what's the diff. between "shì" and "shè"?

[45rob54]

From what I can see, they both look like they should be pronounced "sh-uh"... is there any difference tho? and is it the same for all the tones ( i heard someone say 十 as "shee").

And finally, is it true that in taiwan they speak mandarin but write it with traditional characters?

thanks

[dalaowai]

Shi and She are not the same. Shi is pronounced Sh-er and She is pronounced sh-uh. Yes it is all the same for all of the tones. I have many Japanese friends that pronounce Shi as "shee" due to their Romanji system, however this is incorrect.

Yes, in Taiwan they speak Mandarin but with Traditional characters. There are various dialects as well.

In Hong Kong they also use Traditional characters, as well as Japanese use Kanji, which uses Traditional characters.

[imron]

The sounds are similar but still different.

"Shi" is pronounced with the tongue still curled back in more or less the same position for the entire sound.

With "she" it starts off with the tongue curled back for the "sh" part of the sound, but then flattens out for the "e" sound.

[HashiriKata]

There is a clear diffiference in the sound of "shi" and "she" but if you can't already hear the difference, it may be better to ask a native speaker to demonstrate it to you, rather than trying to work it out from an abstract description. Meanwhile, you may like to listen to the recorded version from the following link:

http://lost-theory.org/chinese/phonetics/

[Kong Junrui]

If you have trouble with that, maybe you should hear someone say [pop=celsius/shèshì]摄氏[/pop]，the Mandarin translation of "Centigrade/Celsius," as in the temperature mesuring system. It is pronounced "shèshì."

I guess the only way I could tell you what the difference is that "she" is a more "open" sound, while "shi" is a more "closed" sound. "She" ends with your mouth more open than with "shi."

At least, that's how it is for me.

[xiaojiang216]

Japanese use Kanji, which uses Traditional characters.

I'm not exactly sure, but I think that there are a few exceptions. At a Karate Dojo, everyone had something on their gi's that read:

拳優会 "Kenyyukai"

However, the traditional form of 会 is 會, correct? I asked someone why it was a simplified character instead of a traditional character. He did not know what a simplified character was.

Any Japanese linguists that can verify this?

[Kong Junrui]

Japanese uses some traditional characters, some simplified like they do in China, some with their own version of simplification, and some characters not in Chinese at all.

According to Wikipedia:

"While kanji are essentially Chinese hanzi used to write Japanese, there are now significant differences between kanji and hanzi, including the use of characters created in Japan, characters that have been given different meanings in Japanese, and post WWII simplifications of the kanji."

Kokuji (国字; literally "national characters"):

* 峠 tōge (mountain pass)

* 榊 sakaki (sakaki tree, genus Camellia)

* 畑 hatake (field of crops)

* 辻 tsuji (crossroads, street)

* 働 dō, hatara(ku) (work)

Kokkun (Chinese characters with different meanings):

* 沖 oki (offing, offshore; Ch. chōng rinse)

* 森 mori (forest; Ch. sēn gloomy, majestic, luxuriant growth)

* 椿 tsubaki (Camellia japonicus; Ch. chūn Ailantus)

Hmm, there's something else I seem to recall reading before, but can't find it... oh well. You can read the rest of the Wikipedia article here.

[HashiriKata]

However, the traditional form of 会 is 會, correct? I asked someone why it was a simplified character instead of a traditional character. He did not know what a simplified character was.

There's on the whole only one version of characters in use in Japan, that's why Japanese would normally not know what is meant by "traditional"/ "simplified".

There are many characters that were simplified in Japan, much earlier than the simplification process that took place in China and therefore, some of these simplified characters got adopted in the simplification scheme in China, an example of which is the character 会 above.

[mr.stinky]

maybe this will help....

shi sounds much like the 'shi' part of 'shirt.' you may or may not hear a light 'r' ending

(like 'shir' in 'shirley').