Some aspects of the Chinese phonological system cause difficulties for English speaker learners. One of the common difficulties is stress and intonation patterns, which are different between Chinese and English. Chinese is a tonal language. It doesn’t only mean that tones make up the Chinese words, but also means that the meaning of the Chinese word determined by the different tones. For American students, they also use stress and intonation patterns similar to tones, even though they did not realize
Cantonese and English Cantonese use widely in the south of China and is the language that most people use in the United State Chinatown. In China, there are about more than 80 dialects and more than 30 kinds of word. Mandarin is the official language, and Cantonese just one of the most usage dialects in Chinese. According to a news report in 2011, there are around 120 billion people speak Cantonese in all over the world, which included Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macao, and the people who in
like ship and sheep. Furthermore, Chinese has three phonemes similar to /p/, /t/, and /k/, that are slightly aspirated. When pronouncing these phonemes in English, they appear to be closer to the English phonemes /b/, /d/, and /g/. This is because the time that it takes after releasing air and before the next vowel sound is much shorter that an English native speaker. Some languages use long and short vowels to change the semantics of a word. The Chinese language does not use long and short vowels
The Chinese language and Portuguese are the official languages which can be used by the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the Macau Special Administrative Region (The Basic Law of the Macau, 1993). Since the population of Macau society became diversity, the language policy is not close to current Macau society. According to the report of Resultados dos Censos (2011), beside Cantonese and Mandarin, English became the most used language in Macau. The government is still unwilling
Language is the basic yet very sophisticated communication system that humans use to present information, articulate feelings, and express emotions. Different languages are made out of different properties such as grammar rules, phoneticism, and written characters. The creation of language not only influence developing cultures but was also influenced by different traditions as a mean of identity and distinctiveness; each distinctiveness and identity takes its own shape form as seen in the Mandarin
West, an unique language system has been established due to its special historical background. According to the Thematic Household Survey Report No. 51 published in 2013, over 90% of people aged 6 to 65 in Hong Kong have reported themselves as native Cantonese speakers. However, Cantonese is merely referred to as a regional dialect “with no standardized written form” (Ng, 2009: xxi) while both Chinese and English are currently deemed as the official languages of Hong Kong. The language system in this
Often when science fiction writers or television producers make up a futuristic world, little to no thought is paid to the language the inhabitants of that world will be speaking. Usually language is never mentioned, or native tongues are translated to English through some form of external force, like the babel fish in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or C-3PO. The world of Joss Whedon's short lived television series, Firefly, and its follow-up movie, Serenity, is created with such attention to
secondary students with advanced or upper intermediate language level of Chinese is about dining in a Chinese restaurant. It is under one of four prescribed themes ‘Leisure, recreation and human creativity’ in the Chinese Senior Syllabus required by QCAA (2008). The unit mainly focuses on introducing Chinese food culture and dining etiquette. Through learning of this unit, apart from mastering linguistic features in both spoken and written language and improving receptive and productive communication
Mandarin Chinese Jennifer Sung University of Cincinnati Language in Mainland China With over 1.35 billion people, China is now the world’s most populated country. Its diverse population as well as its countless influences has made it home to roughly 1500 spoken dialects split into seven dialect groups: Mandarin (847.8 million first-language speakers), Wu (77.2 million), Min (71.8 million), Yue (60 million), Jin (45 million), Xiang (36 million), Hakka (30.1 million), Gan (20.6 million), Huizhou
from Malaysia because of conflict over the rights of ethnic Chinese citizens (Dixon 27) and obtained independence as the Republic of Singapore in 1965. Now, Singapore has developed rapidly, and it is one of the Four ‘Asian Tigers,’ which is group of countries recognized as notable for maintaining high growth rates and fast industrialization (Liu 1444-46). The population of Singapore is approximately 5.3 million, composed of 74% Chinese, 14% Malay, 9% Indian, and rest are other ethnicities such as
The varieties of Chinese According to Bernard Comrie (1990: 83),’ there are more than 1,000,000,000 people are speakers of some form of Chinese.’ By seeing this figure, Chinese should have appeared long enough for its evolution and let it spread to different areas in which Chinese or its form can become the dominant language. The origin of Chinese is studied through bone and tortoise shell inscription because the earliest records were marked on them in around 1300B.C. (Chou Fa- Kao 1986:1)
Through the examination in languages, education system and political circumstances, I will discuss about the ideas that encourage this island to be independent, and how the community performs these social beliefs. Like Schechner states: ‘performance is a restored behavior with previous experiences or references’ (Schechner,29). The term Hong Kong represents the previous history of British and Chinese, in which the identity of Hong Kongese are deeply influenced by
to ancient chinese culture. He then ties in the subsequent chapter with a story experienced by him or one of his students that draw meaning from the artifact just described. By laying out the artifact and its effect on China, he draws parallels to how the ancient culture affects decisions made by the Chinese in current times. For a reader who hails from the west, Hessler makes the foray into China more approachable and less mystical. As an American journalist deeply rooted in Chinese culture, Hessler
United States, it is an irrevocable fact that I am still Chinese. I have spent most of my lifetime in the United States and my skill of speaking Mandarin has gradually been fading as time keeps passing. Alongside with that, my family also doesn't want me to forget this language. Apparently,
a long history of language reformation, where the Chinese language becomes one of the most successful and radical amendments for the whole nation to adopt several changes along the way. In this essay, a discussion of major components in the language reform, specifically the Mandarin language, in China will be explored with the social, culture, and political issues that have influence the changes. A history and pattern of language used in China- starting from the days of language in the imperial court
graphic signal, research, marketing, and both linguistic and semiotic communication to breakdown the global code of design (Jones, 2011). ‘Lost in translation’ happens more frequently during the rate of globalization. The misreading of design languages is not just an issue among layperson, designers also been affected during the international cooperation. Naturally, there are gaps existing between different cultures (Jones, 2011). For example, the masterpieces of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa
The term "Mandopop" refers to the most popular genre in Chinese language contemporary music. "Mando" refers to the Mandarin Chinese language. Equally as popular is "Cantopop", "Canto" refers the Cantonese Chinese language which is a Chinese dialect spoken in the southern provinces and Hong Kong. A third term "Gang-Tai pop" 港台 is yet another term referring to the combination of Cantopop and Mandopop. "Gang" refers to the Chinese pronunciation of Hong Kong - "xiang gang" 香港 and Tai refers to
the integration of Chinese influences into Japanese culture, distinct Japanese nativity still managed to bloom in some works of art. Dissecting the dualism of gender, it was widely accepted that women wrote in traditional Japanese style, termed kana, and men wrote in the “borrowed” Chinese language. What this means is that women were utilizing the “everyday” language of Japanese common people; whereas, men were exercising the more exclusive and “official” language of the Chinese. This is the largest
What is your name? Junchi Feng 2. What is your birth country? People's Republic of China 3. In which country were you raised? People's Republic of China 4. Do you speak another language besides English? Chinese 5. What are the biggest cultural differences between your country and the United States? First, I feel Chinese people are less friendly. In China, the front desk officers or the information desk officers are usually impatient and unwilling to answer others' questions. However, people in the
Chinese High School & Canadian High School Introduction I am a grade 12 high school student, and when I was fifteen years old, I was sent to a Canadian secondary high school to become an international student to experience a different education, culture, and history. During this two and a half year’s study, I discovered that there were many differences between Chinese high school and Canadian high school. However, it is hard to say which education is better because both have their advantages and