Please forgive me for being ignorant here as I am interested to learn Mandarin Chinese later in life, but in learning Spanish I realized the there are many types of Spanish peoples and with that comes many types of the language, but when it comes down to it it's all relative.
How much difference is there in the Oriental languages? Are Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian and others all relatively the same with minor differences? Or are they completely different?
2007-08-30 14:16:44 · 5 answers · asked by DanceCat Squiggy 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
They are all different. Some Chinese language characteristics are present in other languages, but people from Vietnam will not understand what a Mandarin speaker is saying; Japanese cannot understand Korean.
Spanish has dialects that differ from country to country, but they can all speak to one another and communicate. Asia has completely different languages. Comparing Cambodian to Chinese is like comparing Spanish and Dutch.
They also have different writing systems. Japanese and Chinese characters are often similar, but can have different meanings from one another. Vietnamese is the only Asian language that uses an alphabet instead of symbols.
For Mandarin...pronunciation differs from region to region. Mainland China uses simplified writing while Taiwan uses traditional style (more difficult). Accent changes even from city to city; Shanghai dialect is distinct from Beijing dialect, and so on.
But learning Chinese is very interesting; you should definitely pursue it and you will learn so much!
2007-08-30 14:32:23 · answer #1 · answered by Rin 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oriental is for rugs, call it Asian. Also, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese may sound the same, but they are all very different. Also, Chinese is extremely hard to learn simply because there are so many parts to speaking and writing it. I'm not sure about Vietnamese or other Southeast Asian languages, but none are similar in the way you are thinking.
2007-08-30 21:25:17 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
For the Chinese language, it will have to depend on which dialect of it you are refering to. Mandarin Chinese is definitely totally different from all these languages, but you can actually find many similarities between the languages you've listed and some Southern Chinese dialects like Cantonese or Hokkien.
2007-08-31 04:35:35 · answer #3 · answered by Singing River 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd have to agree with Rin on this one. Asian languages like Japanese/Korean/Chinese can be distinguished from one another based on pronunciation. Try watching some subbed asian dramas to get a general idea of how each language sounds.
2007-08-30 23:30:00 · answer #4 · answered by camuigckt427 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tamil (S. India), and Thai (just to add a few more) are really as different from each as any of them is from English or any European language. They each belong to an utterly different language family, and any resemblences are purely superficial.
2007-08-30 22:38:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