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Topic: Chinese/Japanese characters (Read 28577 times) |
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archibring
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the following word was widely used in world war II in china. can you guess what it means?
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #76 on: Dec 5th, 2005, 11:12pm » |
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I can think of a couple.
Devil
Child that does not resemble his/her parents
Child born with teeth
Depending on the situation, I bet all of them were used. What's your meaning. And why? Do you think it had anything to do with the children that were abandoned by the Japanese when they fled after the war?
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malchar
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #77 on: Dec 18th, 2008, 6:44pm » |
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It must be Nazi
but to be fair I have just started studying Chinese at college. I'm not sure enough about my history to really understand what Speaker has posted about, though. However, I'm sure that the word was created to match the pronunciation and also mimic the effective meaning, which Speaker has correctly discovered.
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| « Last Edit: Dec 18th, 2008, 6:47pm by malchar » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #78 on: Dec 22nd, 2008, 4:52am » |
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on Dec 5th, 2005, 10:30pm, archibring wrote:| the following word was widely used in world war II in china. can you guess what it means? |
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Well, I know what the Chinese means literally: devil or evil spirit. When talking about the Japanese during the war they were often referred to as 洋鬼子 （yang GUI zi) or foreign devils, just as Brits used to refer to the Germans as the Hun. I suppose GUI zi is just a shortened form of this.
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Benny
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #79 on: May 14th, 2009, 4:37pm » |
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We read English from left to right horizontally.
Arab cultures the opposite.
I'm curious about Chinese and Japanese languages.
I understand that Chinese/Japanese characters are written in columns that are read from top to bottom and from right to left, or in horizontal lines that read from left to right.
My question: does speaking Chinese or Japanese present an advantage in doing mental calculations?
I read the following article
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=math-the-eyes-h ave-it-09-05-11
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #80 on: Jan 16th, 2012, 5:35am » |
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Hi, nice to be back. Been a long time.
Regarding the question, although it has been a long time since it was asked, I think it could lead to a long slippery slope leading to misleading ideas about how certain cultures may have some advantage in intellectual abilities.
I guess I am kind of just jumping right to the bottom of the slope if anyone wants to discuss it.
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towr
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #81 on: Jan 16th, 2012, 8:47am » |
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It seems obvious to me that some cultures have some (let's make this clear, cultural) advantage in some intellectual (or other) abilities. Any culture that values a certain ability will cause it to be developed (practiced) more often and to a greater degree, and that will give it an advantage in that ability.
I suppose a more interesting question is to what extent language influences intellectual ability, since it helps to structure thinking. If you can't easily bring a concept under words, that makes it harder to share and develop and build on. And conversely, if a concept fits very easily, it'll spread and develop more quickly.
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #82 on: Jan 24th, 2012, 5:19am » |
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Hi Towr
Can you give me some examples?
Are some cultures very thrifty?
Organized thinkers?
Freewheeling adventurers?
Relaxed even in hard times?
I think that any culture can fill a bell curve, with an equal proportion of great bowlers as well as bad bowlers.
I need to consider the language part...
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| « Last Edit: Jan 24th, 2012, 5:27am by Speaker » |
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towr
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #83 on: Jan 24th, 2012, 11:03am » |
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Well, I'm no cultural anthropologist, and it's easy to get caught out by stereotypes.
It's probably easier to give an example for physical abilities than intellectual/mental once, since it's easier to find the numbers for it.
For example, close to home, we Dutch have a disproportionate number of top speed skaters. Just look at the medal count. (Though Norway seems to be even better; less than a third as many people, and more medals overall). Of course geography is part of it, we regularly have (had) winters strong enough to freeze rivers and canals and soft enough you could stay out skating. But a greater part, I'd have to say, is plain cultural; it's a national sport with all the benefits that entails (sponsoring, attention, appeal to starting athletes).
That's not that, say, a Jamaican couldn't be a great ice-skater, but the chance they'd consider it is small, the chance they'd find a sponsor is small, the chance they'd find training facilities is small, etc. (But they did enter a bobsledding competition once, so it's not entirely out of the question.) They may be just as well suited physically, but many preconditions for success depend on culture.
One intellectual example that comes to mind is chess. There was perhaps no better place to be a chess player than Soviet Russia, and Russia still tops the charts in the number of grandmasters. It helps an ability tremendously if a society appreciates it. US's 1 grand masters per 5 million stands in stark contrast to Russia's 1 per million. And the derision of chess-club members in American highschool TV series (and the culture it's a sign of) probably explain part of that.
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #84 on: Jan 27th, 2012, 9:25pm » |
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Nice examples. Everyone can agree, and say, "Those Dutch, they are such fine skaters." But, I think that using that reasoning leads to false conclusions. Are there not also a great number of failed skaters and chess players. You could count the many failed individuals and say, "Those Dutch, they have so many skaters who lose races." (This is a little ridiculous.)
