This brief 4 minute video explains how languages may relate and can evolve watch it here.
"Next time you hear a foreign language, pay attention; it may not be as foreign as you think."
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
Saturday, 24 May 2014
Chinese tag!
Again, the things that happen with procrastination has a good effect in one way. I needed to post about this immediately!
I posted early this academic year that I went to a Mandarin class at Sixth Form just for a taster. I did not want to take up another language beginner level at this moment in time; but honestly this wasn't the first time I have looked into Chinese. A lot of people say they wish they were fluent in Chinese just because. As I always say, my speaking has always been the weakest aspect whenever I start to learn a language - you should hear how bad I am at English the language I am 'fluent' in haha. The taster session focused mainly focused on pronunciation and intonation which I liked and I can also say I took something useful from that class (I can now pronounce the Chinese version to Exo - Wolf better by looking at the romanization) but I really wanted to learn more symbols; especially since I was looking at the characters a little bit before - mainly because of Korean.
I really like learning the origin of words that is why I was considering Latin or esperanto (modern day Latin as I call it as it is like a mix of many European languages and many European languages are formed because of Latin!) So with Korean learning the meaning behind symbols are useful to find the links int things and to understand why I am saying what I am saying - where did it come from? As Korean or Hangul rather was made, by King Sejong the great, for the people of lower status to understand Chinese it obviously has Chinese influence. That is why is is called 'Poor Man's Chinese'.
"The Korean script was developed by King Sejong for his people. Back then, the Chinese script was used by scholars to write Korean and people of lower status couldn’t read it. That’s why the King made Han-geul reeeeaaaally easy to read, so any idiot could learn it." [1]
Whilst watching Korean shows like 'Running Man' or the drama 'Jang Ok Jeong lives by love' which was set in the Joseon dynasty I would see some Chinese symbols pop up, get curious about it, look it up and remember it the next time I see it. Characters like ๅคง, ๅคฉ, ไบบ, ็, ๆ, ็ก, ไธญ, ้ and some more. And then my dad gave me this one day:
Chineasy!
Learning these symbols are just really aiding my Korean learning I think but I enjoying it too; for example, I always knew ๋ฌ๋น meant Moonlight (I have a friend and her Korean name is DalBit / ๋ฌ๋น) so when she mentioned how there is an Exo song about her (referring to ์๊ด (Wol-Gwang) which means moonlight also) it really irked me! Why was there another word to 'Moonlight' which was quite different to the one I knew? I instantly thought that it had to be Chinese. I knew that ์ meant month. The moon has a monthly cycle (like humans and werewolves haha). I knew that in Chinese month and moon share the same symbol 'ๆ'. I had a flashback to a Running Man episode when Gwangsoo said his name meant light 'ๅ ' Gwang. So there is the Moon+Light that made moonlight. Hey, I am not claiming to be a genius but to realise that with my minimum knowledge in Chinese was quite handy (both symbols were in the top 100 basic Chinese symbol list I use).
I use my Spanish knowledge if I am ever reading something in French and it helps if I come across something in Italian or Portuguese. English and my limited French helps if my German friend sends me something in German. We are all tightly woven, more than we think. Languages are really similar. The other day I thought about 'specially' special and the suffix '-ly' is kind of the same in Korean ํน๋ณํ- ํน๋ณ being 'special' and adding the 'ํ' has the same effect as the '-ly' and makes it mean specially. It is a direct by translation and things like this amaze me. What a nerd!Doing things this like this also makes me realise only logical things e.g. 'pomme de terre' in French translates as 'apple of the Earth' which made me think 'wait, do apples not come from the Earth?' Obviously the come from apple trees.
I am still left with a few questions - ์ผ๋ณธ in Korean means 'Japan'. If ์ผ translates to Sun does that mean like in Chinese ๆฅๆฌ (land of the rising Sun / Sun Origin) means Japan too? What does the ๋ณธ mean? Is it the 'origin' part? ์ means water. Is that why a WATER-melon is ์๋ฐ and there is water involved with ์์?
