学习 (learning) - set 001

Another random task I have set myself on to is learning the Chinese script. Learning French has never inspired me to live or visit France (although I have visited Paris for two days once) and learning Chinese has hardly anything to do with desire to visit China. I want to learn Chinese the same way I wanted to learn French a few years back.

I never ended up romanticising about French culture but I did fall in love with its literature. So far having read Maupassant, Voltaire, Verlaine and Baudelaire (apart from whatever I find online), I am quite content with the decision I had made about sticking to reading the French language. Speaking a language is a rather different organic process ; and I think one exercises empathy far more than the left-side of our brain in speaking a new language (If you feel the French way, for example, speaking French turns out far easier). Reading and composing a language is very different - it is what this post is concerned with.

With 4000 letters after abridgement, Chinese is no less than formidable as new language to learn. It is the first language I have encountered where etymology and morphology of Western languages seem irrelevant. The etymology of Chinese words doesn't need to be mined or researched from primeval languages - since it's always there in front of you. The letter "大" presents a stick-figure stretching his arms. The letter "在" en-capsulates a certain plant. These figures are then combined to create an approximate sense of every new word encountered. The semantics is always relevant in Chinese.

If this sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Often times, words evolve from sounds (e.g. loan words). When that happens, the pictorial representation falls apart in Chinese and figures are brought in just for sound. Americans are 美国 (měiguó - beautiful people) in Chinese. This is not inspired by Marilyn Manson - but by how similar 美国 sounds to (a)merican. The substitution for sound doesn't just happen for foreign words. 個 (gè - individual), for example, once implied a bamboo-segment - but has been borrowed just for sound.

Considering that a billion people speak, read and write the language fluently, this must be all still be manageable.Here, in this post, I intend to keep a log of all 4000 letters (split in 100-each to be revised in 40 days). I am helped a lot by two websites in taking these notes - 1. www.learnchineseez.com and 2. www.chineseetymology.org - both of which I think have done a terrific job in putting up these resources for free.

Set 001

的 - white(白) + spoonful - now meaning "of"(de5) (also aim/clear - d`i)

是 - sh'i - flower on a slope (to be)

不 - b'u - blocked (not)

我 - wǒ- hake (now meaning - I)

一 - yī - single line (one)

有 - yǒu - a hand holding some meat (月) (have)

大 - dà - man stretching his arms (big)

在 - zài - earth (土) + phonetic only (才). Meaning "at"

人 - rén - {people} 

了 - liǎo - {know}

中 - zhōng - {central}

到 - dào - reaching destination - { to arrive}

資 - zī - cowry (貝) + secondary (次 - water[冫]coming out of a man's mouth [欠] ) - {capital/wealth}

要 - yāo{demand}/yào{to want/must} - 女 + West - 西 - want/must

可 - kě - cane {can}

以 - yǐ - {by means of, because}

這 - zhè - 辵+ (step-with-left-foot(彳)+only(止)=>彳止 i.e. stopper =>辵) + writing( 文)/speech(言 - upside-down man's mouth 立 +口) - place to stop and write - {these}

個 - gè - bamboo segment - {individual}

你 - nǐ - 亻(人 - people) + loom(爾/尔 - like that) - {you}  

會 - huì{meeting}/kuài{account}

好 - hǎo - {well}

為 - wéi - {act as}

上 - shàng - mark above {up,above}

來 - lái - Fruit on a tree {come}

就 - jiù -  tall(京- jīng)+particularly(尤- yóu) () - {at once, approach}

學- xué -  子 taught by teacher's hands (𦥑) for marks (乂) {to learn}

交- jiāo - crossed legs {to intersect}

也 - yě - {also}

用 - yòng - waterbucket {to use}

能 - néng -   "strong-bear" from mouth(厶),(月肉) and feet (匕匕) -{can}

如 - rú due to phonetic 女 - {if}

文- wén- language/culture {man with a tie/dushala}

時 - shí -from sundial( , time)

