fibbi

Every language have their value to exist. For example, Korean words are like plain symbols to me, how can people know the words' meaning just by looking at their outlook? Even for English, do people k ...
Ultraman 發表於 2009-3-18 15:38

That's why by reading the word, we can get into the root of the meaning of the word. That's also part of the culture. The simplified word just "kill" the culture in most cases.
Take the "noodle" word in your example, noodle comes from flour, which is also made from wheat. It makes perfect sense.

fibbi

16# goldie

Those mainland TV drama, only simplified word subtitles are available wor...then just no choice la.

fibbi

The word 麵 is made up of the major ingredient, which is flour (or wheat), and the other part is the sound of the word. It's not really to do with the shape of noodle.
Anyway, even in English (which is derived from Latin), there is also study of Etymology. Of course I'm no expert in the Linguistic field. But language is (and should be) more than just a symbol of representing some meaning. By changing the form of the word, we are losing history and part of the culture.
In all, I"m not opposing the learning of simplified word. It's still the official language of mainland China. We should be able to read, for practical reason. But in my opinion we should start learning 繁體字 first, so that we understand the deeper meaning of the word and the language itself.

fibbi

27# Ultraman

Further discussion. Every language, we need to learn from basic "blocks" first. In Chinese, there are 4 methods of making up each "word": 會意，假借，象形，形聲
Some words are strictly derived from picture (象形). e.g. Sun, Moon, Mountain. And after many years the "pictures" turn to strokes and becomes the word we use today.
Some words are derived from the sound. Some from the "meaning".  But of course, you need know quite many basic characters in Chinese. Why the word "noodle" use the sound of "min" but not the "wheat" part. I don't know. All I know is that it makes sense.
Just by looking at the word, especially in Chinese, we can guess the meaning (or how it pronouns).
Say in English (or latin), if we see anything "optometrist", "opto...." we know it's something eye-related.

fibbi

31# Ultraman

I guess no language you can tell all meaning of the word by just "looking" at the word. Need to learn a lot of "basic" words before we have some understand la, not only in Chinese.
But Chinese langauge is actually a bit better to understand because there are certain words DO come strictly from picture lor.
Anyway, back to topic, I think we should learn 繁體字 before simplified word. It's easier to switch from 繁體字 to simplify but not the other way round la.