On Romanization, vowels, inadequacy, idiocy, and music
Kind of an amalgam of topics in this post...
Now, I've noticed in romanizations of Chinese words, those that start with the "oo" sound are always written "Wu". But it is always pronounced "oo", so why the W? The same thing is done for Korean. And in there, there are other cases of adding extra letters that are much more obvious, usually just for last names. "Lee" is a common Korean name in the US. But their name is actually "Ee". OK, that'd look kinda silly to most of us, but that's what the Korean is. (I'm sure there are 1 or 2 actual Lee's out there just to spite me). Similar with "Park." Park cannot even be written in the Korean alphabet (Hangul). It's Pahk. (Just pronounce Park without the R). Hell, Pak would be just as good. Even people in Korea will tell me their name is Lee or Park (the latter mostly when it's just written out). Drives me nuts.
And back to the first half, I think W should be a half-vowel, like Y. Just consider its use in words like between and wise. It can be replaced by "oo" (sound-wise, not spelling wise).
In Taiwan, I'm with another UOP guy, a Brit. Now, I'm used to not understanding what's being spoken when I'm in a group with my girlfriend, but the same thing happens when I'm around James. Not because I can't comprehend his British English, but because he speaks Chinese. Conversationally. Pretty well, from what I can observe. Makes me feel decidedly inadequate for barely knowing 25 words. Hasn't motivated me to sit down and learn more. In a couple weeks I'll either get used to it or just get fed up with feeling dumb and start to try to learn. We'll see.
Ai-Lun was down here for the weekend. *grin* Other than spending time with her, I had 1 goal for the weekend, to discuss a certain item. Never "got around" to it. So, not only am I incapable of speaking to most strangers, can't even do the same to my gf. This was supposed to be idiocy, not inadequacy, but it all ties together. The whole thing was complicated by meeting her parents... and 3 siblings, and their spouses... and 2 kinds per family (ages 3-6), and spending half the weekend with them. Actually, I thought meeting the parents would be somewhat unpleasant, and even more so for the rest of the family (although I already knew her brother, his wife, and their 2 daughters), but it wasn't bad. Good group of people. Always laughing (hopefully not too much at me), enjoying each other's company. I hope my family will be like that after my brother and I settle down.
I picked up 2 Cs at the Buddhist temple (FoGuangShan, which apparently has branches all over the world including San Fran, LA, San Diego, New York, Frankfurt, etc...). Both are quite good, but not the way I expected them to be. Especially for the one by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (mentioned previously). I bought it because a couple tracks had Tibetan chanting, but I didn't like those sections. But some of the other's are great. The other ("The Paean of Xin Ming"), I heard a couple minutes at a listening station there, and it was alright, but 2 of the tracks are 25 minutes each. And I just love long songs, especially if they flow well between different musical themes and styles (ala Opeth or Edge of Sanity's Crimson opuses (opii?)). Those tracks are good, but there are really only 2 themes and it's extremely repetitive. But in a good way.
I might put up some clips later... (I'm considering a "music you should hear" of the week thing. Usually these things "of the week/day" don't last (except Lyric of the Week lasted for just over 10 months...), so we'll see).
Finally, the mix I'm listening to is likely the best one I've ever made, yet it is the one to be least appreciated. And it's not like I can reuse it... kinda goes against the point of making mixes... And it's more of a farewell mix. (with tracks like "To Bid You Farewell" (duh...), "The Clock Ticks On", and other "sad" songs). Ah well.
Yeah, I'm one of those saps who likes to make mixes (I prefer to call them compilations) for the girlfriend... even if they're given when they shouldn't be (long story). But with my love of music, would you expect different? It's always fun to mix in songs by various metal bands with the other sap. And Ai-Lun's almost egging me on. She digs the shit I listen to (even the heavy stuff) and has asked for a sampler of all sorts of stuff.
(I know it's "impolite" to not use cuts, but this post would have no uncut text, just 5 cuts labeled the same as the subject... besides, I don't really like the cuts... can't quite explain why).
