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Taiwan Diary: Language "Practice"
Mar. 8th, 2023 09:55 amI had so many good intentions to study Chinese more diligently once I moved here, but it just hasn't happened. However, I am learning a few things which aren't necessarily helpful but I do think are interesting. I find myself making connections thanks to the dramas I have watched.
This week, I noticed a sign pointing toward "Qionglin" as I rode to work one morning. That word is familiar to me because of The Untamed. Qionglin is Wen Ning's courtesy name. Now, the "English" words on signs here don't typically have the tone indicators, so I wasn't sure if the Qionglin I saw as the same as the character name. The drama character's name is 琼林 Qióng lín, which the show wiki tells me is made of characters for 琼 (fine jade/beautiful) and 林 (woods/forest). The city in Hsinchu is 芎林 Qiōng lín. You can see the second character is the same, which makes sense for a place name. The first character, according to Google translate, means Ligusticum. After I had a good giggle about that word because I am twelve, I learned that ligusticum is a type of plant also known as Chinese lovage (again, I snickered) and is in the licorice family and is a popular medicinal herb. This makes sense as a place name, although I have not been out to the township to see if the plant does indeed grow there.
I enjoy making connections like this. It's like using Greek or Latin roots to break down words from Romance languages, but it's more like trivia acquisition than functional language learning. For example, we went to the Golden Waterfall over Lunar New Year break. In Chinese, it's called 黃金瀑布 --Huángjīn Pùbù -- that second character, 金, is the same jīn in the family name for the Jin clan in The Untamed, and it means gold.
When I was in Taipei over the same break, I noticed a sign pointing me to Chifeng St, which had the same characters (赤锋) as Chìfēng-zūn, Nie Mingjue's title. I did not go to the street, but I may just take a peek the next time I'm in Taipei. Just in case.
Of course, sometimes the "English" version of words are not using Pinyin but Wade-Giles versions, like Jhubei or Chupei instead of Zhubei, and this adds another layer for me to peel back as I learn. I haven't been able to figure out why some versions are used and not the others. According to a brief Wikipedia browsing, it could be related to Taiwanese Hokkien, which is a dialect (?) of Mandarin? I don't know, I'm getting out of my depth with the linguistic nuances here. I only took one semester of linguistics way back in 2001 as an undergrad.
I think when I do finally buckle down and study, these little connections will be like treats I get for practicing. I love the nerdier aspects of linguistics.
This week, I noticed a sign pointing toward "Qionglin" as I rode to work one morning. That word is familiar to me because of The Untamed. Qionglin is Wen Ning's courtesy name. Now, the "English" words on signs here don't typically have the tone indicators, so I wasn't sure if the Qionglin I saw as the same as the character name. The drama character's name is 琼林 Qióng lín, which the show wiki tells me is made of characters for 琼 (fine jade/beautiful) and 林 (woods/forest). The city in Hsinchu is 芎林 Qiōng lín. You can see the second character is the same, which makes sense for a place name. The first character, according to Google translate, means Ligusticum. After I had a good giggle about that word because I am twelve, I learned that ligusticum is a type of plant also known as Chinese lovage (again, I snickered) and is in the licorice family and is a popular medicinal herb. This makes sense as a place name, although I have not been out to the township to see if the plant does indeed grow there.
I enjoy making connections like this. It's like using Greek or Latin roots to break down words from Romance languages, but it's more like trivia acquisition than functional language learning. For example, we went to the Golden Waterfall over Lunar New Year break. In Chinese, it's called 黃金瀑布 --Huángjīn Pùbù -- that second character, 金, is the same jīn in the family name for the Jin clan in The Untamed, and it means gold.
When I was in Taipei over the same break, I noticed a sign pointing me to Chifeng St, which had the same characters (赤锋) as Chìfēng-zūn, Nie Mingjue's title. I did not go to the street, but I may just take a peek the next time I'm in Taipei. Just in case.
Of course, sometimes the "English" version of words are not using Pinyin but Wade-Giles versions, like Jhubei or Chupei instead of Zhubei, and this adds another layer for me to peel back as I learn. I haven't been able to figure out why some versions are used and not the others. According to a brief Wikipedia browsing, it could be related to Taiwanese Hokkien, which is a dialect (?) of Mandarin? I don't know, I'm getting out of my depth with the linguistic nuances here. I only took one semester of linguistics way back in 2001 as an undergrad.
I think when I do finally buckle down and study, these little connections will be like treats I get for practicing. I love the nerdier aspects of linguistics.
