chunshek

chunshek, 4 months ago

@pjap37
Purtroppo io no, però quali lingue stai imparando? Solo tedesco? O anche altre?

chunshek, 4 months ago

@aetataureate
I haven't taken one yet. It doesn't feel like the last time I had it though. (Also took a shot 2 weeks before I flew, so if it were, I should be able to overcome it.)

chunshek, 4 months ago

@aetataureate
You may be right! I'll take one if I feel just as bad or worse tonight.
(Nothing much to do but bedrest and monitor my vitals though in that case.)

chunshek, 4 months ago

@aral
This video still rings true after all these years.
https://youtu.be/AHX6tHdQGiQ

chunshek, 4 months ago

@thatmanmatt
How is this "French" in any way? :neofox_thinking:

chunshek, 4 months ago

@aetataureate
The bird looks unimpressed by the lack of temperature.

chunshek, 4 months ago

@thatmanmatt
The result surprised nobody.

Supporters of the ruling DPP are happy with the presidency, but cautious with the loss of majority in the legislature, while the upstart TPP will hold a key minority role for breaking ties, despite having just 8 out of 113 seats.

The opposition KMT, despite winning the most seats at the legislature, will nonetheless have to compromise with the other two parties. Without a majority, they won't be able to steamroll reversals to Tsai-era policies at will.

chunshek, 4 months ago

@pjap37
Et voici mon chat (qui reste à Hong Kong avec ses nouveaux papas)

chunshek, 4 months ago

More story time! The next story is about a man called 二郎 (Èrláng) capturing 8 out of 9 suns in the sky so people don't roast to a crisp. Here's 二郎擔山捉太陽 in Mandarin.

chunshek, 4 months ago

And another one! We all know how this story goes… but if you have ever wondered how to "cry wolf" in Cantonese, you can find the answer from this excerpt of 有狼啊！有狼啊！

chunshek, 5 months ago

There's an idiom in Mandarin: 我不入地獄，誰入地獄？ (If I don't go to hell, who would?)

So to "hell" I went today. And by "hell" I meant #DominosPizza #Taiwan's #CheeseVolcanoPizza, along with a platter of dip-worthy sides like chicken tenders, fish fingers, and tater tots.

And… it was hellishly delicious. If you want to petition your local Domino's Pizza to introduce the cheese volcano to your market, I've got your back!

chunshek, 5 months ago

Adjectives and adverbs share even less commonality than nouns and verbs. "Beautiful" is 靚 in Cantonese, 媠 in Taiwanese, but 漂亮 in Mandarin. A Mandarin speaker would not understand 靚 or 媠 even if the written character is shown to them. (6/13)

chunshek, 5 months ago

CLOSED WORD CLASSES

Different Sinitic languages use very different grammars, which heavily influence the use of closed word classes, such as adpositions, classifiers, particles, pronouns. Those are usually mutually unintelligible across Sinitic languages, even when written down.

The pronoun "he" is 他 in Mandarin, 佢 in Cantonese and Hakka, 伊 in Taiwanese.

Taiwanese has "inclusive we" 咱 and "exclusive we" 阮, but the latter is not understood in Mandarin or Cantonese. (7/13)

chunshek, 5 months ago

GRAMMARS

Apart from the wildly different closed words, the grammars vary greatly among languages.

• Object placement: Mandarin places indirect objects before direct objects, whereas Cantonese places direct objects before indirect objects. This impacts the word order in sentences.

I gave him the book.
• Mandarin: 我 (SUBJ: I) 給 (V: give) 了 (ASP: perfect) 他 (IO: him) 那本書 (DO: that book)
• Cantonese: 我 (SUBJ: I) 畀 (V: give) 咗 (ASP: perfect) 本書 (DO: the book) 佢 (IO: him) (8/13)

chunshek, 5 months ago

• Aspect marking: There are no grammatical tenses in most Sinitic languages. Mandarin compensates with 3 aspect markers and a range of adverbs. Cantonese uses 39 aspect markers instead - few are understood in Mandarin. Some examples:

我食飯: I eat/ate/will eat
我食咗飯: I have/had/will have eaten
我食緊飯: I am/was/will be eating
我食過炒飯: I have/had/will have eaten fried rice before
我食住飯(等你): (I'll wait for you) while I eat
我食完飯: I am/was/will be done eating
我食埋飯: after I am/was/will be done eating (9/13)

chunshek, 5 months ago

• Classifiers: In the place of articles (a/an/the), Sinitic languages use classifiers, which largely depend on the noun described. Mandarin requires a determiner and/or a number in front of the classifier. The concept of "the" doesn't exist in Mandarin.

一本書: a book
這本書: this book
那本書: that book

Cantonese speakers can omit both the number and the determiner to express "the", or add a pronoun in front to mark possession.

本書: the book
我本書: my book (10/13)

chunshek, 5 months ago

• Modal particles: Due to tonality, moods cannot be conveyed with pitch changes alone. Modal particles mark different emotions, but are unintelligble between different Sinitic languages. Some examples in Cantonese:

食飯[aː˥] (invite) Let's eat.
食飯[aː˧] (statement) I'm eating.
食飯[aː˩] (rhetorical question) Are you eating?
食飯[kwaː˧] (speculation) I guess he's eating.
食飯[laː˧] (change of state) Time to eat!
食飯[laː˩] (confirmation) Time to eat yet?
食飯[ʦaː˧] ("just") I'm just eating. (11/13)

chunshek, 5 months ago

PRONUNCIATION

The same character is pronounced completely differently across Sinitic languages.

Here's how to think about it. Take this word: "chat"
• in English: [ʦæt]
• in French: [ʃa]

Of course "chat" means different things in English and French. But even when the meaning of a character is the same across different Sinitic languages, it still sounds different:

熱
• in Mandarin: [ɻɤ˥˨]
• in Cantonese: [jiːt̚˨]
• in Taiwanese: [ʣuaʔ˦]
• in Hakka: [ŋiet̚˥] (12/13)

chunshek, 5 months ago

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Officially all other Sinitic languages are labeled "dialects" in China. In formal settings, writing in anything other than Mandarin is frowned upon. So all literate folks are taught to read/write text in Mandarin grammar, even if it means pronouncing the written text in their own languages or code-switching between the two. This explains why "writing" between speakers of different Sinitic language users seem to work. (13/13)