The chinese language its history and current usage pdf

View 2 comments. Mar 19, Nancy rated it it was amazing Shelves: non-fiction , Excellent overview of the Chinese language. It's perfect for a reader with some knowledge of linguistic terms, but it's definitely written for a layman. It has tons of examples and really whetted my appetite to learn more. Sep 02, Kevin Albrecht rated it really liked it Shelves: language-learning. If you are thinking of learning Chinese, read this first to get an idea of what you are getting yourself into.

Feb 15, Lynne Kelly rated it it was amazing. I found this book fascinating. I am pleased that I had already put all the radicals in a memory palace because Kane refers to radicals a lot. I am finding being so engaged with them invaluable in learning new characters.

I am also glad that I had some basic vocabulary and am familiar with pinyin. I am far from advanced, but that small amount made it easy to appreciate the numerous examples in the book. I will be returning t I found this book fascinating. I will be returning to The Chinese Language when I know a lot more and expect to gain even more from it.

May 10, Robert Gebhardt rated it really liked it Shelves: language-and-linguistics. Many interesting tidbits, although I feel like I found this at the right time.

A few years ago most of it would've been over my head, and yet I read it early enough that most of it was new to me. And apparently our words for "tea" and "ketchup" both came from Hokkien. The section on anc Many interesting tidbits, although I feel like I found this at the right time. The section on ancient pronunciation was fascinating as well. Aug 31, Steph rated it really liked it Shelves: reading-in-china. This is a book I'll be coming back to as my Chinese hopefully gets better.

It's crammed full of charts that are sometimes overwhelming, and list upon list of examples for various grammar points, proverbs, etc.

Kane's discussion of different dialects is useful, but it was the one part of the book I wished was more extensive. The last two chapters--"Pronunciation" and "Beyond the Basics"--were especially helpful for a current laowai. Aug 31, Andrew rated it really liked it.

Intermediate and Advanced learners should also get something out of this - extremely well laid out and researched. I also found the veins of dry humour that run through this, extremely refreshing for an academic title. Jul 27, Susanna marked it as to-read Shelves: about-china-and-the-chinese , non-fiction. Aug 06, James rated it it was amazing Shelves: non-fiction , language.

Interesting book. Lots of useful tables for looking at the differences among the dialects of Chinese. Jan 04, Kellen rated it really liked it. The was a great overview of the language and a necessary exercise before pursuing further studies. Dec 25, Heather rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction , language.

Confirms my suspicion that I will never progress beyond elementary level Chinese. But what a great book, written with obvious love for a fascinating language. Nov 17, David Mario Mendiola rated it liked it. Had some fascinating explanations of ancient vs modern language more interesting than I expected and fun phonetic exercises to point out subtle differences between Chinese and English exercises at which, it must be said, I excelled beyond the ability of my wife, who is a native Chinese speaker don't tell her, she insists she won, bless her heart.

Sometimes it would slip into the astral plane of way too scholarly jargon, which no amount of befuddled gazing could discern. The section on dial Had some fascinating explanations of ancient vs modern language more interesting than I expected and fun phonetic exercises to point out subtle differences between Chinese and English exercises at which, it must be said, I excelled beyond the ability of my wife, who is a native Chinese speaker don't tell her, she insists she won, bless her heart.

The section on dialects was what I was looking forward to most, and it looked promising until there were samples of conversations in unrecognizable Romanizations and characters, all different from each other. I think I found the Big Dipper in one of the text samples, but that's about all I got. View 1 comment. Nov 04, Peter rated it liked it Shelves: own. It's a nice small overview. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses.

The Chinese language : its history and current usage Item Preview. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Not a language-learning title as such, The Chinese Language provides a demystifying overview of Chinese from a linguistic, historical and social perspective.

Providing basic information such as where Chinese is spoken, the history and earliest written records, regional variations, and a description of the writing system, The Chinese Language provides an excellent starting point for anyone intrigued by the history and basics of Chinese language Includes bibliographical references pages This use of language is an expression of a cultural preference for harmonious and positive intercourse among people. It is a cultural expression, not a control of thought by language.

Language is simply one of the tools through which a society expresses its character, and it is to be expected, not wondered at, that Chinese society expresses the same characteristics through its language as it does in other cultural forms. Because the focus of American relations with China has moved from diplomatic sorting out to business connections, there is one area of cultural expression in language that must be mentioned in closing.

That concerns the use of a special language for legal purposes. In our society, legal language is so specialized that it alone often carries the difference between one party's satisfaction and the other's in a hotly contested dispute. Our legal profession is a huge body of technocrats trained principally in the wielding of the tool of legal language.

It is often noted that China has a tiny number of lawyers as does Japan compared to the United States. This is not primarily because Chinese criminal proceedings have failed to allow sufficient protection for defendants though that has often been true , but because binding relations involving the exchange of money, goods, and services are not sealed in immutable language in China.

Rather, contracts lay out basic wishes of both sides and fundamental intents; from our point of view, at least, a great deal is left to the common sense and mutual trust of the parties concerned.

That procedure is unobjectionable so long as the expectations and assumptions of the two sides are the same. But troubles may arise when one party's differ from those of the other.

Different expectations, of course, are more likely to occur when the parties are from different cultures and where the principal participants do not know each other's languages well. China's joint-venture law of is a case in point. That law simply states general principles and does not contain the level of detail that American and other Western business people would consider normal in their own societies. Because of the vagueness of the language used, many businesses hoping for deals in China have held back from entering joint ventures for fear of losing their investment should something not planned for occur.

Misunderstandings related to language—particularly those that lead to troublesome problems—come from cultural misperceptions and language incompetence, not from the different structures of the two languages that two peoples speak.

So long as we in America remember that Chinese is one of the world's human languages and make intelligent provisions for the training of enough Americans in the use of that language, we face little problem from the uniqueness of the way that the Chinese speak and write.

But if we continue our historical ignorance of both China's culture and language, we doom ourselves to a very conflicting relationship.

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