What is the most difficult language (to learn it) ? (university, classes)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Are we talking about the most difficult language for English speakers to learn? If not we can't make a point here at all because what's easy to learn and what not always depends on your native language.
A Farsi native will NOT have too much trouble learning Arabic and I am pretty sure for many Asians it is easier to learn Japanese than French. Dutch can be difficult, too. But German speakers will find it easier than Spaniards.
Would you stop calling Chinese Characters ideographs?
When the dictionary stops, I'll stop.
id·e·o·gram –noun
1. a written symbol that represents an idea or object directly rather than a particular word or speech sound, as a Chinese character.
There are many languages spoken throughout China, some of them very dissimilar and unrelated to Mandarin---some are of the Thai group of languages. The standard Mandarin characters are still used by speakers of those languages, even though they have absolutley no relationship to the corresponding spoken word in those languages. They can read newspapers published by Mandarin speakers, even though they can't understand a word of what a Mandarin speaker says.
Your anecdotes about Taiwanese vs. Mainland Mandarin only shows that the language is regionally variable. An American pickup full of corn, a South African bucky full of mealies, and an Austrailian ute full of maize are all the same thing, to English speakers on those counries.
Are we talking about the most difficult language for English speakers to learn? If not we can't make a point here at all because what's easy to learn and what not always depends on your native language.
A Farsi native will NOT have too much trouble learning Arabic and I am pretty sure for many Asians it is easier to learn Japanese than French. Dutch can be difficult, too. But German speakers will find it easier than Spaniards.
Yes, I am sorry. My post about the Category 4 languages is for English speakers.
ideograph - a graphic character that indicates the meaning of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it; "Chinese characters are ideograms"
This is not correct. If you believe whatever dictionaries say without thinking, that's your call.
仑 is a 声符, sound symbol, which indicates the sound of lun.
论 = lun
轮 = lun
伦 = lun
纶 = lun
抡 = lun
沦 = lun
囵 = lun
Is it difficult for you to understand how the dictionary is wrong? It is hard for me to understand why you don't get it
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
There are many languages spoken throughout China, some of them very dissimilar and unrelated to Mandarin---some are of the Thai group of languages. The standard Mandarin characters are still used by speakers of those languages, even though they have absolutley no relationship to the corresponding spoken word in those languages. They can read newspapers published by Mandarin speakers, even though they can't understand a word of what a Mandarin speaker says.
I was always told they were ideographs, what term do you prefer?
Also if a writing system isn't ideographic because it has sound symbols than there might not be any such thing as "ideographic writing." It seems like even some Egyptian hieroglyphs had sound functions.
I was always told they were ideographs, what term do you prefer?
What if you were always told that the Earth was flat?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas R.
Also if a writing system isn't ideographic because it has sound symbols than there might not be any such thing as "ideographic writing." It seems like even some Egyptian hieroglyphs had sound functions.
(Most) Egyptian Hieroglyphs have both phonetic and semantic readings.
ideograph - a graphic character that indicates the meaning of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it; "Chinese characters are ideograms"
I can't tell you if "ideographic writing" exsists or not, however, I can tell you both Chinese characters and Egyptian Hieroglyphs are not ideographs.
What if you were always told that the Earth was flat?
That seems unnecessarily snotty. Being taught "ideograph" is right is not anything like being taught the Earth is flat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryuji
I can't tell you if "ideographic writing" exsists or not, however, I can tell you both Chinese characters and Egyptian Hieroglyphs are not ideographs.
Okay, I can see the problem what are they to be called instead? Chinese writing, unless we mean Pinyin, is not alphabetic. I don't think it could be called "syllabics" either a great many characters do not represent the Chinese "syllables" like "eng" or "an." There would also be no need for anywhere near that many characters if it was a syllabic.
So what is the right term?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.