Now, I've noticed in romanizations of Chinese words, those that start with the "oo" sound are always written "Wu". But it is always pronounced "oo", so why the W? The same thing is done for Korean. And in there, there are other cases of adding extra letters that are much more obvious, usually just for last names. "Lee" is a common Korean name in the US. But their name is actually "Ee". OK, that'd look kinda silly to most of us, but that's what the Korean is. (I'm sure there are 1 or 2 actual Lee's out there just to spite me). Similar with "Park." Park cannot even be written in the Korean alphabet (Hangul). It's Pahk. (Just pronounce Park without the R). Hell, Pak would be just as good. Even people in Korea will tell me their name is Lee or Park (the latter mostly when it's just written out). Drives me nuts.
And back to the first half, I think W should be a half-vowel, like Y. Just consider its use in words like between and wise. It can be replaced by "oo" (sound-wise, not spelling wise).
In Taiwan, I'm with another UOP guy, a Brit. Now, I'm used to not understanding what's being spoken when I'm in a group with my girlfriend, but the same thing happens when I'm around James. Not because I can't comprehend his British English, but because he speaks Chinese. Conversationally. Pretty well, from what I can observe. Makes me feel decidedly inadequate for barely knowing 25 words. Hasn't motivated me to sit down and learn more. In a couple weeks I'll either get used to it or just get fed up with feeling dumb and start to try to learn. We'll see.
Ai-Lun was down here for the weekend. *grin* Other than spending time with her, I had 1 goal for the weekend, to discuss a certain item. Never "got around" to it. So, not only am I incapable of speaking to most strangers, can't even do the same to my gf. This was supposed to be idiocy, not inadequacy, but it all ties together. The whole thing was complicated by meeting her parents... and 3 siblings, and their spouses... and 2 kinds per family (ages 3-6), and spending half the weekend with them. Actually, I thought meeting the parents would be somewhat unpleasant, and even more so for the rest of the family (although I already knew her brother, his wife, and their 2 daughters), but it wasn't bad. Good group of people. Always laughing (hopefully not too much at me), enjoying each other's company. I hope my family will be like that after my brother and I settle down.
I picked up 2 Cs at the Buddhist temple (FoGuangShan, which apparently has branches all over the world including San Fran, LA, San Diego, New York, Frankfurt, etc...). Both are quite good, but not the way I expected them to be. Especially for the one by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (mentioned previously). I bought it because a couple tracks had Tibetan chanting, but I didn't like those sections. But some of the other's are great. The other ("The Paean of Xin Ming"), I heard a couple minutes at a listening station there, and it was alright, but 2 of the tracks are 25 minutes each. And I just love long songs, especially if they flow well between different musical themes and styles (ala Opeth or Edge of Sanity's Crimson opuses (opii?)). Those tracks are good, but there are really only 2 themes and it's extremely repetitive. But in a good way.
I might put up some clips later... (I'm considering a "music you should hear" of the week thing. Usually these things "of the week/day" don't last (except Lyric of the Week lasted for just over 10 months...), so we'll see).
Finally, the mix I'm listening to is likely the best one I've ever made, yet it is the one to be least appreciated. And it's not like I can reuse it... kinda goes against the point of making mixes... And it's more of a farewell mix. (with tracks like "To Bid You Farewell" (duh...), "The Clock Ticks On", and other "sad" songs). Ah well.
Yeah, I'm one of those saps who likes to make mixes (I prefer to call them compilations) for the girlfriend... even if they're given when they shouldn't be (long story). But with my love of music, would you expect different? It's always fun to mix in songs by various metal bands with the other sap. And Ai-Lun's almost egging me on. She digs the shit I listen to (even the heavy stuff) and has asked for a sampler of all sorts of stuff.
(I know it's "impolite" to not use cuts, but this post would have no uncut text, just 5 cuts labeled the same as the subject... besides, I don't really like the cuts... can't quite explain why).