It is just for fun! Therefore I will only 'enriquecerme' (enrich myself) in learning symbols in Summer and regain my Year 9 level of French whilst striving forward with Spanish and Korean; but am I getting a bit a head of myself with all these languages?
Remember I am not a pro, just a learner
I posted early this academic year that I went to a Mandarin class at Sixth Form just for a taster. I did not want to take up another language beginner level at this moment in time; but honestly this wasn't the first time I have looked into Chinese. A lot of people say they wish they were fluent in Chinese just because. As I always say, my speaking has always been the weakest aspect whenever I start to learn a language - you should hear how bad I am at English the language I am 'fluent' in haha. The taster session focused mainly focused on pronunciation and intonation which I liked and I can also say I took something useful from that class (I can now pronounce the Chinese version to Exo - Wolf better by looking at the romanization) but I really wanted to learn more symbols; especially since I was looking at the characters a little bit before - mainly because of Korean.
I really like learning the origin of words that is why I was considering Latin or esperanto (modern day Latin as I call it as it is like a mix of many European languages and many European languages are formed because of Latin!) So with Korean learning the meaning behind symbols are useful to find the links int things and to understand why I am saying what I am saying - where did it come from? As Korean or Hangul rather was made, by King Sejong the great, for the people of lower status to understand Chinese it obviously has Chinese influence. That is why is is called 'Poor Man's Chinese'.
"The Korean script was developed by King Sejong for his people. Back then, the Chinese script was used by scholars to write Korean and people of lower status couldn’t read it. That’s why the King made Han-geul reeeeaaaally easy to read, so any idiot could learn it." [1]
Whilst watching Korean shows like 'Running Man' or the drama 'Jang Ok Jeong lives by love' which was set in the Joseon dynasty I would see some Chinese symbols pop up, get curious about it, look it up and remember it the next time I see it. Characters like ๅคง, ๅคฉ, ไบบ, ็, ๆ, ็ก, ไธญ, ้ and some more. And then my dad gave me this one day:
Chineasy!
Learning these symbols are just really aiding my Korean learning I think but I enjoying it too; for example, I always knew ๋ฌ๋น meant Moonlight (I have a friend and her Korean name is DalBit / ๋ฌ๋น) so when she mentioned how there is an Exo song about her (referring to ์๊ด (Wol-Gwang) which means moonlight also) it really irked me! Why was there another word to 'Moonlight' which was quite different to the one I knew? I instantly thought that it had to be Chinese. I knew that ์ meant month. The moon has a monthly cycle (like humans and werewolves haha). I knew that in Chinese month and moon share the same symbol 'ๆ'. I had a flashback to a Running Man episode when Gwangsoo said his name meant light 'ๅ ' Gwang. So there is the Moon+Light that made moonlight. Hey, I am not claiming to be a genius but to realise that with my minimum knowledge in Chinese was quite handy (both symbols were in the top 100 basic Chinese symbol list I use).
I use my Spanish knowledge if I am ever reading something in French and it helps if I come across something in Italian or Portuguese. English and my limited French helps if my German friend sends me something in German. We are all tightly woven, more than we think. Languages are really similar. The other day I thought about 'specially' special and the suffix '-ly' is kind of the same in Korean ํน๋ณํ- ํน๋ณ being 'special' and adding the 'ํ' has the same effect as the '-ly' and makes it mean specially. It is a direct by translation and things like this amaze me. What a nerd!Doing things this like this also makes me realise only logical things e.g. 'pomme de terre' in French translates as 'apple of the Earth' which made me think 'wait, do apples not come from the Earth?' Obviously the come from apple trees.
I am still left with a few questions - ์ผ๋ณธ in Korean means 'Japan'. If ์ผ translates to Sun does that mean like in Chinese ๆฅๆฌ (land of the rising Sun / Sun Origin) means Japan too? What does the ๋ณธ mean? Is it the 'origin' part? ์ means water. Is that why a WATER-melon is ์๋ฐ and there is water involved with ์์?
