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#31

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 03:28:36 PM

How is Hsi suppose to sound?

Not unlike Xi

According to what I saw it's a softer sh. Apparently try to pronounce sh but with your tongue below your lower front teeth that's x or hs.

#32

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Grey Fox - Today at 03:25:18 PM

How is Hsi suppose to sound?

#33

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by HVC - Today at 03:12:23 PM

Funny aside, Xixi is piss in portuguese.

#34

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Jacob - Today at 03:02:13 PM

It sounds like shi to me.

Well that settles it 

The Chinese apparently have another subtly different shi...
But does that really matter when writing phonetically in English?

Pinyin is not "writing Chinese phonetically in English". Pinyin is a method for using the roman alphabet to express Mandarin Chinese (developed in China). And Mandarin Chinese distinguishes between "shi" and "xi".

For some reason the style guides of most English language publications use Pinyin* rather than inventing the own transliteration scheme. I don't know if there'll be much demand for a "Chinese to English as it sounds to the average punter" transliteration scheme, but I guess you never know...

*and before that Wade-Giles which - as Sheilbh pointed out - distinguishes betweeen the two sounds as "shih" and "hsi".

#35

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 02:56:18 PM

Some folk horror happenings going on in Hampshire:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/20/deers-head-and-upside-down-cross-found-on-centenary-stone-in-new-forest

#36

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by viper37 - Today at 02:12:08 PM

Looks like the hateful, illegitimate Pakistani prosecutor at the ICC has fully rendered that court an irrelevant and illegitimate body by applying for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

The fact that this "British" guy, who based on being Pakistani and Muslim is 100% certainly a hateful antisemite, is even in this position shows a failing of the West. People like him have absolutely no business in the halls of power in Western backed organizations.

Of course.

You can't be a real British if you are Pakistani and Muslism.  Everyone knows that.

How many generations does it take before you are fully considered fully of one nation?  Is 6 generations enough or do you require more?  Do you consent to exemptions like your predecessors did?

Probably enough that your brother isn't a sex offender and your family aren't "Caliphs" in some weird branch of Islam.

So, you are an Israeli citizen the moment you set foot in Israel, but you can never truly be a British national until your skin is white, you become Christian and your whole family is without sin?

Fantastic double standard here.

I'd swear I've seen that kind of standards somewhere before, in some States.

#37

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by viper37 - Today at 02:10:31 PM

What have Israeli courts done against Bibi's grab for power?

#38

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Maladict - Today at 02:00:35 PM

I think it's interesting though because I think if Chinese had an alphabet based script, I don't think there'd be any argument because they'd be different letters in the alphabet that was being transliterated just because they're close. You think of k v q in Arabic. I think it says something about the way we give primacy to written text over the spoken.

Certainly. Although I'm reminded of T.E. Lawrence driving his editor mad in refusing to be consistent about transliterating personal names. According to Lawrence there was no point, as no satisfactory system exists because the languages are simply too different.

I suppose if you transliterate 'London' to Arabic and then back to English you'd get Lundun or Landan.

#39

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 01:31:16 PM

It sounds like shi to me.
The Chinese apparently have another subtly different shi...
But does that really matter when writing phonetically in English?
Does it cause admin headaches to have names be different in one language but not another?
I suppose having president Xi is rather useful for them in finally teaching the world it's shi not zee.

I mean it's wrong. Every phoneticism of Chinese distinguishes between sh and x/hs as different sounds. They are different.

I think it's interesting though because I think if Chinese had an alphabet based script, I don't think there'd be any argument because they'd be different letters in the alphabet that was being transliterated just because they're close. You think of k v q in Arabic. I think it says something about the way we give primacy to written text over the spoken.

(Also perhaps a distinctively English indifference to what we write having any link to what we say because, unlike most languages, there's no more than a nodding acquaintance in English )

#40

Gaming HQ / Re: New Paradox Tinto Game - "...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 01:24:56 PM

Were Castille, England or Hungary really so much more centralised than France, Italy or Germany?

I think so for England - but I'm aware that to an extent the historiographical frame for English history is the combination of parliament and centralisation (and the two go hand in hand reinforcing each other).

No idea for Hungary (although I suspect it's similar), but also striking that with England and Castille there's been relatively recent conquest. So you have more or less total replacement of the established social order with a new (pretty coherent) elite dividing up the land.