Chinese pronounciation

[amiyumi]

Hi, how do you know how to pronounce kanji without seeing hirangana or katakana??? and how to chinese speakers do this?

[sparky]

Yeah, well the only trick I know of is to study and memorize the kanji pronunciation. I have no idea how Chinese people do it, though! *lol* (I mean, yeah, they probably do it the same way, too, but still... SO many kanji! )

[Harisenbon]

Sparky hit the nail on the head. You just memorize the readings. As you learn the readings, you get the point where you can read words that you don't know, because the readings are (fairly) regular between words.

[nprz]

How do you learn to read English words without seeing either a phonetic key or knowing that word already or going by a similar word?
Basically it is next to impossible. hiragana/katakana is the phonetic key and seeing the kanji before gives a hint to whether it is pronounced the same the next time or not.

I don't know how Chinese do it, maybe a pin'yin key (or something cooler ?

[Infidel]

Chinese have an equivalent of rubi that they use and most chinese characters only have 1 reading so learning readings in chinese isn't as big a deal.

[nprz]

I thought all Chinese characters only have 1 reading... and it is all only one syllable. Of course I can't pronounced any of these syllables

[Infidel]

I have read that there are a small number with more than one reading. But I've no clue for the number only that not all have only one reading. I read it somewhere talking about the differences between Japanese and Chinese kanji.

[AJBryant]

Chinese have an equivalent of rubi that they use and most chinese characters only have 1 reading so learning readings in chinese isn't as big a deal.

TAIWAN has it. The PRC has not (and is likely not going to) adopt it. Pity, as it makes books readable for anyone who knows the system. Unlike the Japanese, who *can* write an entire book in hiragana for kids, the Chinese have no alternate writing system, so if you're a kid or marginally literate, whole swaths of the written word are out of your grasp. The Taiwanese system eliminates this problem -- but because it's those evil republican Chinese instead of the virtuous people's republic Chinese.... Sigh.

Tony

[roosh]

well...some of the japanese kanji's sounded a little like the chinese ones. many of them also bring up the same meaning. so it kindda end up like it's kindda easy to find out and be used to the kanji's meaning, rather than it's pronounsations.[that is what i'm facing..]

TAIWAN has it. The PRC has not (and is likely not going to) adopt it.

i heard from my mum that their generation used to learn those. but as the system changes, it's no more for us...

[amiyumi]

How do you learn to read English words without seeing either a phonetic key or knowing that word already or going by a similar word?

I think its a teeny bit diferent as in english you only have to learn 26 different characters and you can sound any word out but in japanese there is no way to sound it out because not everything is spelt in hirangana and there are thousands of different characters.

Woah i would never like to learn chinese! the way you say anything makes it different!!! like in french the have the acute, grave etc. for only one letter and it dosen't change the meaning of the word but in chinese it changes the whole syllable and there are four different ways to change it

mā = mother (say it at the top of your voice range note remains level)
mă = horse (falling-rising tip : drop your chin then raise it again)
má = linen (start at your normal voice and fin top raise your eyebrows)
mà = to swear (start at your normal range then fin at the bottom tip: stomp your foot)

[Harisenbon]

I think its a teeny bit diferent as in english you only have to learn 26 different characters and you can sound any word out but in japanese there is no way to sound it out because not everything is spelt in hirangana and there are thousands of different characters.
[/quote]

Well, English may have only 26 letters, but we have over a hundred different phonetic combinations.

For example, if you were to sound out ever word, you would never prounce phone as "fone" it would be something like "peehonee" We learn phonics in a very similar way to how Japanese children learn Japanese, by repetition and seeing many words with similar pronunciations.

I teach phonics to Japanese children, and let me tell you, it is a pain in the behind. Especially at young ages, they can't seem to understand why the letter called c "see" is never pronounced "see" in a word, but rather as "s" or "k".

[Infidel]

yea. English is NOT a phonetic language. Relatively few words are pronounced according to thier spellings, but we learn many of the exceptions while we are too young to notice so this discrepancy is transparent to most people.