Languages

[Eddie Teach]

What if after the last decade in the US my english is better than my native spanish, how should I vote? 

In your case, Jaron option. 

[Josquius]

Dammit, I'm not allowed in Swedish class again this semester so my quest to try and say with full confidenece that I speak Swedish si going nowhere either

[Ideologue]

Other than English, I speak some French and Russian. But English is the only language I speak fluently (shut up!).

Lol, okay Pavel.

[lustindarkness]

What if after the last decade in the US my english is better than my native spanish, how should I vote? 

In your case, Jaron option. 

Yo speak spanglish.

[Ideologue]

Not trying to pull a Don'tSayBanana, but the "correct" spelling in pinyin (i.e. modern, standardized Romanization) for Mandarin is "pu tong hua" or "pǔ ​tōng ​huà​" with the tones marked.

My Chinese is still extremely shitty.  However, I find I do have to use it a lot here in Nanjing, since most people (especially store and restaurant staff) usually literally don't speak a word of English, other than "hello" and "bye bye".

I wonder, would it be possible to learn to read Chinese without speaking a word of it?  I.e., just translating "random squiggly bullshit ideogram #82" as "house"?

[Josquius]

Not trying to pull a Don'tSayBanana, but the "correct" spelling in pinyin (i.e. modern, standardized Romanization) for Mandarin is "pu tong hua" or "pǔ ​tōng ​huà​" with the tones marked.

My Chinese is still extremely shitty.  However, I find I do have to use it a lot here in Nanjing, since most people (especially store and restaurant staff) usually literally don't speak a word of English, other than "hello" and "bye bye".

I wonder, would it be possible to learn to read Chinese without speaking a word of it?  I.e., just translating "random squiggly bullshit ideogram #82" as "house"?

I'd imagine so to some level at least.
I still recognise a lot of Japanese kanji but can't remember the pronounciation for many.

[Malthus]

I wonder, would it be possible to learn to read Chinese without speaking a word of it?  I.e., just translating "random squiggly bullshit ideogram #82" as "house"?

Yup, to an extent. In fact, several different Chinese languages use the same written character set.

[Ideologue]

Maybe I should look into that.  I'm much better at visual symbol recognition than I am spoken language.  Like MB, spoken foreign speak is mostly "bar bar" to me.  Although I was able to understand the countdown in Russian when I watched 2010 last night, and knew what they were saying a few times.

[Neil]

Although I was able to understand the countdown in Russian when I watched 2010 last night, and knew what they were saying a few times.

Why would you want to understand a language less graceful and more evil than the Black Speech of Mordor?

[dps]

Although I was able to understand the countdown in Russian when I watched 2010 last night, and knew what they were saying a few times.

Why would you want to understand a language less graceful and more evil than the Black Speech of Mordor?

'Cause he's an evil Commie.

[Monoriu]

I wonder, would it be possible to learn to read Chinese without speaking a word of it?  I.e., just translating "random squiggly bullshit ideogram #82" as "house"?

Of course you can.  But learning Chinese is much more difficult than that    Primarily because you cannot translate "random ideogram #82" as "house".  It is more like when #28 is combined with #74, they  mean "house", but when #28 is used together with #17, they mean "river".

[Tonitrus]

I wonder, would it be possible to learn to read Chinese without speaking a word of it?  I.e., just translating "random squiggly bullshit ideogram #82" as "house"?

Of course you can.  But learning Chinese is much more difficult than that    Primarily because you cannot translate "random ideogram #82" as "house".  It is more like when #28 is combined with #74, they  mean "house", but when #28 is used together with #17, they mean "river".

So it's like math? 

[Monoriu]

So it's like math? 

Well, in math, you only have 0, 1, 2....9.  They mean different things when combined in different numbers and fashions. 

In English, you have 26 alphabets.

Chinese is sorta like a language with 3,000+ alphabets. 

Even the Chinese themselves realize how hard it is for their children to learn the language.  Pinyin/romanization is an attempt to change that.  There was once talk to replace the Chinese characters with western style alphabets many decades ago.  But it didn't get very far.  Pinyin now is more like a learning or programming tool. 

[swallow]

Although I was able to understand the countdown in Russian when I watched 2010 last night, and knew what they were saying a few times.

Why would you want to understand a language less graceful and more evil than the Black Speech of Mordor?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcIiwmclfvw

[Valmy]

I used to be.

Not anymore