xiaojiang216 Posted January 13, 2006 at 10:18 PM Report Posted January 13, 2006 at 10:18 PM 大家好！ “你为什么想学中文？” Ah, yes... The age old question... I have been asked this question many times, and I was wondering how other people react to this question. But no matter how I answer the question, I usually get something like... “噢，我想你有个中国女朋友！” What do you all think? Quote
adrianlondon Posted January 13, 2006 at 11:10 PM Report Posted January 13, 2006 at 11:10 PM hmm - it's not far off the truth Quote
流 Posted January 13, 2006 at 11:26 PM Report Posted January 13, 2006 at 11:26 PM I'm not sure what "为" is, but I can understand your question. Why do I xue zhongwen? Well, I have been really interested in Japanese, especially "kanji." So, I figured, why no learn Chinese? Starting in August, I'll be in Taiwan for about a year, so I;ll learn A LOT more zhongwen (or guoyu?), I imagine. Quote
xiaojiang216 Posted January 13, 2006 at 11:40 PM Author Report Posted January 13, 2006 at 11:40 PM Yes, you can say 中文 (zhong1 wen2) or 国语 (guo2 yu2). If I'm not mistaken, 国语 is used more commonly in Taiwan. But remember that 中文 means Chinese in general (I think). 国语 and 普通话 (pu3 tong1 hua4) refer to Mandarin specifically. You don't know 为？ This is "wei4" as in "wei4 shen2 me5"! Quote
流 Posted January 14, 2006 at 05:20 PM Report Posted January 14, 2006 at 05:20 PM From what I have been told, Taiwan is 國語(I'm still confused abouth the differences of 國語 and 普通話). AH! 为 is 為!! Now I get it. Quote
Altair Posted January 14, 2006 at 08:45 PM Report Posted January 14, 2006 at 08:45 PM I'm still confused abouth the differences of 國語 and 普通話 Wikipedia has the following: Standard Mandarin is officially known in the People's Republic of China as Putonghua (Simplified Chinese: 普通话 Hanyu Pinyin: Pǔtōnghuà, literally "ordinary speech"), in the Republic of China (Taiwan) as Guoyu (Traditional Chinese: 國語 Tongyong Pinyin: Guóyǔ, Wade-Giles: Kuo-yü, literally "national language"), and in Malaysia and Singapore as Huayu (Traditional Chinese: 華語 Simplified Chinese: 华语; Hanyu Pinyin: huáyǔ, literally "the Chinese (in a cultural sense) language"). All three terms are used interchangeably in Chinese communities around the world where different groups have come into contact.Basically, the three terms are synonymous, but carry slightly different connotations. "普通话" stresses a political fact; "普通话," a social fact; and "華語," an ethnic fact. Quote
smalltownfart Posted January 14, 2006 at 09:54 PM Report Posted January 14, 2006 at 09:54 PM I often hear 国语 being used by HK ppl as well. It may be fine to use this term in TW and HK, but since it is referring to the "Nation", this term is not suitable for everybody, for example in Malaysia, Singapore, Canada etc. Since these countries have other official language(s), you can't technically use this term, it sounds almost seditious. Quote
流 Posted January 15, 2006 at 03:06 AM Report Posted January 15, 2006 at 03:06 AM Hmm, you have putonghua twice, and no guoyu... "普通话" stresses a political fact; "普通话," a social fact; and "華語," an ethnic fact. -- I was talking to this one kid who had been in Taiwan for about 6 months, and he told me he had only heard Chinese be called GuoYu or ZhongWen... But, I'll trust Wikipedia, I guess. It does seem to have a lot of information:mrgreen: -- FYI, this is a reply for both this, and the one about Yasukini: 国語 is also used in Japanese (kokugo), and other phrases. There is a strong sence of "内・外" in Japan, any when ever you see a word like kokugo, you can assume that the country is in refrence to Japan. Now that I think about it, that has little to do with this thread... Quote
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