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Unique2701
in deep space
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Amsterdam
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quote: | Originally posted by Lira
You speak Cantonese? That's awesome! I find the language fascinating, though I've never really had much time to study it... and I'd have no one to talk with anyway
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Oh, I never heard anyone saying that they find Cantonese fascinating..! How come?
I find it interesting that (as you may know) we choose different words when we speak than when we write for some words. For example, 說 (to say) is the word we use to write with, but we wouldn't use this through oral communication. We would use 廣 (not entirely sure this is how you write it) which means exactly the same but that you pronounce in a whole different way.
quote: |
A little bit of column "a", a little bit of column "b". I studied Japanese at the University of Brasilia where I graduated and now teach. However I had to study on my own quite a few times, and I was somewhat lost inside the Japanese colony around here, so I had many opportunities to use the language. |
Wow, respect! It's not an easy language to learn, is it? Such long pronouncations.. I'd love to be able to speak Japanese but I'm too lazy to learn a whole new language. I like a lot of books from Japanese writers, would love to read some of it in Japanese to see how different it is from their English translation and not all of it is translated.
Have u ever studied in Japan? Btw, a Japanese colony in Brasil? LOL
Are there lots of Chinese ppl too?
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Apr-05-2010 02:48
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Lira
Ancient BassAddict
Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Brasília, Brazil
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Which language, Tubs?
quote: | Originally posted by Unique2701
Oh, I never heard anyone saying that they find Cantonese fascinating..! How come? |
Unfortunately, I think Mandarin ecplipses all other Chinese languages and, if you're not really acquainted with them, you're bound to think Cantonese is just "a dialect", a different way of speaking Mandarin as British English is a different way of speaking English to most Americans (when the difference is much much more profound than that).
But, yeah, I wish I had more time to study Cantonese. It's quite different from Mandarin, isn't it? I remember I picked up some introductory lessons and it made no sense to me at first!
quote: | Originally posted by Unique2701
I find it interesting that (as you may know) we choose different words when we speak than when we write for some words. For example, 說 (to say) is the word we use to write with, but we wouldn't use this through oral communication. We would use 廣 (not entirely sure this is how you write it) which means exactly the same but that you pronounce in a whole different way. |
That's called diglossia, and the extent to which the written language differs from its spoken counterpart is different depending on the language... that's probably a case in which the written language failed to "catch up", and I'd bet that's more of an archaic word. Isn't it?
quote: | Originally posted by Unique2701
Wow, respect! It's not an easy language to learn, is it? Such long pronouncations.. I'd love to be able to speak Japanese but I'm too lazy to learn a whole new language. I like a lot of books from Japanese writers, would love to read some of it in Japanese to see how different it is from their English translation and not all of it is translated. |
Japanese is not really difficult: the grammar is more complex than Mandarin, but it's a lot easier for us that speak an European language to pick Japanese up than another East Asian language, specially because of the pronunciation (I had some trouble with the intonation in Mandarin, and my head almost exploded when I saw how the tones in Cantonese work ).
quote: | Originally posted by Unique2701
Have u ever studied in Japan? Btw, a Japanese colony in Brasil? LOL
Are there lots of Chinese ppl too? |
I've just been once to Japan for 20 days, as a tourist, didn't have the chance to study there. As for the Japanese colony, Brazil is home to the largest Japanese colony in the world, though it's scattered accross the Brazilian territory, rather than just in one city.
And, strange as it is, there are some Chinese immigrants in São Paulo but very few of them here where I live (Brasília). I for one would welcome the presence of more immigrants from China... though I wish there were more immigrants as a whole
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Apr-05-2010 06:43
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Unique2701
in deep space
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Amsterdam
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quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Unfortunately, I think Mandarin ecplipses all other Chinese languages and, if you're not really acquainted with them, you're bound to think Cantonese is just "a dialect", a different way of speaking Mandarin as British English is a different way of speaking English to most Americans (when the difference is much much more profound than that).
But, yeah, I wish I had more time to study Cantonese. It's quite different from Mandarin, isn't it? I remember I picked up some introductory lessons and it made no sense to me at first! |
The written language of Cantonese is the same as Mandarin, just the pronouncation is a bit different. You can think of it a bit as the difference between Dutch - German.
I guess what makes Cantonese more difficult to learn is the difference between the written language and its spoken counterpart. This difference doesn't exist in Mandarin. That might be the reason why the written language can't change to the spoken counterpart. The written language is more formal, polite. I can't really say if it's an archaic word which I used as my example, as I've been familiar with it my whole life..
quote: | As for the Japanese colony, Brazil is home to the largest Japanese colony in the world, though it's scattered accross the Brazilian territory, rather than just in one city.
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This and Tony's wiki article is quite interesting.. I had no idea
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Apr-05-2010 11:53
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