On Mandarin learning challenges, the definition of language, and the best taxi-driver critique of hànzì ever recorded.
You’ll be forgiven if you missed the pins-and-needles press conference of foreign minister (wàijiāobùzhǎng, 外交部长) Yáng Jiéchí 杨洁篪 a couple of weeks ago (hat tip to Joel Martinsen at Danwei).
Regarding neighborhood enmity, L=N, and other hútòng realities.
Reality is never quite what you think it is, let alone the way you relate it to others. To tell a story you have to simplify, abstract, highlight and gloss over, of course. That’s the nature of storytelling. Trouble is, a lot of times what you end up [...]
Caution: Not a post to be read aloud among small children or grandmothers
Readers & commenters have been more diligent than your haplessly hard-working correspondent recently. There’s some great dialog about how L and N, or P, F & H blend together in different languages.
Can’t resist the French reference in this NYT opinion piece, Medvedev. Mehd-V(y)EHD-yehf. Whatever, (hat tip to Language Hat) that parallels the Beijing Sounds discussion on English’s Beizzhing. Revealing quote:
One of the ways we compensate for the difficulty of foreign names is by adopting our own way of saying them. I once worked with [...]
You know it’s bad for your hypertension to go prescriptivist on place names — “It’s Bay-Jing, you dolt, not Beizzhing!” But did you know there are even better reasons to take a chill? Here are the top 3 arguments for not giving in to the correctionist impulse:
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