你好﹐ 大家﹗
我最近學習了怎麼用我的電腦寫漢字﹐ 所以我現在能用中文給你們寫。 我很喜歡大學﹐ 但是很忙﹐ 所以我希望下個學期有有點兒空兒。 這個學期我有五門課﹕ 語言學課﹐ 中文課﹐ 數學課﹐ 歷史課﹐ 和HES課。 我沒有拉丁文可﹔ 我不覺得我有時間。我這個星期準備考試﹐ 可是不能等回家。
我很高興﹐ 因為我們學中文學得很快﹐ 因為我的專業是中文。
祝好﹐
James
二○○八年十二月六日
下午十二點三刻
This all translates to:
“Hello, all!
I recently learned how to use my computer to write Chinese characters, so now I can write to you all in Chinese. I really like college, but I’m very busy, so I hope to have a little (more) free time next semester. I’m taking five courses this semester: linguistics, Chinese, mathematics (calculus), history (of the Middle East), and Health and Exercise Science. I’m not taking a Latin course; I don’t think I’ll have time. I’m preparing for exams this week, but I can’t wait to come home.
I’m very happy (that) we’re learning Chinese so quickly, since my major is Chinese.
I wish you all well,
James”
2008 December 6th
12:45 p.m.”
There’s a little taste of what I’ve learned so far this semester. I should probably go study for exams now, maybe I can write more later. Goodbye! 再見﹗
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Cool!
James! On my computer, those show up as Chinese characters. Well, on Linnea’s computer, it is a paragraph of question marks!!!! 😀 Haha!
Very cool! I see an HES in the middle of the words. What’s that?
HES is Health & Exercise Science.
Wow, it seems that you are learning Chinese rather quickly. That is great! How many characters do you have memorized?
Seth
I probably know two or three hundred characters by now. Initially, I thought each Chinese character was unique and had to be memorized on its own, but there are a set number of *radicals* in the language that can be used to make up each character, so this aids in learning characters somewhat. Plus, it’s much easier to read/recognize Chinese characters than it is to write them.
Yes, the letters look very intricate! It seems like writing them would take a long time.
This is really cool James. I know you are having fun with Chinese.
Very cool!
Writing is definitely the hardest part of Mandarin, but it’s kinda fun too 🙂
I’m glad you’re enjoying it so much
It looks very difficult.