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RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 5:48 pm
by Zebedee
I spent a few months living in Japan and play a lot of online games with Japanese gamers, so I know odds and ends of Japanese. Certainly wouldn't consider myself anywhere near fluent.
My gf is Chinese (ethnic minority Manchurian to be precise) so it was only fair that I learnt the language. To be honest, her English is still far better than my Chinese though.
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 8:56 pm
by BossGnome
ah yes that was my question: what do you call your ideogrammes in chinese?
The word Kanji in japanese actually means chinese ideogrammes which have been "japanified" and are slightly different from their original chinese form. But yes kanjis are originally chinese and not japanese.
So ahh! you explain the pronounciation in Romanized script! See, japanese explains the pronounciation in their own phonetic scripts, hiragana or katakana!
And you only have to learn 1000 characters to communicate fluently in written chinese? Amazing! For Japanese the Japanese government has designated 2000 kanjis as everyday use, and that is on top of their two phonetic scripts!
about the japanese forum, I am not sure how well a game like WITP would take up in japan. Although I have been living in Saitama (1 hour north of tokyo) for the past 6 months, I have only seen one WW2 game in a store so far... the japanese are not very proud of that part of their history, and they prefer not to talk about it. In fact that is one part of the japanese character i do not like; they seem incapable to accept, like germany, grave mistakes like WW2. Whenever they make a WW2 movie or television series or such, it always focuses upon the suffering of a few individuals, and gives us the impression that "all war is bad", period, and not that a war (like WW2, could possibly be justified.
And heh, four tones? 6 tones? Japanese has only 2! Of course that language's pronounciation is dreadfully easy! I actually recommend to anyone who wants, to try to learn japanese. Its not a language as hard as you'd imagine. Exept for the writing it is quite a bit easier than, say, french for example.
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:10 pm
by DuckofTindalos
Thanks, BG. Very informative![&o]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:32 pm
by RUPD3658
My Japanese is limited to what I had to know for my black belt test. If the converstaion is limited to body parts or names of kicks/punches/blocks/stances/commands I am fine. Can't talk about much else without falling back on English or a bit of German. [;)]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:07 pm
by patrickl
Hi, I am estimating as 1,000 - I think that will do for basic conversation and writing. Certainly I don't expect my 12 years old daughter who is sitting for her primary 6 exams next month to know more than 1,000 for her punishing exams.[:@] And she writes better chinese than me. Ahh, let's see : one, two, three,...me, you, they...[:D]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:12 pm
by patrickl
ORIGINAL: BossGnome
ah yes that was my question: what do you call your ideogrammes in chinese?
The word Kanji in japanese actually means chinese ideogrammes which have been "japanified" and are slightly different from their original chinese form. But yes kanjis are originally chinese and not japanese.
So ahh! you explain the pronounciation in Romanized script! See, japanese explains the pronounciation in their own phonetic scripts, hiragana or katakana!
And you only have to learn 1000 characters to communicate fluently in written chinese? Amazing! For Japanese the Japanese government has designated 2000 kanjis as everyday use, and that is on top of their two phonetic scripts!
about the japanese forum, I am not sure how well a game like WITP would take up in japan. Although I have been living in Saitama (1 hour north of tokyo) for the past 6 months, I have only seen one WW2 game in a store so far... the japanese are not very proud of that part of their history, and they prefer not to talk about it. In fact that is one part of the japanese character i do not like; they seem incapable to accept, like germany, grave mistakes like WW2. Whenever they make a WW2 movie or television series or such, it always focuses upon the suffering of a few individuals, and gives us the impression that "all war is bad", period, and not that a war (like WW2, could possibly be justified.
And heh, four tones? 6 tones? Japanese has only 2! Of course that language's pronounciation is dreadfully easy! I actually recommend to anyone who wants, to try to learn japanese. Its not a language as hard as you'd imagine. Exept for the writing it is quite a bit easier than, say, french for example.
