Comments on: Breaking Ground

By: Tenzin Ngawang

Tenzin Ngawang — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:55:14 +0000

Hi,

Jerry Norman is my Hero. His dictionary has helped me a lot in my Manchu studies. May I know how I can reach him?

Sincerely,
Tenzin

By: manjuniyalma

manjuniyalma — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:15:06 +0000

Two of theese books 清文指南 and 清语老乞大have been published in Taiwan. You can buy them online from the publisher or through online bookstores in Taiwan.

But by reading your post I don’t understand why you need those four books. Anyway, these books are for studying conversation. If you are interested in studying vocabulary, dictionaries would suite you purposes much better.

Having said that, I don’t think vocabulary is a good approach to study closeness between languages. For example, despite the fact that Japanese has a large portion of vocabulary common with Chinese, and not sharing a single word with Manchu, it is well establihsed that Japanese is a closer relative to the latter.
Also the theories of vocabulary similarity tend to be far-fetched. For these reasons and with all respects, I attribute little value to the article written by Li Ki Mun.

If I say the word “xun” in Manchu has a common root with “sun” in English, I am just being silly. But if I say Manchu and English are two closely related languages because of the superficial ressemblance of these two little words, I would be insulting the intelligence of the entire humanity.

By: Paweł

Paweł — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:11:50 +0000

The Altaic Hypothesis?
If you know Japanese, have a look at the romanized Nixan saman-i bithe text with parallel Japanese translation, where you can plainly see the corresponding grammatical constructions. You can find it in “The Book of the Nisan Shaman 02″ installment.
Also, do you know this paper: http://rapidshare.com/files/83387288/likimun_manju.pdf ?

Best,
Paweł

By: Wanbok Chung

Wanbok Chung — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:18:18 +0000

This is my contact”

Wanbok Chung
2728 Ransford Ave. #A
Pacific Grove, CA 93050
(831)324-0049 Home
(831)227-0076 Cell
email: mys123us@yahoo.co.kr

I would like have some information on how to purchase

兼汉满套话(i.e. the 2nd volume of 清文启蒙)
清文指南(one version of tanggv meyen)
清语老乞大(a Manchu-Korean conversation book)
清话百条(another version of tanggv meyen?)

these books online.

Thanks,

Wanbok Chung

By: Wanbok Chung

Wanbok Chung — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:37:34 +0000

September 11, 2009

Hi,

My name is Wanbok Chung, a Korean American, and am interested in purchasing the above four books,
兼汉满套话(i.e. the 2nd volume of 清文启蒙)
清文指南(one version of tanggv meyen)
清语老乞大(a Manchu-Korean conversation book)
清话百条(another version of tanggv meyen?)

Would please let me know where and how I could purchase the above
four books?

I am very interested in learning Manchu since I would like to find out
how Manchu, Korean, and Japanese are related. I believe that those three languages are very closely related and I would like to prove it by finding more Manchu language words that still remained in Korean and Japanese.

Sincerely yours

Wanbok Chung

By: manjuniyalma

manjuniyalma — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:05:14 +0000

I read about one paper. It was not about “si sain” per se, but about a feild study on Sanjiazi Manchu. The expression of “si sain” was used as an illustrative example. I can’t locate it now, but will provide the link or reference if I run across them.

The following link also contains some discussion related to this subject http://www.sibeweb.com/BBS/forumTopicRead.asp?id=633&page=1
Neither “si sain” nor “si saiyvn” is correct. “si sain” errs in grammar. “si saiyvn” is grammatically correct, but not a customary expression.

Manchu conversation textbooks available online:
兼汉满套话(i.e. the 2nd volume of 清文启蒙)
清文指南(one version of tanggv meyen)
清语老乞大(a Manchu-Korean conversation book)
清话百条(another version of tanggv meyen?)

By: Randy Alexander

Randy Alexander — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:02:00 +0000

@manjuniyalma: If you know of papers authored by Chinese scholars on the subject of the origin of “si sain”, could you give us some references or links?

Also, what “Manchu conversation textbooks used in the Qing dynasty” are you referring to? The only thing like that I have heard of is tanggv meyen.

By: manjuniyalma

manjuniyalma — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:48:01 +0000

I personally think the origin of “si sain” is really a trivial issue. But for those who are interested, there are papers authored by Chinese scholars on this topic.

Greeting is not a modern social practice, and it has been around for thousands of years among Manchus. There is no need to “modernize” or “reinvent” the Manchu language in order to accommodate greeting. All forms of greetings can be found in Manchu conversation textbooks used in Qing dynasty.

By: Altan

Altan — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:05:19 +0000

Thanks a lot Randy,

I never expected to find such a many material in Manchu online.

By: Randy Alexander

Randy Alexander — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:51:32 +0000

I haven't found any Chinese classical novels in Manchu translation online, but there are a few things here that you might like.