Growing up in Taiwan as the daughter of a calligrapher, one of my most treasured memories was my mother showing me the beauty, the shape and the form of Chinese characters. Ever since then, I was fascinated by this incredible language.
Odraščala sem na Tajvanu kot hči kaligrafa in eden mojih najljubših spominov je bil, ko mi je mati kazala lepoto in obliko kitajskih pismenk. Od tedaj naprej obožujem ta neverjetni jezik.
But to an outsider, it seems to be as impenetrable as the Great Wall of China. Over the past few years, I've been wondering if I can break down this wall, so anyone who wants to understand and appreciate the beauty of this sophisticated language could do so. I started thinking about how a new, fast method of learning Chinese might be useful.
A tujcu se zdi tako nepremostljiv kot Veliki kitajski zid. Zadnjih nekaj let sem se spraševala, ali lahko ta zid podrem, da bo lahko vsakdo razumel in občudoval lepoto tega prefinjenega jezika. Začela sem razmišljati o uporabnosti nove, hitre metode učenja kitajščine.
Since the age of five, I started to learn how to draw every single stroke for each character in the correct sequence. I learned new characters every day during the course of the next 15 years. Since we only have five minutes, it's better that we have a fast and simpler way. A Chinese scholar would understand 20,000 characters. You only need 1,000 to understand the basic literacy. The top 200 will allow you to comprehend 40 percent of basic literature -- enough to read road signs, restaurant menus, to understand the basic idea of the web pages or the newspapers. Today I'm going to start with eight to show you how the method works. You are ready?
Od petega leta naprej sem se učila risati vsako potezo vsake pismenke v pravilnem zaporedju. V zadnjih 15 letih sem se vsak dan učila novih pismenk. Ker pa imamo samo pet minut, bo potreben hiter in enostaven način. Kitajski strokovnjak razume 20.000 pismenk. A za osnovno pismenost jih potrebujemo le 1.000. Če poznate 200 najbolj pogostih, lahko razumete 40 odstotkov osnovne literature. To je dovolj za branje napisov, menijev in razumevanje osnovnih pomenov spletnih strani ali časopisov. Danes bom začela z osmimi, da vam predstavim, kako metoda deluje. Ste pripravljeni?
Open your mouth as wide as possible until it's square. You get a mouth. This is a person going for a walk. Person. If the shape of the fire is a person with two arms on both sides, as if she was yelling frantically, "Help! I'm on fire!" -- This symbol actually is originally from the shape of the flame, but I like to think that way. Whichever works for you. This is a tree. Tree. This is a mountain. The sun. The moon. The symbol of the door looks like a pair of saloon doors in the wild west.
Odprite usta kolikor gre, da tvorijo kvadrat. To so usta. To je človek, ki se sprehaja. Človek. Obliko ognja lahko vidimo kot človeka z roko na vsaki strani. Videti je, kot da kriči: "Na pomoč! Gorim!" Pismenka izvira iz oblike plamena, a rada jo vidim na tak način. Kakor vam ustreza. To je drevo. Drevo. To je gora. Sonce. Luna. Pismenka za vrata je videti kot par saloonskih vrat z Divjega zahoda.
I call these eight characters radicals. They are the building blocks for you to create lots more characters. A person. If someone walks behind, that is "to follow." As the old saying goes, two is company, three is a crowd. If a person stretched their arms wide, this person is saying, "It was this big." The person inside the mouth, the person is trapped. He's a prisoner, just like Jonah inside the whale. One tree is a tree. Two trees together, we have the woods. Three trees together, we create the forest. Put a plank underneath the tree, we have the foundation. Put a mouth on the top of the tree, that's "idiot." (Laughter) Easy to remember, since a talking tree is pretty idiotic. Remember fire? Two fires together, I get really hot. Three fires together, that's a lot of flames. Set the fire underneath the two trees, it's burning. For us, the sun is the source of prosperity. Two suns together, prosperous. Three together, that's sparkles. Put the sun and the moon shining together, it's brightness. It also means tomorrow, after a day and a night. The sun is coming up above the horizon. Sunrise. A door. Put a plank inside the door, it's a door bolt. Put a mouth inside the door, asking questions. Knock knock. Is anyone home? This person is sneaking out of a door, escaping, evading. On the left, we have a woman. Two women together, they have an argument. (Laughter) Three women together, be careful, it's adultery.
