tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post7331475586597620214..comments2023-10-29T15:18:25.355+08:00Comments on de minimis: Chinese Babelde minimishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06478671079348612565noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-71167727647006455952010-08-06T08:46:17.424+08:002010-08-06T08:46:17.424+08:00Thanks for the heads up, Hawkeye. Most informative...Thanks for the heads up, Hawkeye. Most informativede minimishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06478671079348612565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-60583984521877092622010-08-06T01:10:14.512+08:002010-08-06T01:10:14.512+08:00Yeah miss out on Taiwan, Taiwan is predominantly H...Yeah miss out on Taiwan, Taiwan is predominantly Hokkien and is commonly spoken as a second dialect or language and the national language is mandarin but you could speak hokkien everywhere in Taiwan.<br /><br />No the Chinese are not homogenous, they are made up of many different "races" if you like. <br /><br />They have all blended in after the span of time.<br /><br />today in modern china they still differentiate between a northerner and a southerner which is a common description.<br /><br />the staple food of the southerner is rice but the northerners don't eat rice. People of Beijing are considered northeners and not every restaurant in Beijing serve rice but today it is quite easily accesible due to criss crossing of business travellers.<br /><br />Even mandarin is spoken with differeing accent between southerners and northerners and in some areas the spoken mandarin can sound quite foreign and sounds like russian to me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14911256124110730950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-40740146140811744062010-08-06T00:46:11.807+08:002010-08-06T00:46:11.807+08:00Hi diminimis,
The chinese language has a long hist...Hi diminimis,<br />The chinese language has a long history and today the official language is mandarin however the written language has been quite the same but even than it has undergone changes like the simplified text used in modern china today whereas Taiwan still uses the original or known as traditional texts.<br /><br />And it is written quite differently and the modern or the younger generation today who studied the simplified version is not able to comprehend the traditional written texts.<br /><br />The chinese texts unlike western alphabetical systems are quite complex and just one character can mean quite a lot and i really mean "a lot" and you could just write a whole story just on one character. But than if used in daily communication and written in combination can well just transmit an understanding accurately. (haha hope you are not confused yet)It can transmit simply or could be used in complex studies depending on the subject. <br /><br />the traditional text are important as it contains rich historical elements in the texts or character and should be preserved of which is what the Taiwanese did.<br /><br />Modern China simplified the texts to make it easier and faster to write (kind of short formed it)and contains lesser strokes in the character eg. some character in traditional texts can contain up to 30 strokes just to write one character.<br /><br />As far as the dialects are concerned it is just the pronunciation of the same character and is of differing sounds and is generally the same in written form. ie if you write a sentence it is understood by all dialects.<br /><br />To give you an example it has been recorded in old historical documents that China is made up of some over 90 different Races. <br /><br />They were unified through the writings but the spoken word has been different throughout the different dynasties especially the earlier dynasties.<br /><br />Like Hokkien was the official language during the Tang dynasty some 1300 years ago.<br /><br />Cantonese is predominant in Hong Kong as the migrants were mosty from Canton or today Guangzhou.<br /><br />The origin of the dialects were from the different races or tribes that have settled in certain areas or location of historical china. Note that they have settled in the present location but they could have originated from other faraway areas.<br /><br />Like the Koreans that settled in Korea was from a location some thousand of miles away and were of the tribes in the hills and this happen some 3000 years ago. And the Koreans today studied the chinese traditional texts in school but spoken in Korean similarly the Japanese.<br /><br />Note: I have written an article about certain chinese characters and mybe publish it this weekend. Its a story of one word but defined into a philosophical story of the history of the chinese word.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14911256124110730950noreply@blogger.com