NationStates Jolt Archive

你会说中文吗？哪个NSers会说中文？你说哪个方言？Do you prefer traditional or simplified 汉字？（我不会写all in中文 :p ） 你是中国人吗？

我
我是澳大利亚人。我会说英文和一点儿中文，和意大利文。现在我学中文。







Disclaimer: This thread is written mostly in chinese characters. Some computers come with chinese language support, some do not. If you do not have it and would like it, you can download it from the windows website or get it off your Windows cd. That being said, this is a chinese language thread and is not for you to spam with your problems with the characters featured within. As you may or may not know, there was a recent Chinese-language thread which was deleted because it basically became a sh!tfight about language support. This thread has been given the official rubber stamp of reinstatement by the mods given this disclaimer is present. So, if you have any problems, consult the mods.

I can speak Chinese but...
1. I don't have a programme that allows me to transfer everything over from pinyin into characters.
2. I don't have the patience to put tone marks over everything (and even then, there's the potential that it's a homophone for something else).

汉语是远太复杂的为我的口味。拉丁字母表怎么回事无论如何


漢語傷害我的腦子 :headbang:

I can speak Chinese but...
1. I don't have a programme that allows me to transfer everything over from pinyin into characters.
2. I don't have the patience to put tone marks over everything (and even then, there's the potential that it's a homophone for something else).
If you go into language options in control panel (assuming your on windows) you can add chinese input (however, you may need your windows CD, depending if it was installed on initial setup). Then, you can just pick 'Microsoft PinYin IME 3.0' as your preferred input method. The great thing about Ms Pinyin IME is that it guesses the character you want from strainght un-tone-marked pinyin input (based upon the words paired with it, and general frequency of character). It is pretty damn accurate for simple expression in chinese, and if it pops out with the wrong thing, you can click and swap the default suggestion for a longer list of alternatives.

I'm not learning Chinese at the moment, but I'm learning Japanese, which uses (mostly) the same Kanji characters. I want to learn Chinese after I become literate in Japanese (that could be a few years).

If you go into language options in control panel (assuming your on windows) you can add chinese input (however, you may need your windows CD, depending if it was installed on initial setup). Then, you can just pick 'Microsoft PinYin IME 3.0' as your preferred input method. The great thing about Ms Pinyin IME is that it guesses the character you want from strainght un-tone-marked pinyin input (based upon the words paired with it, and general frequency of character). It is pretty damn accurate for simple expression in chinese, and if it pops out with the wrong thing, you can click and swap the default suggestion for a longer list of alternatives.
Awesome. I'm using a freeware programme for my wordprocessor (OpenOffice) so I doubt I'll be able to get Chinese character support without doing some funny-business. I've been putting it off for a while though. It's about time I started learning how to type in Chinese.

As for kanji being similar to Chinese characters, I have family from both China and Japan and from what I've been told, even if the characters often look the same, the meanings tend to be tweaked.

For example, the characters that mean "letter" in Chinese mean toilet paper in Japanese.

As for kanji being similar to Chinese characters, I have family from both China and Japan and from what I've been told, even if the characters often look the same, the meanings tend to be tweaked.

For example, the characters that mean "letter" in Chinese mean toilet paper in Japanese.

Yeah, but the point is, most of the same characters are used, so I really won't have to learn too many other characters. The meanings may be different, but that's not as difficult as having to learn a new character just for that.

Yeah, but the point is, most of the same characters are used, so I really won't have to learn too many other characters. The meanings may be different, but that's not as difficult as having to learn a new character just for that.
True. Some of them are written a little differently, too but if you're literate in Japanese you'll be able to pick out plenty of words and ideas. The problem is the fact that Chinese and Japanese grammar are totally different (hence the original need for hiragana to begin with).

How far along are you in Chinese, Greater Pacific?

Awesome. I'm using a freeware programme for my wordprocessor (OpenOffice) so I doubt I'll be able to get Chinese character support without doing some funny-business. I've been putting it off for a while though. It's about time I started learning how to type in Chinese.

As for kanji being similar to Chinese characters, I have family from both China and Japan and from what I've been told, even if the characters often look the same, the meanings tend to be tweaked.

For example, the characters that mean "letter" in Chinese mean toilet paper in Japanese.

Yeah, Kanji shares some level of meaning, but only in the simplest of ways. My chinese teacher told as a few stories about it. Basically many words come over the same, many do not, and no grammar carries over.