It is just for fun! Therefore I will only 'enriquecerme' (enrich myself) in learning symbols in Summer and regain my Year 9 level of French whilst striving forward with Spanish and Korean; but am I getting a bit a head of myself with all these languages?
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| The significance of the days of the week in Chinese - Korean (Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Gold, Earth, Sun) |
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| The meanings of the trigrams from the taegukgi and randomness |
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| The elements / blocks from the Taegukgi |
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| Directions Korean-Spanish-French-English-Chinese |
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| Taegukgi decoded Taiji Yin&Yang symbol - Red is heat and light -Blue is coldness and darkness White background / flag = Peace, purity and cleanliness The trigrams |
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| The pronunciation guide I received at the Mandarin taster session |
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| The symbols I recognise, please excuse my horrible penmanship |
Remember I am not a pro, just a learner
Monday, 19 May 2014
Elements
These are my entries for a photo competition (all pictures my own of course) for my favourite singer for her new album. I do not know what I would win if I win but if I do I will make sure to mention it. Entries had to be an 'elements' related picture with a lyric from a song from the album 'Elements' by the lovely Kina Grannis. I hope you enjoy the pictures and even go search this lovely talented lady.
Also, how much do you know about North Korea? I took a quiz and got a disappointing 8/15 though some were obvious and guessable others were hard and random. You think you know North Korea?
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
A tiny greeting with a link
I have done it. I have entered the dreaded exam season. I had my first Geography exam on Monday and it went better that last years. The next is on Friday and then I have my 4 A2 exams after in June for English Literature, Geography and Spanish. Freedom arrives in exactly 1 month and 1 day! Then I am free to fix up this blog (which truthfully I have been neglecting since I started haha).
I am preparing for the annual Korean Event that my class hosts as I self-nomitated myself onto the organiser committee (no one else was going to do it!) It should take place mid July before the Summer break.
I feel my Spanish improved in my 15 hour Easter workshop over the 7 days I spent in Spain! I had my oral exam not too long ago and I feel more confident speaking. I really hope to do well with Spanish. To think I almost didn't take the subject for A-Level; now it has it's special area in my heart! You get out what you put in eh! If I do well with all my exams...or at least get into the university of my choice I will be over the moon! Results day is in exactly 3 months; a scary thought! I will be back to greet my readers whoever you are eventually. Until then, be well and do well and check out this interesting article below!
The visual contrast between Korea - North and South
I am preparing for the annual Korean Event that my class hosts as I self-nomitated myself onto the organiser committee (no one else was going to do it!) It should take place mid July before the Summer break.
I feel my Spanish improved in my 15 hour Easter workshop over the 7 days I spent in Spain! I had my oral exam not too long ago and I feel more confident speaking. I really hope to do well with Spanish. To think I almost didn't take the subject for A-Level; now it has it's special area in my heart! You get out what you put in eh! If I do well with all my exams...or at least get into the university of my choice I will be over the moon! Results day is in exactly 3 months; a scary thought! I will be back to greet my readers whoever you are eventually. Until then, be well and do well and check out this interesting article below!
The visual contrast between Korea - North and South
Saturday, 3 May 2014
I need to find an old computer! Pronto!
Haha so I found this recently. It must have been sitting in a drawer for years! I just want to test it out, see what it is like and since it is too old for newer computers I must hunt downnan old one!
On other language news, there is a film 'Spanglish' on my sky recorded list waiting for me to watch. After many years I heard the word 'andale' and realised what it meant. All these years (for some reason) after hearing it in a video game I thought it was 'under-lay'...I am disappointed in my obliviousness. It is exam season so I will probably not post until mid June; I have a lot of exams. Funny, in September 2012 I was definitely not most confident in Spanish a level or even passing, but now I think it is surprisingly my strongest subject (I do not know if that is a good thing for Spanish or if it means my other subjects are really bad). Well, everyone enjoy May...I know I've jumped the gun but May the 4th be with you ㅋㅋㅋ
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