Chinese Writing and Chinese Language

Written Chinese is the symbolic of spoken Chinese，becoming the tools of the writing and the Han dialect are closely related and have a strong sense of space and time．It not only displays the similarities of ancient, modern and even online Chinese，but also

weaves many other different dialects．From the ancient Han dialect to the modern Chinese，the phonetics have changed considerably．The vocabulary and grammar have also evolved immensely，yet the squared shape of the character has remained the same.

 

Chinese writing is the unity of form，sound and meaning．Words supply the vocabulary, in turn forming the syntax．One character has three aspects：initials，finns，and intonation．Altogether，the Han dialect contains 21 initials，39 finals，and four tones．The Han dialect has many homo phones (about 3755 words are in common usage，yet there are only 400 sounds)．This has become one of the Chinese language greatest characteristics．That is why to learn Chinese is uneasy.

 

A distinct two-part allegorical expression，xie1 hou4 yu3，is a distinct language usage created by people with regards to their life experience．It is commonly composed of two phrases the first half being a vivid description and the second half containing a meaning which must be deciphered. The expression contains references to nature or daily life. In certain social environments，usually the first half is said，but the second half is omitted intentionally so that others must infer the intended expression. Xie1 hou4 yu3 is a short，witty and vivid sentence. For example，in the expression “the stool of paper cannot work”，work and sit sound similar in Mandarin of hanbridge．In the expression “The Buddhists’ house-wonderful”．the Mandarin word “temple” has the same sound as wonderful ．Some allegorical sayings have affiliations with Chinese traditional culture or historical figures，as in ‘‘Song jiang’s military advisor worthless”. Because of the counselor’s name，“Wu Yong”，sounds like the word “worthless”．yet the characters are quite different.

   

Idioms and proverbs are another defining characteristic of the Chinese language. An idiom is a phrase with a fixed format having been used throughout time，attributing to the descriptiveness of the written language．It commonly consists of four words。such as “胸有成竹”．This idiom literally translates to bamboo grows from the chest，but its figurative meaning is to have a well-thought-out plan. Unlike idioms，proverbs have no limitation on the number of words. They are created and popularized by common people，while remaining concise and comprehensive It is a formed artistic language，and its discipline demonstrates the people’s wisdom and experience，as shown in the

example．With rain brightens all four directions，without rain shines the tip of the heavens．English proverbs that many Chinese learn to translate, such as, a fall into a pit again in your wit, and Rome was not built in a day，do not have strict rules of framework while Chinese idioms are compelled to the four-word format．

 Source: 

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