Lingual-translations

[47MartialMan]

Interesting with martial arts are the languages or translations of words and numerals. Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc., have interesting lingual-translations.

However, I have come to believe that Chinese, with its many dialects and romanticization, will make it difficult for anyone from a different culture/country, to comprehend.

What could be harder or more complicated, is the etymology of such words. Mainland China language is Sino-Tibetan (ST) which constitute one of the great language families of the world. Yet despite the rapid development of Sino-Tibetan studies in recent decades, they remain poorly understood; indeed, some branches of the family are still virtually unstudied.

Chinese dialects are, but not limited to: Mandarin, Cantonese, Peking (Royal),
Jin, Jianghuai, Wu, Xiang, Gan, Hakka, Minbei, Minnan, Yue, and Pinghua. The English or romanticism of Chinese is Wade-Giles or Pinyin.

Having a Chinese instructor I received acceptance into his culture. Thus, his wife also teaches us the meaning, history, or culture of things. Normally, information would be given in a short story or the “fyi” and/or trivia type. On occasion, a question would be asked and higher rank students/practitioners are required to look for or research the answer or solution. Such as that we were asked what the Chinese word is for Grand Master.

clfsean, stated that the Chinese word/translation, for Grand Master is Shizu.

Infrazael, stated that the Chinese word/translation, for Grand Master is Shi Gong.

Now, thus thread can be on that one term-Grandmaster….and it doesn’t have to be limited to Chinese. Anyone can post the equivalent translation in Japanese, Korean, etc.

Furthermore, anyone can post other words/translations.

 

[arnisador]

I've started to try to teach myself Chinese. I do not intend to try to learn correct pronunciation (tonal accents), but I do hope to get the grammar and the script. Chinese grammar is so easy! Verbs aren't conjugated, nouns aren't declined...there aren't even plurals, for the most part (excepting the -men affix).

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

I, too, have started to learn Mandarin. The tones will be the tricky part, to be sure.

 

[arnisador]

I'm using Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington's Basic Chinese, Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese Script, and various online resources. But I'm not going to try the tones. I'm only human!

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

But, humans made the tones to begin with! You can do it!

I use http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese
and
http://www.csulb.edu/%7Etxie/ccol/content.htm

 

[Xue Sheng]

I've started to try to teach myself Chinese. I do not intend to try to learn correct pronunciation (tonal accents), but I do hope to get the grammar and the script. Chinese grammar is so easy! Verbs aren't conjugated, nouns aren't declined...there aren't even plurals, for the most part (excepting the -men affix).

The Grammar is easy, and there is no he or she, they are all "ta" unless you are talking "they" then it is "tamen". "I" is "wo", "you" is "nie" and add the "men" and you have "we" and "them"

I have no choice but to learn tones, my wife's first language is mandarin.
And I will admot the tones can be confusing.

But it is not so bad once you get started and if you use the word in a sentence, sometime the improper tone is either forgiven or not even noticed.

Side note: Depending on which dialect you decide to learn the number of tones change. Mandarin has 4 and I believe Cantonese has 8.

Also be careful what English phrases you translate to Chinese and then use with Chinese people. For example, sayings that we do not take to seriously like calling some one a chicken or a fool can be major insults to a Mandarin speaker from Beijing.

 

[arnisador]

Thanks! I am trying Mandarin, the Standard Beijing Version (4 tones plus the neutral "tone"). I am definitely concerned about the tones, but the grammar is amazingly simple.

 

[AceHBK]

I am gonna take up chinese to learn at a local C.C
What is more widely taken or better to know...Mandarin or Cantonese?
Which is more widely know?
I am doing it as a business aspect in hopes of moving for business and working for a company. I know that knowing chense is in great demand but which dialect to learn is what I need to know.
I know u may need to know both but u have to start with one before u go to another.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Thanks! I am trying Mandarin, the Standard Beijing Version (4 tones plus the neutral "tone"). I am definitely concerned about the tones, but the grammar is amazingly simple.

The tones are a bigger deal if you are saying the word by itself, but in a sentance it is not as big a deal.

I am gonna take up chinese to learn at a local C.C
What is more widely taken or better to know...Mandarin or Cantonese?
Which is more widely know?
I am doing it as a business aspect in hopes of moving for business and working for a company. I know that knowing chense is in great demand but which dialect to learn is what I need to know.
I know u may need to know both but u have to start with one before u go to another.

Mandarin.

If you do business in the south of China the native dialect is Cantonese, however Mandarin is spoken in most cities in China.

If you are in Beijing you will find mandarin speakers and it could be that they speak Mandarin and English before you find a Mandarin and Cantonese speaker.

However if you are in Guangzhou or Hong Kong their dialect is Cantonese, but it is very likely they speak Mandarin as well. The same goes for most big cities in China.

Mandarin and Cantonese can be very different.

Thank You in Mandarin is Xie Xie (shay shay)

Thank You in Cantonese is Dor jay (this is a phonetic spelling, I do not know the pinyin for this)

You also need to know more Chinese characters to be considered literate in the South. My wife is a native of the North, and can read the news from Beijing with no problem, but the news from Guangzhou is a different story. I believe you need to know 1000 to 2000 characters more to fully understand a Cantonese newspaper.

 

[arnisador]

Is it enough to learn the Simplified Chinese Characters system to read a paper, etc.?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Is it enough to learn the Simplified Chinese Characters system to read a paper, etc.?

I believe so, for the North, but that is something I will have to ask my wife. As for the south, I am not sure.

I will let you know.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Simplified characters are fine.

You should be able to understand newspapers in the North (Beijing) and you will get the idea if you re reading a newspaper from the south (Guangzhou)

 

[MSUTKD]

Here is an article that I wrote.

ron

http://www.msu.edu/~spock/chinese.pdfhttp://www.msu.edu/~spock/Chinese.pdf

 

[gchan]

Go with mandarin for sure it is taking over China and everyone speaks it including those whose main dialect is something else. Also if they kno cantonese they can understand some mandarin....it doesnt really work the other way. Tones ha! mandarin has only 4 tones that's pretty good. Me as a cantonese speaker deal with 9! Just learn simplified charcaters as well sooner or later it will penetrate guangzhou and only HK and Taiwan will be left using traditional which is too bad traditional is beautiful.