1st question - don't know. Just call chinese[;)]
Kanji - originally chinese[&:]. That is interesting[X(]
Jap WITP - just a suggestion[:D]. But japanese PBEM players are always in short supply[;)]
Japanese 2 tones? Heh, Japanese is easy![:D][:D]
Glad you started this thread - helps promote mutual understanding[;)]
Cheers
Patrick Lim
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:36 pm
by ChezDaJez
Languages have always fascinated me, but I've never had the time to study any properly (at least, not since it was required in high school -- BTW, lapsing into Spanish doesn't work when trying to communicate with a hotel desk clerk in Nagoya!).
I took 3rd year Spanish and 1st year German at the same time in high school. Major mistake... "Jawohl, senor! no, no that's not it.... Si, mein Herr!, no, that's not it either.... eins, zwei, tres, cuatro, funf... Is that it?"
Ten years later, when I was stationed in Spain I got passably good at speaking basic Spanish. I went on a "show the flag" trip to Nimes Garon in southern France. The hotel manager didn't speak English, I didn't speak French but we both spoke some Spanish. We had many a hilarious conversation!! I'm sure he's still wondering why that crazy American thought there was a donkey is his soup!
Chez
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:46 pm
by DuckofTindalos
Possibly it was donkey soup?
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:23 am
by patrickl
Hi
ORIGINAL: ChezDaJez
I'm sure he's still wondering why that crazy American thought there was a donkey is his soup!
Chez
ROTFLMAO
You have just invented a new soup. Who knows, it might be delicious! [:D]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:16 am
by ChezDaJez
Possibly it was donkey soup
Gawd, I hope not!!! I had ordered the soup of the day at the hotel's restaurant and didn't recognize some of the contents so I tried to ask what was in it and the manager thought I was asking about a donkey in the soup.
My wife still kids me about it whenever I ask what kind of soup she's making. She always says "donkey soup!" I never should have told her about it!
You have just invented a new soup. Who knows, it might be delicious
Actually, Patrick, it was quite good!
Chez
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:46 am
by ilovestrategy
I speak Tagalog(national language of the Philippines)! Ok, I know it's not chinese or japanese but I still had to throw in that bit of personal trivia. Plus it ups my post count by one more! [:D][:D][:D]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:49 am
by patrickl
Yo, you know Filopino![:D] At the rate we are going, there is going to be a UN here!
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:52 am
by DuckofTindalos
I think there already is, if you start counting the total number of languages spoken. Not all of us have English as first language.
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:52 am
by ilovestrategy
ya, I was the unit translater over there. Even though I've heard of some, I have never met another non Filipino that speaks besides myself lol.
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:55 am
by patrickl
Hi,
ORIGINAL: Terminus
I think there already is, if you start counting the total number of languages spoken. Not all of us have English as first language.
How about some Danish? Like good morning and thank you.[:D]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:58 am
by patrickl
Hi,
ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy
ya, I was the unit translater over there. Even though I've heard of some, I have never met another non Filipino that speaks besides myself lol.
Yo ,translator.. C3PO. Remind me of Windtalkers. [:D]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:59 am
by DuckofTindalos
Good Morning -> Godmorgen
Thank You -> Tak
My name is -> Jeg hedder
See you later -> Vi ses
Actually, Danish is considered a very difficult language to learn, because the same word or sentence can have multiple meanings based on which syllable you put the emphasis on. We also have a huuuuuuge array of colloquialisms that have a tendency to confuse foreigners mightily.
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:03 am
by patrickl
So I greet you now.. Godmorgen Herr Terminus. Jeg hedder Patrick. You play WITP? Tak and vi ses.[:D]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:03 am
by DuckofTindalos
Not bad...[8D]
RE: Slightly OT... who here speaks chinese and or Japanese?
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:22 am
by kaleun
Well my only oriental language is "Mandarin for the obstetrician" I can say "Push" , Take a deep breath", "Did you break your water bag?" And a few other questions related to bodily functions that we won't get into here.
My Japanese doens't even get that far....[8|]