This is unrelated to my recent comments about posting here in Chinese.
Some background:
I have an enormously important Chinese exam coming in a few weeks. The last time I took a Chinese class was three years ago, and I need to maximize the power of the part of my brain that handles Chinese, specifically character recognition. To that aim I have been studying character cards, reading (or attempting to read) Chinese newspapers, and now I would like to do something that will help me here.
If nobody objects, I'll continue posting in English, but after trying out a post I am going to retype the entire entry using Chinese in a new paragraph below the post. This will force me to use Chinese in a way I am not completely use to. It will probably also decrease how much actual posting I do here (A bonus to some). At the heart of this request is the desire to take something I already do and get more benefit out of it. Who knows? I may continue re-translating in Chinese for the rest of the time I post here if it's a fruitful enough endeavor.
I also wanted to give the community a heads up so that people know what's going on, as well as finding out if for some reason doing that is tacky or rude in a way I don't realize.
I won't be translating this post into Chinese. Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
quote: I won't be translating this post into Chinese.
Psh, slacker.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Couldn't you do the translations and then not post them? My background is that I am half Chinese, I took Chinese for a while, I also took Arabic, Russian, German, and a handful of other languages, and I majored in Linguistics, and yet I find it irritating when people post in other languages. I love language like I love pumpkin pie ... not stuffed inside the turkey.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by pooka: Couldn't you do the translations and then not post them? My background is that I am half Chinese, I took Chinese for a while, I also took Arabic, Russian, German, and a handful of other languages, and I majored in Linguistics, and yet I find it irritating when people post in other languages. I love language like I love pumpkin pie ... not stuffed inside the turkey.
I could, but then I couldn't look at them again and see if I have made mistakes. I forgot to mention too that I welcome anybody proficient in characters to correct my translations.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
I'd find it intriguing.
I couldn't remotely do it mind you (or help much for that matter), but it would be a fun way for me to pick up some new vocabulary.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Maybe you could make a thread with the chinese posts?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by sarcasticmuppet: Maybe you could make a thread with the chinese posts?
You mean a thread where I dump all the Chinese translations?
Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
Dude, go for it. It's not a big deal. It's not going to put anybody out to look over the Chinese to the next post.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
I don't see why it would matter if you translated into Chinese. As long as you give the non-translated version I am happy. When people post without translating, it does annoy me, but giving multiple versions is cool.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
What scholarette said. Sounds good to me.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: What scholarette said. Sounds good to me.
Agreed. Seems like a cool way to enhance language learning.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
You keep posting without translations. The anticipation is killing me.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I wouldn't be any help in correcting translations, just so you know.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by Noemon:
quote:Originally posted by katharina: What scholarette said. Sounds good to me.
Agreed. Seems like a cool way to enhance language learning.
Ditto ditto.
Should be interesting.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Sorry Matt! I'll do better in the future.
I can't promise I'll always be able to convey what I want to say, when I write, so often the characters might be my best guess.
對不起馬泰！ 從現在我會改正。
我不能承認我每一次鞋子寫對了。 常常我所寫的字只是我最好的試圖。
edit: Wow! This is taking so much effort, I'm already feeling pretty tired.
哇塞！ 這樣練習方式好形窟，我已經累了。
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
日本語 です。
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
BB: 加油！
Posted by Xann. (Member # 11482) on :
Is it correct to assume the [30 02] (by the way how do you get those symbols anyway?) is roughly equivalent to a period?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The circle that looks like a period is a period. I'm using Windows mandarin protocol to type characters on the forum.
那看得像句號的圈就是句號。 我用了 microsoft 的普通話體制為在hatrack論壇上寫字.
Posted by sinflower (Member # 12228) on :
BlackBlade, I'm curious. Are you Chinese, and do you have any background in it outside of the classroom?
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Syn: That's random. Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
quote:Originally posted by sinflower: BlackBlade, I'm curious. Are you Chinese, and do you have any background in it outside of the classroom?
He's not Chinese. He was raised largely in Southeast Asia, and did his mission in Taiwan.
I think he was raised at least partly in Hong Kong, IIRC.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: Syn: That's random.
And incorrect. He's translating into Chinese, not Japanese.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
I'll be doing the same, only with my version of spelling.
Il b ding teh same only wiht mine vesrion of speling
Hobbes Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by steven:
quote:Originally posted by sinflower: BlackBlade, I'm curious. Are you Chinese, and do you have any background in it outside of the classroom?
He's not Chinese. He was raised largely in Southeast Asia, and did his mission in Taiwan.
I think he was raised at least partly in Hong Kong, IIRC.
steven got it correctly.
steven 說得對。
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
I'm curious. Are Chinese characters letters, which together create words/thoughts/ideas, or are they words in and of themselves?
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
Words, or ideas that can be combined to create new words.
Most of the characters themselves are made up of radicals, character components that can either lend meaning or sound to the character, so that if you know the radicals, you can see at a glance which characters have meanings related to "water", which characters are pronounced "shan", and so on.
At least, that's the theory as I understand it. In practice, nothing is that simple, but that's generally how it works.
Edit: I should point out that my knowledge of Chinese characters comes largely through having studied Japanese, which still uses a few thousand of the Chinese characters. I've never formally studied Chinese itself, though I've looked a bit into the history of the writing system, so if I've made any errors in my brief synopsis, someone who understands the Chinese system better will be along soon to correct me, I'm sure.
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
Thanks Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
I predict Blackblade will seriously cutback on the length and number of his posts for as long as he continues translating.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: I predict Blackblade will seriously cutback on the length and number of his posts for as long as he continues translating.
That's certainly a possibility. It might be that way at the start, but I intend to become proficient enough that translating lengthy posts is not a problem.
你可能說真的。 已開始我要做這樣子， 但是 105;一定要變成那麽優秀所以翻譯很長的語言沒問題。
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
My wife loves doing this with Japanese. She speaks 6-7 languages, and is fluent in 4.
It's a shame English isn't one of the ones she is fluent in. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Are you taking the Foreign Service exam again?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Are you taking the Foreign Service exam again?
Yes in February most likely. I'll create a thread when I start up again.
是的， 大概二月那時候。 我又開始的時候我 371;創造一個新缐。
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Well I didn't make a big deal about it but I took my examinations back in late January, and they were hard to say the least. I thought my strong exam was the listening comprehension exam while my weak one was character recognition. Strangely enough, (would irony fit here?) it was reversed, I did respectably on character recognition, while I tanked at listening comprehension. I honestly cannot explain it. In any case I did not score high enough to pass, and continue my candidacy. What little posting I did here really did feel like it woke up parts of my brain that were sleeping. I can take these same exams again in 6 months, I think I am going to revert to posting in Chinese. The hard part for me is wanting to say things as best I can, and not having the Chinese words available. It was taking me a very long time to figure out how to say words I had never translated before. Part of me knows however that that is a necessary step in becoming fluent. Eventually, one day you are suddenly reading and you realize that you just read every word without difficulty, or that while you are speaking a phrase you could not say before suddenly comes to mind.
Thanks for all the help folks, I've still got more eggs in my basket, which leads me to another thread.
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