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Chinese classical texts don't work that way as you suggested.
by leemailll 7y ago
Chinese classical texts don't work that way as you suggested.
- yorwba 7y agoIn what way? I admit that I haven't read a lot of Classical Chinese and usually need a Mandarin translation to help me understand, but that's easily explained by it being a different language. The experience isn't much different from reading modern Cantonese for me.
- hangonhn 7y agoChinese went through a vernacular revolution in the early to mid 20th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_vernacular_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_vernacular_Chinese Written Chinese today is a lot easier to understand than classical Chinese.
- yorwba 7y agoSure, as I said, Classical Chinese is a different language. That it's hard to understand for speakers of modern Sinitic languages is not surprising. On the contrary, it's remarkable that people can have some success at reading texts in a language whose pronunciation they don't have the faintest idea of.
- knolax 7y agoIt seems that without knowing Chinese, most Westerners can only resort to appeals to authority to make their points.
- yorwba 7y agoI'm curious who you think doesn't know Chinese in this discussion. I already mentioned I do, hangonhn said they do, and leemailll's username makes me guess that they're not an exception either.
- knolax 7y agoGiven that they seem baffled by wedding invitations, they don't seem like they're very proficient. There's a ocean of difference between "Where is the bathroom" and "We hold these truths to be self-evident".