AHHHH!!!!! THOSE LITTLE BOXES ARE INVADING AGAIN!

ermm...what do i need to get to translate the boxes into characters?

Yeah, but the point is, most of the same characters are used, so I really won't have to learn too many other characters. The meanings may be different, but that's not as difficult as having to learn a new character just for that.
Yeah, at least you'll be familiar with the characters and how to write them. Though, my mate actually had to drop chinese because of the confusion it was causing him in his japanese class at uni:P.

True. Some of them are written a little differently, too but if you're literate in Japanese you'll be able to pick out plenty of words and ideas. The problem is the fact that Chinese and Japanese grammar are totally different (hence the original need for hiragana to begin with).

Yeah, Japanese grammar is pretty interesting, though it's easy enough to pick up. It's subject-object-verb, rather than subject-verb-object, and "Desu" is really simple to use.

But Chinese... I don't have even a minor grasp of the grammar. :p

Yeah, at least you'll be familiar with the characters and how to write them. Though, my mate actually had to drop chinese because of the confusion it was causing him in his japanese class at uni:P.
Yeah, the Chinese and Japanese teachers at my university are united on the point that they really dislike the idea of a student taking both languages at the same time since it tends to produce some linguistic hiccups. I know even I had some problems early on when I ended up accidently saying "no" instead of "de" in my Chinese class.

I actually feel like Chinese grammar is easier than Japanese grammar, simply because there are no verb tenses. Also, there are fewer bassakwards ways of counting things in Chinese.

Gaah! I don't speak mandarin!:confused:

Yeah, at least you'll be familiar with the characters and how to write them. Though, my mate actually had to drop chinese because of the confusion it was causing him in his japanese class at uni:P.

Ah, that could be a problem for some people. I'm learning Japanese from a free website (thejapanesepage.com), so I don't have any classroom distractions.

AHHHH!!!!! THOSE LITTLE BOXES ARE INVADING AGAIN!

ermm...what do i need to get to translate the boxes into characters?
Go into regional and language options in the control panel, and tick the 'east asian languages' checkbox. It should ask you for your windows cd and install the required support files. Otherwise, you may be able to install it off the net somewhere (not sure).

Yeah, Japanese grammar is pretty interesting, though it's easy enough to pick up. It's subject-object-verb, rather than subject-verb-object, and "Desu" is really simple to use.

But Chinese... I don't have even a minor grasp of the grammar. :p
Chinese grammar is pretty simple, almost the same as english. Direct translations from chinese more often than not make sense (though are not neccesarily grammatically correct). Very simple on tenses and the like. Very straigtforward. The difficult part is the pronounciation of the tones, and writing those tricky characters.

Yeah, the Chinese and Japanese teachers at my university are united on the point that they really dislike the idea of a student taking both languages at the same time since it tends to produce some linguistic hiccups. I know even I had some problems early on when I ended up accidently saying "no" instead of "de" in my Chinese class.

I actually feel like Chinese grammar is easier than Japanese grammar, simply because there are no verb tenses. Also, there are fewer bassakwards ways of counting things in Chinese.
Well, I haven't studied Japanese (except in primary school :p) but that language seems crazy-difficult in the grammar dept. I actually find Chinese grammar easier than english grammar (not that I can properly compare the two, seeing as english is my first language).

Gaah! I don't speak mandarin!:confused:
Which dialect do you speak?

I suspect there may be quite a few posters who speak chinese. When I put "nationstates" into googletrends Singapore beat USA at postion 7 of 10. As far I know, Singaporeans are predominantly chinese who spaek english as a first language and mandarin second, using simplified characters.

Chinese grammar is pretty simple, almost the same as english. Direct translations from chinese more often than not make sense (though are not neccesarily grammatically correct). Very simple on tenses and the like. Very straigtforward. The difficult part is the pronounciation of the tones, and writing those tricky characters.

Really? Sounds pretty simple... At least, simpler than Japanese.

Though that's not to say that Japanese is a total pain. I mean, it's no harder than English. :p

I suspect there may be quite a few posters who speak chinese. When I put "nationstates" into googletrends Singapore beat USA at postion 7 of 10. As far I know, Singaporeans are predominantly chinese who spaek english as a first language and mandarin second, using simplified characters.
That may mean they participate in NS, but not necessarily on these boards.

I speak a dialect of chinese, but cannot read/write.

Illiteracy sucks. :mad: