TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:re: Don't know what to title this... From:Sean Hower <hokumhome -at- freehomepage -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 26 Apr 2004 08:18:20 -0700 (PDT)
------------------------
Geoff Hart wrote:
My recollection is that this is because the Japanese don't have an L sound in their language, and neither Japanese nor Chinese uses articles. Confirmation or refutation of these beliefs gratefully accepted.
------------------------
There really isn't an r either. The sound is generally somewhere between an r and an l. Depending on the dialect, it may sound more r-ish or l-ish. But I vaguely remember there being some controversy about that, at least in linguistics circles. I'd have to check my linguistics books at home to make sure. There's a good one called "The Languages of Japan" that also includes a healthy section on the Ainu language. As for Chinese, there are both r and l sounds, which is why I always cringe when someone who is trying to imitate *Englese swaps the r and l sounds.
There are no articles in Japanese, and I think there aren't in Chinese either.......I'm uncertain because I remember something about articles in Chinese but I can't remember what that something is.
I had a conversation with a Japanese translator one time about the difference between "a" and "the." At the time, it was something I didn't much think about and so it was actually sort of difficult to explain.
As far as linguistic quarks go, I continue to hear words like orientate, conversate, and others. Darn dirty back formations!! :-) And don't get me started on "utilize" being improperly utilizated simply for the sake of utilization. Can't we all just utilize correctly? ;-)
* Englese - English-Chinese, referring to the "dialect" that comes about from the systematic mistakes made by Chinese speakers of English. There is also Chinglish, which I practiced quite a bit in the year and half I studied Chinese. And Japlish, which I also practiced and still manage to speak once in a while. :-)
ROBOHELP X5 - ALL NEW VERSION. Now with Word 2003 support, Content
Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more!
Now is the best time to buy - special end of month promos, including:
$100 mail-in rebate; Free online orientation on content management
functionality; Huge savings on support and future product releases;
PLUS Great discounts on RoboHelp training. OFFER EXPIRES April 30th!
Call 1-800-358-9370 or visit: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
