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flower
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
Posts: 186
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 Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:15 am Post subject: Which language would....? |
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Hi all,
If you could speak any other language (besides English) which language would you like to speak?  |
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bud
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 2111
Location: New Jersey, US
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Spanish - and I'm working on it - slowly but surely. |
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missdaredevil
Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 1670
Location: Ask me
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| Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 6:31 am Post subject: Spanish |
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Besides working on English. I hope to learn Spanish in the next four years.
That way, I could be familiar with the top three languages . |
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river1974
Joined: 20 May 2003
Posts: 525
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Excuse me, what are the top three languages in the world? English, Spanish and Chinese? |
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LucentShade
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 542
Location: Nebraska, USA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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| I already know Spanish pretty well, and I'm working on Japanese. |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:13 am Post subject: Top Languages |
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| river1974 wrote: |
| Excuse me, what are the top three languages in the world? English, Spanish and Chinese? |
Resources:
http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html
http://www.aneki.com/languages.html
http://www.novatranz.com/top-10-languages.htm
Mandarin Chinese has the highest number of speakers (over a billion people), though not necessarily the widest spoken since it is confined to a limited geographical region.
English is next in number of speakers who use it as their primary language (about 500 million), and most widely spoken with another 500 million or so who use it as their official 2nd language. Maybe another billion can get by in limited pigeon English.
After that is Hindi (again, geographically limited) if you consider all the various dialects as part of Hindi.
If you regard the various Hindi dialects as separate languages, then Spanish speakers outnumber any single group of Hindi dialect speakers. Spanish is also widely spoken (with 3 continents). |
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river1974
Joined: 20 May 2003
Posts: 525
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Bob, thanks for your detailed illustration for my question. It has taught me a precious lesson! |
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KanCheng
Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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If you ask me which language will i learn, i really want to learn japanese.
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flower
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
Posts: 186
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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| I would like to learn japanese. |
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gear2000
Joined: 12 Feb 2005
Posts: 48
Location: atlanta,USA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:48 am Post subject: |
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how is mandarin differnet form cantonese?
could u explain? |
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river1974
Joined: 20 May 2003
Posts: 525
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:53 pm Post subject: lyrics of "I'm a *beep* I'm a lover" |
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I'm a *beep*, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way
Could you tell me what does "I'm nothing in between / You know you wouldn't want it any other way" mean? Thanks a lot. |
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river1974
Joined: 20 May 2003
Posts: 525
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| As I know, mandarin is much the same as Cantonese in the writing system. However, the speaking system of mandarin is different from that of Cantonese. Basically, I think most Chinese could speak more than one language. One is madarin which is now regarded as the official language for Chinese, and the others are local dialects. For manland China, Cantonese should be regarded as a local dialect. Take my mother for example, she could speak local Taiwanese language and Hakka language besides madarin. |
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eme
Joined: 05 Oct 2004
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 4:01 am Post subject: |
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Hi,
I would like to learn japanese,too.  |
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saywhat?
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Way out there
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| Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:15 pm Post subject: Re: lyrics of "I'm a *beep* I'm a lover" |
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| river1974 wrote: |
I'm a *beep*, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way
Could you tell me what does "I'm nothing in between / You know you wouldn't want it any other way" mean? Thanks a lot. |
I don't know what this has to do with the original question, but anyway.
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
I'm your worst nightmare and I'm your best dream.
The two are far apart form each other. She can be wonderful to be with "a dream" and at other times she would be the worst person to be with "your hell".
She is either one or the other. At one extreme or the other extreme, nothing in between. She is never in the middle of these two extremes.
You know you wouldn't want it any other way
And that is how you like it. You do not want to change it. You would not like it to be any different. You wouldn't want it any other way.
Mandarin and Cantonese:
They are two languages of the same family. They cannot be understood by each other. Cantonese is spoken in Southern China and Hong Kong. Mandarin is spoken in Northern China, Taiwan and Singapore. (There are also other languages and dialects spoken in these areas.)
They do use the same characters (writing symbols) but the grammar can be different. There is actually a writing style (grammar and vocabulary) that most of the different Chinese languages can understand.
Original Question
I am learning Mandarin, and I would like to be able to read, write, speak and understand it as well as many of you do English. Keep up the good work. |
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river1974
Joined: 20 May 2003
Posts: 525
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you saywhat. Your explanation for my lyrics questions is just as splendid as Bud's.
I used to listen to Cantonese songs. Although I cannot express the difference between Cantonese and Taiwanese lyrics clearly, personally I prefer Cantonese ones. I think Cantonese lyrics use more touching words and possess a higher artistic conception.
Mandarin grammar is quite different from English grammar. Besides, the plenty and complicated Chinese characters are also a difficulty for learners. But keep practicing, you will make progress continuously! |
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