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Yup. Don't disagree. I do hope China eases up on permanent residency for foreigners who have resided in China for so many years, say 8+ years.
Why? I hope not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian_Lee
"If a culture wants to romanize their language, then so be it. It's not impossible, Vietnamese did it."
Vietnamese did not romanize their language based on the urge/need of their own culture. The Jesuit priests did it on behalf of them and the French popularized it during the colonial period.
So why didn't they go back to Chinese characters? They could have done it, but chose not to. Which is the point I made. They didn't go back to Chinese characters after independence, ergo, they chose and consented to the change by not changing back
Quote:
Originally Posted by botticelli
Hiragana is influenced by the Chinese cuture, just like most European languages originates from Latin. They are two different civilizations and it is stupid to ask one to change to be more like the other. They are not useless, but they ARE the alphabets for the Japanese. WHy are they useless while ABCD is not?
Pinyin is indeed kind of stupid and redundant. It only has the use for teach children about pronunciation, and often the system doesn't make sense. I really dont like it.
Suggesting the Chinese should get rid of their Chinese characters is like asking Europeans languages to get rid of their gender, tense and cases, because obviously, all these make it so hard for the Chinese to learn.
English may not have gender, but I would suggest that it should really standardized its pronunciation or spelling rules so that one should correspond to the other. You can't have 6 difference pronounciations for "ough". That's just crazy.
Before I talk about the first paragraph, were you offended? Because I sense we're having a misunderstanding here
That's the point I was making about hiragana too....outside of verb and adjective conjugation, hiragana is only useful for teaching pronunciation. That's it's only purposes.
Agree. Non-Spanish say the same about Spanish H's. Why do we have it if there's no sound? Well, it's not useless for us, so who cares. Why does English spelling and pronunciation not make sense?
Yeah seriously lol. It's just a lack of perspective
"they chose and consented to the change by not changing back"
They didn't choose it and they had no voice in consenting or objecting to the change during the colonial era.
But the reason that they didn't change again after independence is quite obvious. After 80 years of adoption of the Latin script, the cost involved (social + economic) would be enormous if they changed again.
It is just like Mongolia, which was forced to adopt the Cyrillic script during the Soviet era, had a hard time to revert to their tradition script even the current government has tried.
"they chose and consented to the change by not changing back"
They didn't choose it and they had no voice in consenting or objecting to the change during the colonial era.
But the reason that they didn't change again after independence is quite obvious. After 80 years of adoption of the Latin script, the cost involved (social + economic) would be enormous if they changed again.
It is just like Mongolia, which was forced to adopt the Cyrillic script during the Soviet era, had a hard time to revert to their tradition script even the current government has tried.
So in other words, they lack motivation and the desire to go back
Because it really doesn't change anything. My children will be Chinese and I can continue to live there, it's just an annoyance having to do a visa run, leave the country for a day or 2 and go back. Permanent residency would make long term foreign residents of China not have to leave on visa runs. Honestly that's all that would change. I have no chance or interest in becoming a Chinese citizen and if I break the law as a permanent resident I can still be deported.
Because it really doesn't change anything. My children will be Chinese and I can continue to live there, it's just an annoyance having to do a visa run, leave the country for a day or 2 and go back. Permanent residency would make long term foreign residents of China not have to leave on visa runs. Honestly that's all that would change. I have no chance or interest in becoming a Chinese citizen and if I break the law as a permanent resident I can still be deported.
Is China one of those countries that if you don't look Chinese, then you're Chinese in name only?
One reason why Asian cities like Singapore or Hong Kong do not have a larger presence of foreign population is the astronomical price of their real estate which discourages even well-qualified foreign expatriates to settle down.
It is just like most Americans cannot afford to live in NYC.
So your kids can't be Chinese then? How does that work?
If a baby is born in China to at least one Chinese parent they get automatic Chinese citizenship. If one doesn't want their child to be a Chinese citizen you have to go to a government office and renounce their citizenship. However, I imagine my children will look very Chinese and I bet most Chinese will not bat an eye. So Chinese will most likely consider them to be Chinese ethnically. I have some friends who are half Chinese and they never have issues with how people see them. I'm not sure if that is what you are asking in your question. I however will always be a foreigner. After a while one gets used to being an extreme minority and it has its advantages and disadvantages. Chinese people are incredibly friendly to foreigners, so most of the time it is an advantage, except when dealing with government bureaucracy. Most of the time they are inept and don't know how to do things for foreigners. If your patient and friendly, that goes a long way in China.
Yes. Chinese nationality is certainly linked to Chinese ethnicity, especially Han Chinese.
It depends on where you live. If you live in Xinjiang, especially South Xinjiang, a "mixed" person won't attract any attention.
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