Arayaz wrote: ↑31 Dec 2023 03:16
Now we're getting somewhere! This is only because most words in Chinese languages are made of compounds of simpler words, whereas in English, words come from a greater diversity of sources.
In Chinese you need to memorize 4k+ characters, as opposed to 25k words26 letters.
Indeed, reading the meaning of the words is easier to interpret for Chinese languages, but the pronunciation is easier to interpret with English (though admittedly, not much). The Latin alphabet is optimized for pronunciation and minimizing the number of letters to memorize; the Chinese script is optimized for meaning.
If we can agree on that, then yes, we can move on.
Or, put another way: English borrows lots of roots from Latin and Greek, many Latin roots coming to English speakers from Old French, and also borrows words from Norse, Spanish, Italian, German, Modern French, Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Dutch, Algonquian languages, Nahuatl, and Portuguese. Words like "logography" or "polysyllabic" or "dietitian" or "sesquipedalian" are made by putting Greek or Latin roots together. Mandarin or Cantonese, however, is its own source of compound and complex words, pretty much. Split + mind + disease = schizophrenia. In fact, Japanese BORROWS these Sinitic roots to make its own learned [that's learn-ed, with two syllables] words. English is more like Japanese in this regard. Mandarin or Cantonese is more like Navajo.
That's not to say that a person studying English can't learn the Greek and Latin roots, though. Most native English speakers older than about 12, for instance, understand that the Greek word "hydro" and the Latin root "aqua" both mean water, and that -ology usually indicates the scientific study of something.
Any questions of yours I haven't answered yet?
I hope now the bar I set of "knowing both langs" makes more sense. It is not skippable.
Without it, one cannot figure out what I said is true or not.
I agree that we should end this conversation. I doubt you'll come to my point of view, and I doubt I'll come to yours (since, again, I don't like comparing the "complexity" of languages), and finding a middle ground doesn't seem easy either.
I'd appreciate it if a mod could lock the thread, but it's not a horrible cesspit of flamewarring, so I understand if it'd be better to leave it open.
I am from your POV if your POV is just an English learner's view (other than that I don't know what is your POV) and that is because I am an English learner myself.
You, on the other side, are not a Chinese learner, so you cannot come to mine even if you wanted.
This is why I am in a more advantageous position in this debate from the beginning and why the preliminary I required isn't trolling.
When I said something about CN but you cannot tell it is true or false based on your own exp, this argument won't yield any fruits.
Oligey wrote: ↑31 Dec 2023 04:25
I am from your POV if your POV is just an English learner's view (other than that I don't know what is your POV) and that is because I am an English learner myself.
You, on the other side, are not a Chinese learner, so you cannot come to mine even if you wanted.
This is why I am in a more advantageous position in this debate from the beginning and why the preliminary I required isn't trolling.
When I said something about CN but you cannot tell it is true or false based on your own exp, this argument won't yield any fruits.
Oligey wrote: ↑31 Dec 2023 04:25
I am from your POV if your POV is just an English learner's view (other than that I don't know what is your POV) and that is because I am an English learner myself.
You, on the other side, are not a Chinese learner, so you cannot come to mine even if you wanted.
This is why I am in a more advantageous position in this debate from the beginning and why the preliminary I required isn't trolling.
When I said something about CN but you cannot tell it is true or false based on your own exp, this argument won't yield any fruits.
I typed so many sentences and they still cannot show you my level?
Whatever.
FYI, in CN, there is NOT a concept called vocabulary at all. Because that of all CN speakers is basically the same.
Last edited by Oligey on 31 Dec 2023 04:37, edited 1 time in total.
Oligey wrote: ↑31 Dec 2023 04:25
I am from your POV if your POV is just an English learner's view (other than that I don't know what is your POV) and that is because I am an English learner myself.
You, on the other side, are not a Chinese learner, so you cannot come to mine even if you wanted.
This is why I am in a more advantageous position in this debate from the beginning and why the preliminary I required isn't trolling.
When I said something about CN but you cannot tell it is true or false based on your own exp, this argument won't yield any fruits.
I typed some many sentences and they still cannot show you my level?
Whatever.
FYI, in CN, there is NOT a concept called vocabulary at all. Because that of all CN speakers is basically the same.
Well, from what you've written, I'd guess you know about 15,000-25,000 English words. Somewhere in that ballpark. OK, so you said you didnt know "magma". Do you know the word "ballpark"?
♂♥♂♀
Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 90,000 words and counting
Oligey wrote: ↑31 Dec 2023 04:25
I am from your POV if your POV is just an English learner's view (other than that I don't know what is your POV) and that is because I am an English learner myself.
You, on the other side, are not a Chinese learner, so you cannot come to mine even if you wanted.
This is why I am in a more advantageous position in this debate from the beginning and why the preliminary I required isn't trolling.
When I said something about CN but you cannot tell it is true or false based on your own exp, this argument won't yield any fruits.
I typed some many sentences and they still cannot show you my level?
Whatever.
FYI, in CN, there is NOT a concept called vocabulary at all. Because that of all CN speakers is basically the same.
Well, from what you've written, I'd guess you know about 15,000-25,000 English words. Somewhere in that ballpark. OK, so you said you didnt know "magma". Do you know the word "ballpark"?
No, I don't know ballpark.
I guess mine is 10K-ish. You overestimated.
Let me try it and reply to you.
I have locked this thread. Oligey, perhaps you should take some time to cool off and get a sense of the people here on the CBB and their interests. Then, if you want to make a new thread, you should choose a topic that doesn’t involve you enforcing prerequisites. It evidently leads to more frustrating back-and-forth over qualifications than it does productive conversation.
