Monday, April 27, 2009

language

I've seen a lot of Chinese. It is the most spectacular language. The dots, strokes and swiggles in their specific order absorb all my attention. The boxy characters, the curvy loops, and the specific step-by-step way of painting out the words hypnotize me when I watch Portia scrawl directions to the subway for the taxi driver.

Look at this one:



It means "splendid" and is pronounced "hua". It's so complex and yet makes its point so clear so quickly.

A well-educated Chinese person knows about 6000 different characters. That's like knowing the design of six thousand snowflakes, along with giving names to each one.

1 comment:

  1. and the pun-like connections are nigh innumerable. For instance húa is a homonym for flower (huā) with only the tone being different. Splendid!

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