User Comments - bobblue
bobblue
Posted on: Photos with Animals
January 11, 2014 at 11:06 PMNot really the right forum for this sort of comment is it?
Posted on: Long Time No See!
December 15, 2013 at 11:00 PMA discussion I hear a lot among foreigners too.
注音符號 (ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠ or Zhuyin Fu hao), or BoPoMoFu, is a great system, it takes a little time to learn at the start but I hear a lot of people say they prefer it as a pronunciation guide.
An issue with pinyin is that it can lead to pronuncation problems as the sounds don't alway match the English (e.g. it took me a while to get words like 眼睛 （eyes) right when written in pinyin as the tendency can be to pronunce the a in 'yan' as in January instead of it actually being closer to Yen (the Japanese currency)). And it can be tricky not to read pinyin as you would English.
The flip side is BoPoMoFu does require some additional learning. It would be a great option on the site (and maybe also tone marks above the characters - toggleable?) and is an enhancement to knowledge of the language. Also if you ever want to type Chinese and find yourself in front of a keyboard set up for BPFM instead of pinyin it's invaluable!
So yeh, I'd second that :)
Posted on: Mild Swearing
December 14, 2013 at 9:30 PMAw, you missed the ubiquitous 'gan ni niang ji pai' ;)
Posted on: Do you have a menu?
December 14, 2013 at 9:18 PM3 mins in already, get on with it pls!
Posted on: Language Power Struggle
January 14, 2014 at 10:52 PMHa ha - brilliant. Fucks me off no end when people insist on speaking English when in a Chinese speaking country, just assuming I can speak English cos I'm white is rude enough really if not racist. Will fo sure be using this!