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Originally Posted by masaegu
LMAO 
As if you knew something about either language..... |
Haha, seriously. Disregarding all the kanji/hanzi and a lack of a basic syllabary, Chinese pronunciation is soo much more difficult than that of Japanese. Tones and stress and everything... It's pretty intimidating.
By the way, masaegu. A while ago I read in a
beginner's Japanese book something I hadn't read before, and if it's true I will be somewhat confused. (Sorry for straying off topic, but since I mentioned Chinese pronunciation and stress...) The book says;
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Pitch is important in Japanese pronunciation, as certain syllables in a word must be pronounced with a high or low pitch. The meaning of a word may differ depending on the pitch.
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Then the book goes on to list various Japanese homophones. Is that true? Could you tell the difference between 箸 and 橋 if you just heard はし by the pitch? I mean, I can't hear the difference between 'stake' and 'steak' or 'see' and 'sea' but it's
the context that let's me know the meaning. I just assumed it was the same way for Japanese. If it's true I'm gonna feel freakin' retarded for getting to a semi-intermediate stage without knowing about this!