It seems that there is truth in what you say, about certain cultures producing certain talents. But, that argument has been used throughout history to inflate and to degrade cultures (and ethnic groups). So, whenever I hear something like it, I want to refute it.
As your above examples are benign, and even favorable, everyone can agree. It seems logical and correct. But, the next examples will be disrespectful or hateful. Not from you, I hope, but you are a thoughtful and intelligent person.
My reasoning probably needs to be sharpened up. I know that different people in different cultures think and act differently. (And, I guess the next link is that this causes them to develop different talents.) But, there is a link missing. I think that any individual in any culture may develop great skills, but that it is more a reflection on the individual than on the culture.
For example, comparing the chess masters in the USSR and the USA. I think the comparisons should be in people that attempted to learn Chess. Maybe there are 5 times as many people who try to play chess in the USSR, so of course they have 5 times as many champions. This does not directly address your idea, but it is connected.
Connecting this to language. Chomsky said something like, "If a martian were to land on Earth, he would consider all the languages to be the same Earthish." The same I guess could be said of cultures.
So, the great skaters and chess players do not arise from a culture, but from humans that are exposed to and taught those activities. OK, so the exposure comes from the culture? I think there is something more to this, but I do not have it now.
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| « Last Edit: Jan 27th, 2012, 9:27pm by Speaker » |
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towr
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #85 on: Jan 28th, 2012, 4:25am » |
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I think that is much easier to fail/give up in a society that doesn't support your efforts at developing an ability, so without actually having any numbers to back it up or any better reason than intuition I would guess that, for example, the mean of our bellcurve for speed skating lies significantly higher.
I imagine many chessplayers in the US might stay at amateur level because they aren't given an opportunity to progress to professional levels. Which might actually cause the distribution of ability to not be a bellcurve at all, because there is a barrier there; you'd have one peak at amateur levels, and a small peak higher up for professionals that created/found the opportunity to dedicate more of their time to chess.
(But ultimately, it'd be nice to have some numbers rather than having to use my imagination. So far I've only found that the US has 39 million people that play chess, according to the US chess federation; but I can't find the Russian number anywhere)
There's really two question here:
1) the proportion of people that seeks to develop an ability, and
2) how good those people can become at that.
And I think that in both cases a supportive culture will increase the numbers.
I agree with you that any individual in any culture may develop great skill; but some will find it significantly easier to do so because of the circumstances/culture they find themselves in. If your talent is valued enough in your society to make a living from it this makes a huge difference compared to having to do it as a "hobby". Of course, moving to another country where you can make a living out of it will also level the playing field for you; but it is still an extra barrier to take, and some won't.
Another thing to consider, so you don't take this too much as some kind of cultural determinism: people cause their culture. It's a feedback loop where culture influences the people that make it up and vice versa. If many individuals find a skill important they will make it easier for each other and themselves to develop it further (even if it's just by forming societies, clubs and federations). Culture is not something external to people, but it does have a certain inertia, which spreads it out a bit to following generations (which may or may not take it up and perpetuate the cycle).
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| « Last Edit: Jan 28th, 2012, 10:29am by towr » |
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #86 on: Jan 29th, 2012, 12:56am » |
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I guess the numbers are important. It would certainly support the idea that a society develops a skill beyond the expertise of another society. I can agree with this, but I guess I worry that people equate a society with an individual within that society.
So, what percentage of the Dutch population are good skaters. What percent are bad skaters. If I meet a Dutchman am I justified to assume that he is a good skater. How often would I be proven wrong?
Then, I guess we should consider good and bad. Perhaps the man I meet, was a good skater, but no long is. Or is working on becoming one, but is not yet. Or, just doesn't care for skating, because the shoes are scarey.
I guess stereotypes are what bother me. So, looking for how a society affects individuals is a different subject.
Also, who decides that a talent is good or bad (advantageous or disadvantegeous). Maybe some societies develop skills that are admired, but actually disadvantgeous. And the opposite, not admired but advantageous.
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towr
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #87 on: Jan 29th, 2012, 1:31am » |
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Yeah, on an individual level culture is pretty meaningless for guessing whether someone is good or bad at an ability; certainly for expertise-level the percentages are pretty low anyway. And even on the level of national achievements you can easily be surprised; for example baseball is not a large part of Dutch society, so I was quite surprised to find out last year we had become world champion.
As for deciding whether a talent is advantageous or not to a society, I think ultimately that's something only future historians can really judge, because it can depend on long-term consequences. A lot of talents are pretty innocuous though; the fate of society likely won't depend one way or the other on chess or skating; unless perhaps we get obsessed and spend all our efforts in perfecting such skills at the cost of everything else.
But things like scientific and technological developments are certainly beneficial in the short term (economically and in terms of welfare), and they do require large investments from a society to get going and keep going. So when in some places they don't even acknowledge the importance of educating girls, or any children at all, that will leave them at a disadvantage.
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