From: Hironori Ito (hito@rcf.rhic.bnl.gov)
Date: Mon Apr 21 2003 - 17:04:45 EDT
Hello. Since some people are very adamant about simple program terminology, I need to correct some wrong statements to provide a simple Japanese factiod. We use 4 character sets. 1. Hiragana ---- original Japanese characters (about 50 characters): (Since they are phonetic, Japanese can not do a "spelling bee".) And, they are invented about 1200 year ago (+-200yrs) due to difficulty (remembering) in Chinese characters. They are "not" women characters. And, every Japanese (I know) uses Hiragana. 2. Katakana ---- also original Japanese characters (about 50) typically used for foreign objects. 3. Kanji ---- They are not "like Chinese sign" but are real Chinese characters. However, they might be quite simplified from origingal Chinese characters. And, Japanse use only a few thousands "Kanji" characters whereas Chinese use over 10 thousand. (I don't want to know how many out there.) Why Japanse use them? They are good space savers since a single character could include multiple sounds. For example, my name can be represented by 4 "Kanji" charaters or 7 "Hiragana" or 11 Roman characters. Also, every Chinese character represents some meanings (or I dare say "Objects"). 4. Roman characters --- for foreign traveleres who can't read anything but only prehistoric 26 characters (+- few extra for people with a bit more imagination.) :-) Hiro Christian Holm Christensen wrote: >Pawel Staszel <ufstasze@if.uj.edu.pl> wrote concerning > baby [Thu, 17 Apr 2003 16:01:56 -0400] >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Hi Pawel, > > > >>Dear Friends, >>Yesterday morning at 10:25, my wife Stasia gave birth to a nice baby boy. >> >> > >Many congratulations. > > > >>Still considering a proper name for our son - any ideas? >> >> > >Sorry, no (except for Jens Ivar's proposal, and of course my name, but >that's kinda corny :-). > > > >>Note, that Korean and Chinese names are not supported in polish >>alphabet. >> >> > >I guess that excludes the danish ligatures and accents too :-) > >Hiro, I guess you have to tell that there are 3 (or is it 4?) >alphabets in Japanese: Kanji - like the Chinese signs, Katakana - for >foreign words (or is that Hirakana?), and Hirakana - which is >`womens'-language, and possibly Romani too. > > > >>I wish all of you a happy Ester, >> >> > >The best to you too. > >Yours, > > ___ | Christian Holm Christensen > |_| | ------------------------------------------------------------- > | | Address: Sankt Hansgade 23, 1. th. Phone: (+45) 35 35 96 91 > _| DK-2200 Copenhagen N Cell: (+45) 24 61 85 91 > _| Denmark Office: (+45) 353 25 305 > ____| Email: cholm@nbi.dk Web: www.nbi.dk/~cholm > | | > >
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