On 18-9-2001 17:01, "Bob Yates" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> the time in written texts aimed at kinds of readers.  Given the huge amount of
> time needed to learn the writing system of Chinese, is it any wonder there are
> calligraphy contests?
I would rather see Chinese writing as a part of culture of East Asia.
The Chinese characters have always been used as coat of arms, logos and
other important and widely understandable symbols of power.
In Japan parents spend weeks -- if not months -- studying special books on
names, trying to find the most proper _kanji_ (Chinese character) for the
baby.
On top of that many of my Asian friends say _kanji_ have souls...
Let me tell you a short story: once I asked my calligraphy professor, which
character is the most difficult to write. He immediately replied: "ichi"
('one'). I was stunned, because the character for 'one' is just a single
horizontal stroke! My professor looked at me and said very seriously: "Do
you realise how difficult it is to express your mood, the atmosphere around
you and your own style with just one single stroke?!?"

***

> Herb Stalke mentioned Dick Hudson's review of how grammar is taught in other
> countries.  My own experience agrees with Hudson's findings: speakers of
> Slavic languages know much more about the grammar of their languages than
others. Without any evidence (I know very little about the Slavic
languages), I wonder if this may be due to the extensive case system of
those languages with noticeable dialect variation from the standard of the
language.
>
Case system is very complicated, indeed. Thus Polish for example is
extremely difficult to teach. I have never met a foreigner speaking perfect
Polish -- except for people born here, of course.

Cheers!


MACiek

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