沒- from water氵水 and action-by-hand 殳 - {méi-have not and mò-be drowned}

說 - shuì (persuade) shuō (speak) - speech (言 -) + a person talking {speak}

他 - tā - {him}

看 - kān - hand (手) + eye(目)  {look after or look}

提 - dī - hand (手) + phonetic 是 (sh'i) - holding in hand {carry/lift}

那 - nǎ nà - originally city name (阝) - {how/which,that}
問 - wèn - gate (门) + mouth (口) - {ask}
生 - shēng - small growing plant - {to be born}
過 - guò - walking on a road (辵) + inch (寸 or tr. 咼) - {to pass time/to cross}
下 - xià - downwards signal - {down}
請 - qǐng -speech(讠言)+phonetic 青 {to ask/invite/please (col.)}
天 - tiān - {sky}
們 -men5 - people(亻人)+ phonetic 门門 {they}
所 - suǒ - door (户) + ax make a door 斤 {actually/place}
多 - duō - too many moons (夕){much/many}
麼 - mó - {question-mark}
小 - xiǎo - three marks {small}
想 - xiǎng - heart (心)+ phonetic 相 {to think}
得 - dé - step-with-left-foot(彳) + phonetic 㝵 {to obtain}
之 - zhī - feet {him/her/it}
還 - hái, huán- walking on a road 辶辵(彳止) + phonetic 不瞏 orig. repeat {hái- more/still, huán- return}
電 - diàn - rain 雨 + lightning 电 {lightning/electricity}
出 - chū - {to occur/produce}
工 - gōng - carpenter's square {work}
對 - duì - hand 寸 (measure) + (follage) 又丵 - {pair/opposite}
都 - dōu/dū -  city(阝邑) + phonetic 者 {dōu-all dū-city}
機 - - {}
自 - - {}
後 - - {}
子 - - {}
而 - - {}
訊 - - {}
站 - - {}
去 - - {}
心 - - {}
只 - - {}
家 - - {}
知 - - {}
國 - - {}
台 - - {}
很 - - {}
信 - - {}
成 - - {}
章 - - {}
何 - - {}
同 - - {}
道 - - {}
地 - - {}
發 - - {}
法 - - {}
無 - - {}
然 - - {}
但 - - {}
嗎 - - {}
當 - - {}
於 - - {}
本 - - {}
現 - - {}
年 - - {}
前 - - {}
真 - - {}
最 - - {}
和 - - {}
新 - - {}
因 - - {}
果 - - {}
定 - - {}

Visiting as if never left

The photographs - Qutab looked more fantastic in sight than in photographs. The photographs couldn't recreate the effect they usually do with other places I go to. The immediate effect of the Qutab on a sunny day - the red-ness in Islamic architecture was very unusual.

The train gives the perspective of the poor, undeveloped India. The kind of India that is in a time-warp where nothing has changed and where people are completely insulated from the rest of the world. Sometimes, I think the country shouldn't have been free and people should've just been exposed to all the problems. But nobody is going to invade India now - there is nothing left.

But despite its abject poverty and its miserable lack of hygiene, there is something still appealing about it. The fact that it has survived all that and people are still willing to live. There is that which makes this country appealing. There is very little other than that, but this enough is a compelling reason to be in India. India has been disconnected from the Western world and hasn't received much of what was good about the Western culture. The time rest of Asian world spent improving their institutions based on learnings from West India was reinvigorating its ancient institutions and helping them survive. It has only partially succeeded; it has given its people the taste of modern world but hasn't really forged the path to economic development.

Whatever is wrong with India, is not in its tradition or its religion. It is indeed in the weakness of its institutions, the lack of practical wisdom and (prominence- Adhikya) of self-centredness in its people. It lacks the communication among its people - a kind of communication that sets West apart. Where media tells people about themselves and where governments help people what they aspire and where the individual is strong to accomplish what he aspires.

The Eastern philosophy nevers lets the strong individual come forward and take charge of himself. The taste of development India has seen requires her to do so. India hasn't been able to build its own path to economic success - one where it doesn't have to compromise her self-respect for economic development. That is apparently why the development resides and is localized to the cities that were settled by British. No other (except Ahmedabad, may be) city has been able to provide the locals the path to success.

The south is different, but then we don't see the typical adherence to Indian tradition in South - except the ritual connections. It can be argued that South has been more successful because of its adaptability to English ways ( that is only partly true - expertise in English is more of an effect rather than cause of economic development)

What India needs, I think is a greater exposure to the West, probably a better one so that people can look at themselves.