User Comments - podster

Posted on: Classical Chinese vs. Modern Chinese

Tingyun,

No worries; I learned something new today. (反切) As an armchair linguist I always find these kinds of things interesting. Btw, I think you meant to say "Though this point is largely moot . . ." in your last paragraph. I'm too lazy to actually go and read the posts cited, so thanks for summarizing. Will take your word on that.

Posted on: Classical Chinese vs. Modern Chinese

For me, I appreciate Tingyun's input. I don't have any separate basis for forming an opinion other than what has been written here, but regarding your points:

1. If "everyone" is given information that is incorrect, that does not then make it beyond reproach. I doubt I will ever end up needing to know this, but if I do I don't want to sound ignorant, even if I could probably get away with it. So (giving Tingyun the benefit of the doubt) a correction is most welcome.

2. The fact that languages are constantly changing would be more relevant if we were discussing the meaning or pronunciation of a word in modern Chinese. Here we are talking about classical. I have neither a time travel machine nor the educational background to answer your question, but if multiple respected dictionaries are in agreement on a subject I would find that fairly compelling.

3. Yes, you are right. If you are publishing a paper you should not cite Tingyun's posts here as scholarly research. Just as you would not footnote "random dudes on the Internet" as your source. His whole point is that "scholarly debate" implies debate among those who are recognized experts in a field, not debate among those who have an opinion about something because they learned something in grade school. And by extension, you would be citing published journal articles, not Chinese Pod posts. But I assume you meant this last point as joke, so no need to point that out to me -- I do have a sense of irony at times at least.

Posted on: CCP Political Slogans

Okay, thanks. I think I have enjoyed reading this thread too much and still have not listened to the actual podcast. Back to the language study, 同学们！　

Posted on: CCP Political Slogans

Re: "Those that say otherwise are trying to sell you . . .", Lets not confuse advocacy (or denunciation) for analysis. Nobody here has advocated for anything. Its fair to point out that you began by calling for understanding of Marxism. I appreciate that someone rose to the challenge to elucidate it. That is not an endorsement of any ideology. To return to my earlier point, I doubt that people are ignorant of the fact that China is "communist" in the loose sense of the word to which you want to adhere. I am fine with using the word in the way that you have chosen to in your initial post. ("China is a communist country"). What you really seem to want to "expose" is that "China is bad because communism is bad and China is communist" (Apologies in advance if I am putting words in your mouth). That's altogether different from a discussion of what the term communism literally means, and how the term was used and understood historically in China. This is a language learning web site, after all, so lets be tolerant and appreciative of the value of nuanced use of words. Finally, with all respect to you as a long term user and scholar, I would like to see the tone of this discourse remain civil. If you still feel that I may be delusional or in denial, feel free to let me know in a private message.

Posted on: No Change for the Bus Fare

Text and speech are supposed to match, but 五十快钱 and 五十快 are both "normal".

Regarding the other point, I think all native speakers (of any language) are inherently "biased" to "hear" whatever sound makes sense in context if the meaning is unambiguous.

This is one reason why speaking on the phone can be so surprisingly frustrating. When you are speaking to someone in your own language, even if the connection is bad, you are "hearing" a lot of sounds that are not really there, because your brain is unconsciously "filling in the blanks" based on familiar patterns. When it is a foreign language these patterns are unfamiliar, so you only hear what actually comes across the telephone line.

That said, I am going to hold off on the specifics of what I hear when I listen to that recording until some native speaker(s) let us know what it sounds like to them.

Posted on: CCP Political Slogans

Tingyun's description matches what I remember from high school civics class.

Posted on: CCP Political Slogans

PS: Sorry, I know I have not satisfied your question, but I have one for you: on what basis do you say that "China is a country that most people seem to not realize is a straight-up communist country." ? And what is the definition of a straight-up communist country? I doubt there are many speakers / students of Chinese who don't know that China is governed by a communist party. I don't even know that communism in China, especially today, has all that much in common with, say, the USSR, and certainly not with North Korea. Anyway, sorry again I can't give a proper answer, but 共产主义的中国 sounds right to me for the purpose you are describing, if pressed for a literal translation. Maybe some native speaker will chime in.

Posted on: CCP Political Slogans

I guess for most Chinese speakers the equivalent, or a shorthand way of saying "Communist China" would be 新中国。 I doubt if they call it that in Taiwan. For a long time I thought 大陆 just meant mainland China. (In fact it refers to any mainland, or continent. Anyway, I have only ever heard people in Taiwan refer to the PRC as 中国大陆, or simply 大陆.

Posted on: Photos with Animals

PS: I can send you more info, but you may not be aware that (apparently due to another recent CPod bug) it seems all users' accounts have been reset to show "this user has chosen not to receive e-mail". So if you want to use the CPod private messaging system you would have to re-set your preferences.

Posted on: When is Your Birthday?

From what I have seen from another user's post, this function is not available for CPod in iPad.