Tem osmim pismenkam pravim radikali. S sestavljanjem lahko iz njih ustvarimo nove pismenke. Človek. Če kdo hodi zadaj, je pomen "slediti." Stari rek pravi, dva sta družba, trije pa gneča. Če človek razširi svoje roke, hoče povedati: "Bila je tako velika." Če je človek v ustih, je ujet. Zapornik je, kot Jon v kitu. Eno drevo je drevo, dve skupaj sta gozdiček, tri skupaj pa gozd. Če pod drevo položimo desko, dobimo osnovo. Usta nad drevesom pomenijo "bedak." (Smeh) To si lahko hitro zapomnite, saj je govoreče drevo precej bedasto. Se spomnite ognja? Če sta dva ognja skupaj, postane vroče. Trije skupaj in dobimo veliko plamenov. Če ogenj postavimo pod dve drevesi, gori. Za nas je sonce vir blaginje. Dve sonci skupaj, uspešen. Tri skupaj in dobimo iskre. Če skupaj postavimo sonce in luno, je to svetlost. Pomeni tudi "jutri." Po enem dnevu in noči. Sonce vzhaja na obzorju. Sončni vzhod. Vrata. Če med vrata postavimo desko, je to zapah. Usta med vrati pomenijo "spraševati." Tok, tok. Je kdo doma? Ta človek se tihotapi skozi vrata. Pobegniti, izogniti se. Na levi imamo žensko. Če sta dve ženski skupaj, se prepirata. (Smeh) Tri ženske skupaj, pazite, to je prešuštvo.
So we have gone through almost 30 characters. By using this method, the first eight radicals will allow you to build 32. The next group of eight characters will build an extra 32. So with very little effort, you will be able to learn a couple hundred characters, which is the same as a Chinese eight-year-old. So after we know the characters, we start building phrases. For example, the mountain and the fire together, we have fire mountain. It's a volcano. We know Japan is the land of the rising sun. This is a sun placed with the origin, because Japan lies to the east of China. So a sun, origin together, we build Japan. A person behind Japan, what do we get? A Japanese person.
Predelali smo skoraj 30 pismenk. S to metodo lahko iz prvih osmih radikalov sestavite 32 pismenk. Iz naslednjih osem jih lahko sestavite še 32 več. Z ne preveč truda se lahko naučite nekaj sto pismenk, kolikor jih zna tudi kitajski 8-letnik. Ko spoznamo pismenke, začnemo graditi besedne zveze. Na primer, če sta skupaj gora in ogenj, je to ognjena gora. Vulkan. Japonska je dežela vzhajajočega sonca. Tukaj smo povezali sonce in izvor, ker Japonska leži vzhodno od Kitajske. Sonce in izvor skupaj, dobimo Japonsko. Kaj dobimo, če na koncu dodamo še človeka? Japonca ali Japonko.
The character on the left is two mountains stacked on top of each other. In ancient China, that means in exile, because Chinese emperors, they put their political enemies in exile beyond mountains. Nowadays, exile has turned into getting out. A mouth which tells you where to get out is an exit.
Leva pismenka sta dve gori, druga na drugi. V starodavni Kitajski je to pomenilo "izgon," ker so kitajski cesarji politične nasprotnike izgnali preko gora. Zdaj to pomeni "iti ven." Usta, ki ti povedo, kje lahko greš ven, pomenijo "izhod."
This is a slide to remind me that I should stop talking and get off of the stage. Thank you.
Ta diapozitiv me opomni, da naj neham govoriti in odidem z odra. Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplavz)