of its deeper, more subtle, nuances. I happen to have been an English literature student, which is why my understanding of English is very different from most people in my country. But that doesn't prevent them from becoming fluent in the language and, in fact, many of them are.

Aha. But first, the writing system. Then the phonetics of Chinese/Japanese.

Chinese is easier than Japanese, in my opinion, because its grammar is far simpler to master. For a start, you don't have to worry about tenses in Chinese. That alone makes life so much easier — you don't have to worry about stupid tense conjugations, like you do in Japanese or English. Yes, you're right about how some Chinese characters also have different pronounciations depending on the context, but the difference lies in frequency — there are far fewer such instances in Chinese than there are in Japanese.

And then, there is the practical matter of keigo, which is an everyday concern in Japanese. While highly classical, esoteric forms of Chinese do exist, those forms are no longer used in vernacular speech today — their use is highly specialised and mainly limited to niche literary circles. But that is far from the case in Japan, where you have to watch how you say your words depending on who you're addressing, or you'd come across as being rude, a major social taboo.

True. But remember, Chinese also has its chengyu and ciyu which does make it a tad more difficult.

So, nope, I don't believe I'm "trying to emphasise how difficult Japanese is" by comparing it to Chinese. It really is a very difficult language for a non-native to master. Sure, Chinese is difficult too, especially for Westerners, but I don't think I've oversold its "simplicity" either. Hell, even I struggle with my mother tongue, so of course I understand the pain of studying Chinese.

Still. always start with Chinese before Japanese. I did tne reverse, and suffered for it.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Hillary's gaffe 'resets' Russian ties

Moscow (March 7): Russian media have been poking fun at United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over a translation error on a gift she presented to her Russian counterpart.

Mrs Clinton gave Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a mock "reset" button, symbolising US hopes to mend frayed ties with Moscow. But he said the word the Americans chose — "peregruzka" — meant "overloaded" or "overcharged", rather than "reset".

Daily newspaper Kommersant declared on its front page: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button."

Relations between Washington and Moscow have cooled in recent years over Russia's role in the war in Georgia, US support for the entry of Georgia and Ukraine to Nato, and the planned US missile shield based in central Europe.

Despite the embarrassment, the two made light of the moment in front of the cameras and pushed the button together to signify a shared hope for better relations.

At a joint news conference after two hours of talks, both joked about the error.

"We reached an agreement on how 'reset' is spelled in both Russian and English — we have no differences between us any more," Mr Lavrov said through an interpreter.

Mrs Clinton put it this way: "The minister corrected our word choice. But in a way, the word that was on the button turns out to be also true: We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an 'overload' of work."

- BBC NEWS

[Shadow Kira01]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Hillary's gaffe 'resets' Russian ties

Nothing surprising, considering that throughout history... Many gaffes happen to be done intentionally rather than slip of the tongue accidentally in the political circle. I wonder what expression did Hillary gave while saying it. Maybe, in a serious tone while smiling?

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*

[LeoXiao]

But remember, Chinese also has its chengyu and ciyu which does make it a tad more difficult.

Yes, but chengyu are just proverbs, pretty much, not part of the actual grammar. And they aren't used all the time. Chinese pronunciation of characters, once you get the tones and "ü" right, is leaps and bounds easier than Japanese since, like said before, often has only one way of saying each character. Also significant is the fact that characters can only have one syllable, while in Japanese this is not the case. For example, the character "屍" (corpse) in japanese is "shikabane"(4 syllables), but in chinese it is simply "shi."

[Nosauz]

not true because you didn't factor in dialects... which vary dramatically, and not mention cantonese. Speaking chinese at a level where most chinese can understand you is actually very hard to do.

[yezhanquan]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

not true because you didn't factor in dialects... which vary dramatically, and not mention cantonese. Speaking chinese at a level where most chinese can understand you is actually very hard to do.

It's more of knowing which dialect/accent to use, and to learn dialects in a formal setting isn't an easy task.

[Nosauz]

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.

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

not true because you didn't factor in dialects... which vary dramatically, and not mention cantonese. Speaking chinese at a level where most chinese can understand you is actually very hard to do.

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).

[Nosauz]

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.

[yezhanquan]

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.

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by yezhanquan

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.

WTF? How? Mandarin was always spoken more widely, i thought.

[Vexx]

Heh... do we need a Learning "Chinese" thread? (rather than in the news thread)

[Shadow Kira01]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Heh... do we need a Learning "Chinese" thread? (rather than in the news thread)

Totally agree; I even thought I entered the wrong thread.

[Vinak]

United Nations against Freedom of Speech

[Nosauz]

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.

/soapbox

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Vinak

United Nations against Freedom of Speech

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.

[yezhanquan]

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."

[Shadow Kira01]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

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.

/soapbox

The United Nations is merely a disguise for a few countries in power in which the ones with the louder voices are the United States and China, while Russia doesn't seem to be doing much. Then, there is the United Kingdom who supports the United States, while France take the middle ground.

In other words, it makes no difference.