[Note: I’m re-posting an article I wrote previously here [1]]
Ever since I was a youth I marveled at the variety of languages available to our human race for communication. This interest in language (while I am not very proficient at learning new ones) probably is a result of my upbringing in a bilingual home, later formalized in public school. I grew up speaking bits and pieces of Chinese and English, and I think for any in a similar situation it is readily apparent at how very different the two languages are at its root (or is it?).
English, for me, is phonetic. In English, words, meanings and concepts are formalized, defined or “materialized” by linking the phonetic sounds with symbols in the alphabet. Chinese is also phonetic, but (at least for me) requires additional neural processing (if you will) to associate meaning with character shape and brush-strokes. The Chinese language has a pictorial aspect (which by the way isn’t necessarily the only one) that is often as critical as the phonetic one to convey and express ideas.
I want to mention that my view on this matter is related to how I was taught Chinese, essentially by memorizing new characters, which my teacher’s would enunciate for us, often simultaneously. At the bilingual school I attended, our approach to remembering the sounds of characters was with the ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ system. [A search on Wikipedia for this system of associating phonetic meaning with symbols reveals a fascinating history that has evolved several times [2]] A rudimentary vocabulary was built up this way, and furthered by studiously referring to dictionaries! These days, my understanding is pinyin has built a solid reputation as a more direct way for those starting from the English language to learn Chinese. I should clarify that I have no misgivings for preference for pinyin (over any other method), but that as with any language, the phonetic system used is at best just a tool for aiding the memorization of sound to character and meaning. For those interested in debating this I would suggest adding Cyrillic and Japanese (I’m thinking of hiragana and katakana) for comparison.
As with any source of knowledge, my vocabulary is ever evolving. So I was intrigued today at lunch, clasping 炸醬麵 noodles in chopsticks with one hand and glancing over the newspaper with the other, at this unidentified foreign character, 躉. Fortunately, there are several wonderful resources online that helped me to identify and define this word and it’s sound [see MDBG for 躉 [3], Yahoo for 躉 [4], and cloud.edu.tw for 躉 [5]]. Each of these sites has its strengths. Yahoo and mdbg provide English translations, word roots and phonetics. MDBG and cloud.edu.tw have additionally recordings for enunciation, with several dialects available on cloud.edu.tw. Cloud.edu.tw also contains for many words a visual recording of brush-strokes (I wonder if this is pixel by pixel encoding) to show how to write the character. The caveat is that the site is (currently?) designed for those already somewhat familiar with the Chinese language. All three resources contain some examples or links to examples of how to use the word.
A quick search and check shows that each site also has substantial functionality for phrases or groups of words [see MDBG for 尾牙 [6], Yahoo for 尾牙 [7], and cloud.edu.tw for 尾牙 [8]]. While by no means exhaustive (pardon if I may have missed other useful resources), I intend to use these sites as much as possible! Language is ever evolving, and new words, phrases and meanings come and go. I wonder how these resources update for choicest words or slang.
References
- https://philwu.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/chinese-characters/
- https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/注音符號
- https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=躉
- https://tw.dictionary.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AwrtXGrSD1NcUX8AnQ57rolQ;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTIwMDM3OQRfcgMyBGZyAwRncHJpZAN3T0ZhNVhKVVR0V2NYbUxmQ0JYT21BBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwM3BG9yaWdpbgN0dy5kaWN0aW9uYXJ5LnNlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMwBHFzdHJsAzkEcXVlcnkDJUU4JUJBJTg5BHRfc3RtcAMxNTQ4OTQ3NDE4?p=躉&fr=sfp&iscqry=
- http://pedia.cloud.edu.tw/Entry/Detail/?title=躉&search=躉
- https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=尾牙
- https://tw.dictionary.search.yahoo.com/search?p=尾牙
- https://pedia.cloud.edu.tw/Entry/Detail/?title=尾牙