Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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The more I study Chinese characters, the more I just want to slap radicals together and come up with my own! I came up with an entirely new schema to represent colors in Chinese by using a variant of 色 along with a distinctive character to represent a given color. Blood for red, earth for brown, flower for purple, etc. It turns out that some of the things I came up with exist... but mean totally different things.

Did you ever "invent" a character to carry a given meaning and just have it for personal use? Like shopping lists or something, 彄?
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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I once invented the Chinese name Shuōng Bià for myself to demonstrate to Chinese friends how ridiculous it is for them to devise "original" English names like Museney and Wheilson for themselves. The point of course being that neither shuong nor bia are viable Mandarin syllables. I invented characters for them too: shuōng was written as a 双 with the radical 王,and bià was written as 别 with I forget which radical.

My plan totally misfired: my friends thought it was absolutely the cleverest thing they'd ever heard of... [¬.¬]
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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DesEsseintes wrote:My plan totally misfired: my friends thought it was absolutely the cleverest thing they'd ever heard of... [¬.¬]
[xD] And meanwhile the world marches on with people named Anvill Cheng, DeFarge Wu, and Lacey Shiue. That'll learn ya.

As to 卅七's question: The only thing that springs readily to mind... A few weeks back I was at the lake behind campus with native informer, and we were sitting in a spot where a lot of trees and bushes had been pruned for the spring. Not knowing the word for "prune", silly me, I asked "What do you call what they did to these trees and shrubs?" Now I was expecting a nice, thick, juicy character you can really sink your teeth into, and the answer was so incredibly non-exciting, that I indicated how non-plussed I was. That elicited a Chinese version of "What do you want from my life?". So I mentioned a new character was needed, maybe 璽 with the knife radical, which amused. What say you, brothers? 璽+刀 for "prune"? Who's with me?!!! [}:D]
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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Lao Kou wrote:So I mentioned a new character was needed, maybe 璽 with the knife radical, which amused. What say you, brothers? 璽+刀 for "prune"? Who's with me?!!! [}:D]
Soooo.... this:
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Also, I'd love something wholly unconventional... (though I am not sure I achieved that considering "turtle" above is a thing):
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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XXXVII wrote:Soooo.... this:
Image

Exactly! [}:D] (looks like someone found some software)

I've assigned it the reading "xi4". Native informant is on board. So:

Image xi4shu4 - prune trees

把樹枝Image ba3 shu4zhi1 xi4diao4 - prune back branches

秋天Image桃樹 qiu1tian1 xi4 tao2shu4 - prune peach trees in autumn

Image玫瑰灌木 xi4 mei2gui4 guan4mu4 - prune rose bushes

Mwa ha ha ha ha! [}:D]

Image

Can't say I'm loving it. Balance issues. Please to try again (what if you ditched the top part of the 為, moved those other elements you have to the left (if you don't think it's too similar in look to 身), and then add something else on the right?) . I'll use yours if you use mine... [}:D]
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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老彄 wrote:...software...
If using the DFKai font in Word and copying it into Paint counts as software... then yes, totally.

My character creation is a work in progress. So, we'll see how it goes. As for "xi4"? I can't imagine getting much mileage outta it. I mean, I can barely make sentences using standard characters!
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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你為甚麼吃此位女人?
Why did you eat this woman?

Am I correct that a measure word is needed after a demonstrative?

Also, how does 些 differ from 少?

Also also, 己, 已 and 巳 are entirely too similar in appearance (especially handwritten... fast handwriting must be a bitch to decipher sometimes). Whereas I have no issue with say, 人 and 入.
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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What's wrong with for prune? It's a lovely character, sounds perfectly nice, and has 文雅 overtones.

Not to stifle your creativity or anything... You guys could set up a New Chinese Character Workshop. [:)]
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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DesEsseintes wrote:Not to stifle your creativity or anything... You guys could set up a New Chinese Character Workshop. [:)]
OMG! I love that idea! I wonder if there is a program or something out there that lets you arrange and combine pre-formed radicals and other common character elements.

Image

A tentative transcription of my "Chinese Name." The first character is, I guess, a common one used in transliterating Michael. Since my surname is a Lithuanian (and then somewhat Slavic-ized) version of Michael, it seemed a good pick. As for the first name, David is usually translated as Da-wei... so I used one for dá. As for the last one, well, I composed that from some of my favorite elements of characters I enjoy, namely: 為, 耳 and 纟. I have decided on a reading of "wěi." So, in full we have Mài Dáwěi. (I think that the strokes add up to 37 in total... I guess 達 actually has 13 strokes (?), so I may have to remove the "dot" from my character. Originally, it looked like 12 to me.)

