Comments on: As Chinese is to English, Regular Expressions are to… http://kid666.com/blog/2007/08/19/as-chinese-is-to-english-regular-expressions-are-to/ A monkey in a hat for everyone! Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:41:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: Min Guo http://kid666.com/blog/2007/08/19/as-chinese-is-to-english-regular-expressions-are-to/#comment-69296 Min Guo Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:58:51 +0000 http://kid666.com/blog/2007/08/19/as-chinese-is-to-english-regular-expressions-are-to/#comment-69296 I am a native Chinese. I agree with Terence and want to add that learning to read Chinese is easier than speaking or listening. The grammar structure is not complicated, and the volcabulary is relatively small - if you grasp 6000 Chinese characters, you can read newspaper. However, listening is more challenge, 2 reasons: 1. 6000+ Chinese characters share less than 300 pronounciations. 2. There are too many dialets in China and you will find that a large % of Chinese don't speak Mandarin. Anyway, why not try to learn Chinese. :) I am a native Chinese. I agree with Terence and want to add that learning to read Chinese is easier than speaking or listening. The grammar structure is not complicated, and the volcabulary is relatively small - if you grasp 6000 Chinese characters, you can read newspaper. However, listening is more challenge, 2 reasons:
1. 6000+ Chinese characters share less than 300 pronounciations.
2. There are too many dialets in China and you will find that a large % of Chinese don’t speak Mandarin.

Anyway, why not try to learn Chinese. :)

]]> By: Kevin Yuen http://kid666.com/blog/2007/08/19/as-chinese-is-to-english-regular-expressions-are-to/#comment-69236 Kevin Yuen Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:51:38 +0000 http://kid666.com/blog/2007/08/19/as-chinese-is-to-english-regular-expressions-are-to/#comment-69236 Wow, love the idea that it is faster to read in Chinese than English. My grandparents were born in China, but I never asked the question about which was faster to read! My parents, and I, born in Australia can't read Chinese... ...so I learnt Mandarin at uni, but in comparison to learning French at school, I found it more challenging. I agree the grammar is more simple, but in French I could guess many words - in Chinese it is a hard slog memorising all those characters. Now days I can recognise and understand some French, but not a word (or character) of Chinese ... Wow, love the idea that it is faster to read in Chinese than English. My grandparents were born in China, but I never asked the question about which was faster to read! My parents, and I, born in Australia can’t read Chinese…

…so I learnt Mandarin at uni, but in comparison to learning French at school, I found it more challenging. I agree the grammar is more simple, but in French I could guess many words - in Chinese it is a hard slog memorising all those characters. Now days I can recognise and understand some French, but not a word (or character) of Chinese …

]]> By: Terence Eden http://kid666.com/blog/2007/08/19/as-chinese-is-to-english-regular-expressions-are-to/#comment-66186 Terence Eden Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:52:45 +0000 http://kid666.com/blog/2007/08/19/as-chinese-is-to-english-regular-expressions-are-to/#comment-66186 Chinese is, I think, an easier language for Anglophones to learn than French or German. Mandarin (which I took at uni) has an incredibly easy grammatical structure and - once you get past the idea of a tonal language - is quick to pick up. I think this is because of two things 1) There is nothing "similar" in the language. Listening to European languages is tricky because you pick up words which sound similar to English. This confuses the brain into trying to recognise other words as English. 2) People who use the Roman alphabet tend to recognise the whole word rather than spell it out - recognising a Mandarin pictogram is a similar process. T (Good meeting you at BarCamp, BTW) Chinese is, I think, an easier language for Anglophones to learn than French or German. Mandarin (which I took at uni) has an incredibly easy grammatical structure and - once you get past the idea of a tonal language - is quick to pick up.

I think this is because of two things
1) There is nothing “similar” in the language. Listening to European languages is tricky because you pick up words which sound similar to English. This confuses the brain into trying to recognise other words as English.
2) People who use the Roman alphabet tend to recognise the whole word rather than spell it out - recognising a Mandarin pictogram is a similar process.

T
(Good meeting you at BarCamp, BTW)

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