I may help you in learning Chinese
hjxun844
August 23, 2007 at 08:06 AM posted in General Discussionhello,everyone,I am a chinese boy,if you have any question,you can write below,Iwill answer as soon as Ican
大家好，我是中国的一个朋友，如果大家在学习汉语的时候有什么问题尽可以问我，我回尽量尽快给大家解决，^_^
mikeinewshot
August 25, 2007 at 06:16 AM
Henning
Many thanks for that. I had never tried to decifer it putting it in the 'too hard' category, but am relieved to find it is 古文。 Thanks for the link - that's really interesting.
henning
August 25, 2007 at 06:09 AM
Mike,
don't worry, that is not contemporary Chinese but 古文. In fact the poem was written to demonstrate the problems of 古文.
Here the background:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_Den
mikeinewshot
August 25, 2007 at 05:46 AM
In simplified:
title: 石室嗜狮史
石室诗史施氏, 嗜狮, 誓食十狮。
氏时时适市视狮。
十时, 适十狮适市。
是时, 适施氏适市。
氏视是十狮, 恃矢势, 使是十狮逝世。
氏拾是十狮屍, 适石室。
石室湿, 氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭, 氏始试食是十狮。
食时, 始识是十狮屍实十石狮，试释是事！
mikeinewshot
August 25, 2007 at 05:42 AM
I found this somewhere some time ago:
Sums up for me what is impossible about this language.
title: 石室嗜獅史
石室詩史施氏, 嗜獅, 誓食十獅。
氏時時適市視獅。
十時, 適十獅適市。
是時, 適施氏適市。
氏視是十獅, 恃矢勢, 使是十獅逝世。
氏拾是十獅屍, 適石室。
石室濕, 氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭, 氏始試食是十獅。
食時, 始識是十獅屍實十石獅，試釋是事！
enduserstudios
August 24, 2007 at 04:00 AM
heh, even some of my Chinese friends have trouble saying that fast!
hjxun844
August 24, 2007 at 03:28 AM
There is a sentence,you can try to speak it,and distinguishes the different pronunciation of each character.It's extremely (very,very,very) difficult.If you can distinguish it,then tries to speak it a biter faster.
四是四，十是十，
十四是十四，四十是四十；
谁能说准四十、十四、四十四，谁来试一试；
谁说十四是四十，就打谁十四，
谁说四十是十四，就打谁四十。
wei1xiao4
August 23, 2007 at 11:34 AM
Thanks hjxun844! I already learned a new character from your posting. Keep writing in hanzi. I will try to read it.
Lantian
August 26, 2007 at 02:11 PMHaha...John the hanzi patrolman! 汉字错误警察John!
hjxun844，别太担心JohnP老师的评论，他的眼睛太厉害！我写英文的时候我也有时候打错误为了打字打出来太快.
谢谢你的帮助，很小有中国人过来在这里用中文跟我们聊聊。
hjxun844, Don't mind JohnP's comment too much, his eyes are too sharp! When I write English I also sometimes type typos because I write too fast. Thanks for helping us, there aren't too many Chinese that come here and chat with us in Chinese.