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Getting Excited About Esperanto?

kelle poolt jsewell94, 2. august 2009

Postitused: 33

Keel: English

andogigi (Näita profiili) 4. august 2009 13:50.46

ceigered:
Ah ok it's better to know that I'm not the only one who has this makeshift way of transcribing notes lango.gif.
Kiom 人 are en la 山 kono 月 yo? lango.gif
On a side note, it's funny Senlando as I'm sure you're using those characters because of mandarin, but I read them in Japanese (人=hito/jin, 山=yama)
Forget it. I just went through it today. I'm working in China right now and it DOES NOT WORK. I've been writing Japanese characters all day　long and the Chinese politely nod and smile and have no idea what I'm talking about. The only thing I've succesfully gotten across is.

你說外国語？　Which I "think" is close to "Do you speak a foreign language"?

I always get in return:

不行! (No way!)

Since the answer is logical, I guess they understood it even though I'm pretty certain it isn't correct.

Simple concepts are not a problem. Anything more and you can pretty much forget it. The languages are just too different.

andogigi (Näita profiili) 4. august 2009 13:58.09

In fact, here's a simple street sign I saw today. I'm sure you know all these characters. Any idea what it REALLY says?

小心行人

小 = small
心 = heart
行 = go
人 = person

I had to look it up. It means "Be careful of pedestrians". This country is going to drive me crazy. I'm focusing on my EO vocab...

ceigered (Näita profiili) 4. august 2009 14:30.37

don't worry andogigi i've heard enough horror stories about trying to understand chinese using japanese kanji as a reference to know that it won't get me anywhere lango.gif

and since when do pedestrians have small hearts? are you stingy or a coward if you don't drive a car? rido.gif
if i was in charge of literacy in china i'd make it 'foot go person'.

nonetheless it's better than english. it's not even in the front of our minds what pedestrian really means (foot-rider? all i know is it's certainly not germanic)

sorry shift key not working properly

Pharoah (Näita profiili) 4. august 2009 14:56.03

Wow, 4 of the only 20 or so Chinese characters I know ridulo.gif. Xiao xin, "small heart", means careful for some reason. There are a lot of idioms like this in Chinese.

Ironchef (Näita profiili) 4. august 2009 15:24.11

You know, it doesn't even have to be a foreign language to confuse you! When I first moved to the USA from the UK, I kept seeing PED XING written on yellow street signs or in large white letters on the road. PED XING..... those words went around in my head for ages before it suddenly dawned on me that it was shorthand for "Pedestrian Crossing"!

Now, I make fun of it by referring to "crosswalks" as the "pedzing" ridulo.gif

But try explaining to an American why in Britain those same things are called Zebra Crossings, Pelican Crossings and Puffin Crossings and the flashing lights on them are called Belisha Beacons! (look it up)

Senlando (Näita profiili) 4. august 2009 23:56.34

Ironchef:You know, it doesn't even have to be a foreign language to confuse you! When I first moved to the USA from the UK, I kept seeing PED XING written on yellow street signs or in large white letters on the road. PED XING..... those words went around in my head for ages before it suddenly dawned on me that it was shorthand for "Pedestrian Crossing"!

Now, I make fun of it by referring to "crosswalks" as the "pedzing" ridulo.gif

But try explaining to an American why in Britain those same things are called Zebra Crossings, Pelican Crossings and Puffin Crossings and the flashing lights on them are called Belisha Beacons! (look it up)
haha I've been in Canada for 4 years and i've just figured out a month ago that Xing was really Crossing. At first when i saw it, i pronounced it as Shing. And I couldn't figure out why their was Chinese pinyin on a Canadian street!
In fact, here's a simple street sign I saw today. I'm sure you know all these characters. Any idea what it REALLY says? 小心行人 小 = small 心 = heart 行 = go 人 = person I had to look it up. It means "Be careful of pedestrians". This country is going to drive me crazy. I'm focusing on my EO vocab...
haha, i read that the first time, and couldn't understand your question, "any idea what it really says?". I forgot it wasn't self explanatory. Their really are a lot of words that have to be learned in combination.

btw anyone know where "little heart" comes from? I'd love to hear the reason for it if possible. the only thing i can think of is maybe it's from the word 伈(xǐn, different tone from 心 but has the heart radical in it) and it means "nervous / fearful". so maybe 小伈 would mean "be a little fearful" as in the english "beware or caution" but maybe the term was shortened (and tone changed) to just 小心 instead of 小伈 over the millenniums? That's just my own personal theory that has no backing to it, so if anyone knows the real reason please share!

Pharoah (Näita profiili) 5. august 2009 1:17.24

I'd have to bet that the heart is (or was) once associated with courage. I know that the gallbladder was in some societies. So then, a person with a small heart might be timid. Ĉu ne?

hiyayaywhopee (Näita profiili) 5. august 2009 1:40.51

Ironchef:But try explaining to an American why in Britain those same things are called Zebra Crossings, Pelican Crossings and Puffin Crossings and the flashing lights on them are called Belisha Beacons! (look it up)
I admit pelican crossings and puffin crossings are a bit befuddling, but zebra crossings make perfect sense, and I've already looked up what a belisha beacon is due to one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite rock bands. The headshrinkers, they want everything!

Pharoah (Näita profiili) 5. august 2009 1:47.44

haha I've been in Canada for 4 years and i've just figured out a month ago that Xing was really Crossing. At first when i saw it, i pronounced it as Shing. And I couldn't figure out why their was Chinese pinyin on a Canadian street!
And everyone just calls them crosswalks anyway. I don't know why they can't write that, maybe to save money on paint? ridulo.gif

ceigered (Näita profiili) 5. august 2009 7:03.27

I don't understand the hullabaloo here. Xing is clearly "crossing", I didn't even need mum to explain that to me as a child lango.gif

And Ironchef we use zebra and pelican crossings too, but they are also called emu and wombat crossings (possibly due to a still-going national shortage of puffins)

We don't have belisha beacons though, so no wonder I've never heard of them. we however have newish traffic lights near emu crossings that have two alternating orange lights on a diagonal slant with '20 km/h' near them...

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