Subj : Re: HOLY CRAP! To : alt.tv.farscape From : weirdwolf Date : Wed Sep 21 2005 02:57:36 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape Jim Larson wrote in news:Xns96D7B9D52F65C3v234oiwofui3284af93@130.133.1.18: > weirdwolf wrote: > >> Jim Larson wrote in >> news:Xns96D7AAA33CD743v234oiwofui3284af93@130.133.1.18: >> >>> weirdwolf wrote: >>> >>>> Jim Larson wrote in >>>> news:Xns96D7A60C6A75F3v234oiwofui3284af93@130.133.1.18: >>>> >>>>> weirdwolf wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I went to my first Mandarin lesson tonight. >>>>>> I think my brain has melted and is running out of my nose..... >>>>> >>>>> Ni hau! >>>>> >>>> >>>> Wo hen hao xiexie! >>>> Blergh I want a v over certain letters but all I can find is ^ >>>> Ted >>>> >>> >>> By the way, can you hear differences in tone? >>> >> >> When the teacher talked slowly I could just about manage it. I found >> it interesting that she was saying that when in certain words there >> are repeating syllables with the same tonal sounds that they might >> either be pronounced with a different tonal stress or not at all. > > I had a Chinese acquaintance try it out on me for about 10 minutes. I > couldn't really get it. Did he explain how it works? Some are easier than others the high-low- high I found a lot easier than the shorter sharper high-low. > (Of course, he mentioned that in Cantonese they have 9 tones instead > of 4, and the average Mandarin speaker has about as much success > distinguishing those as I had with Mandarin. Made me feel less > stupid.) I think that Mandarin originally had more but they sort of fell by the wayside. I've had experience with languages where there were sounds not used in English before, the tsu sound in Japanese and a weird p/b sound in Gujarati, but never so many. Claire is good with the tonal differences but she plays the piano and is musical. Ted -- Stare too long into the abyss and the abyss looks like a nifty place to hide the bodies .