What do you suppose would be a good meaning for my new character? Perhaps something that fits well with "to attain, to reach"...
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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Am I correct that a measure word is needed after a demonstrative?
Yes.
XXXVII wrote:你為甚麼吃此位女人?
Why did you eat this woman?
is a measure word for people, but it denotes respect and so sounds a little weird with the everyday "女人" ("女士" is a word for "lady"). 此 does mean "this" but is a bit literal or fancypants, the more common word being 這, but okay. And presumably the eating is over <urp>, no? So why not a 了 in there? Ergo, keeping the tweaking down to a minimum:

你為甚麼吃此位女?
Also, how does 些 differ from 少?
些 operates as a measure word (although it's only number is 一, and you can use it with "this" and "that"). It's an indefinite amount noodling around "a little", "a few", "several", and "some", and is as close to an indefinite plural marker as you're going to get. 少 is the opposite of "many" or "much", is an adjective/stative verb, and as such can take adverbs like 很 (very).
Also also, 己, 已 and 巳 are entirely too similar in appearance.
No arguments there. However, 己 occurs mostly with 自 in 自己 (oneself) and is after, and 已 occurs mostly with 經 in 已經 (already) and is before, so even if Washoe had written it in broken crayon, context pretty much covers it. (And if you think I didn't have to look up which was which for this, I'm very happy you think that. [;)] ) 巳, meanwhile, as one of the Earthly Branches, is off doing its own thing in archaisms you aren't likely to encounter just yet if at all, so I wouldn't worry about it.
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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XXXVII wrote:As for "xi4"? I can't imagine getting much mileage outta it. I mean, I can barely make sentences using standard characters!
DesEsseintes wrote:What's wrong with for prune? It's a lovely character, sounds perfectly nice, and has 文雅 overtones.
The word I was given was 修剪, which, if you're anticipating an exciting new character, is quite anticlimactic. Hell, he didn't even have to write it down, I got it immediately. Boooooooooooriiiiiiiiiiing.

At any rate, your points are moot. Resistance to the collective is futile. Be absorbed or perish. [}:D]

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XXXVII wrote:Image
What do you suppose would be a good meaning for my new character? Perhaps something that fits well with "to attain, to reach"...
I can't see this from here. I'll have a look tomorrow.
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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I used 此 because I just learned it as a precursor to 些. Speaking of...

So I could say:

一些馬吃了一些草.
A few horses ate some grass.

Hmmm, 女士 sorta the lady equivalent to "gentleman scholar"? I learned 士 as knight or scholar.

And as for my lack of 了? I used 吃 there mostly because I didn't know how to say bite or chewed on. In my head, the scenario was a man bringing an injured woman to confront a zombie who had been eating her... but obviously hadn't finished since she was still walking around. (The zombie was ashamed. [:P] )
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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I just wanted to point out to XXXVII that using 女人 can be considered quite offensive. You may catch young girls mock-insulting each other with phrases like 你这个女人! but do note that you will not get away with the same, presuming you are male.

Strangely, 女的 as in 来了一个女的 is often used as an informal word for woman, and is not considered offensive, albeit not elegant. I found this bewildering at first, and it explains an unfortunate pitfall for Chinese learners of English who have on occasion been heard to remark that "a female came here looking for you", leaving one to wonder exactly which animal species is being referred to.
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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XXXVII wrote:So I could say:

一些馬吃了一些草.
A few horses ate some grass.
You could. Don't expect a Pulitzer for it, but it's okay. [:)]
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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Lao Kou wrote:You could. Don't expect a Pulitzer for it, but it's okay. [:)]
Damn! Because my scale of success only has two points, it goes "Do I get a Pulitzer" or "Failure."
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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XXXVII wrote:Damn! Because my scale of success only has two points, it goes "Do I get a Pulitzer" or "Failure."
It's an honor just to be nominated.
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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I've recently become somewhat fascinated by the transliteration of English names into Chinese. As such, I created my own character (above) for a portion of my name, and think I have a decent transliteration for my full name (given name then surname order): 達瑋 麥可老斯基. 瑋, here, is standing in for the character I made above and was chosen due to it having the same reading, as well as a decent meaning.

Also, I think I have hit on a meaning for the character I created above. It utilizes most of 耳, the combining form of 糸, the radical version of 火 (four-dots-fire) and also a small portion of 為. So, my original thought was something like the sound of fire burning silk. But, of course, that is a bit too literal, and not very useful. (Not to mention a poor meaning to be used in my own name!) So, I have opted for something far less "representational" and am going to go with "reality" or more specifically the expression "the fabric of reality." Thoughts?
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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XXXVII wrote:Thoughts?
As a homonym of 緯, you could have it be "the woof and weft of reality". [:)]
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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*petulant pause*

Heh. Actually that is kinda funny. I learned how to bark!

As an aside, I was reading an old, but interesting, article about teaching children to read English via syllabary. (This article.) Their idea was that they could use a combination of small bits of the alphabet combined with a pictographic system (think rebus) to teach the basic sounds in syllabic form and then show them how they combine those to make words. Later, they would introduce the children to the various ways the syllables they already know are spelled in words.

As a proof of concept, they taught children something like 30ish Chinese characters and taught them the meanings to prove that children can associate sounds and symbols and then read them as if they were written English. An example passage is included at the end of the PDF, but to skip you having to look, they used very simple sentences like "mother wants (a) white car" (母要白車). I just thought it was really cool that they were teaching logograms to kindergarteners as a means to teaching English.
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Re: Ramblings of a 中文 Learner

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Uhm... woof here doesn't mean barking sound.
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