Dawei3 Posted July 9, 2018 at 04:35 PM Report Posted July 9, 2018 at 04:35 PM One of the things that bothers prescriptivists in the US is when nouns are used as verbs (despite that this has happened for 100s of years). Does the use of nouns as verbs in Mandarin bother Chinese prescriptivists too? Both languages readily use nouns as verbs. One example: In both Mandarin & English, help (帮助) can be both a noun & a verb. Old examples in English, ~100 years ago "copy" and "worship" were nouns in English. More recently, "email" began a noun, but now is also a verb. There are countless examples of this. I wonder if these changes bother Chinese prescriptivists. Quote
dxcarnadi Posted July 10, 2018 at 01:53 PM Report Posted July 10, 2018 at 01:53 PM Chinese language is flexible. ? That's why .. I don't think so. In German: to help = helfen help [noun] = die Hilfe You see ... the eyes/ears see/hear the difference. A language lives ... BTW .. I were one week in London, NewYork & Hongkong. Nevertheless ... I can read/write in English. But not in Chinese .. ? Quote
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