Zompist Bboard Again

I personally rather dislike Pinyin for the way it uses x, and especially q, especially since these seem to represent allophones rather than phonemes. A few times, as a thought exercise, I've thought of revised forms of it.

Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:34 pm I personally rather dislike Pinyin for the way it uses x, and especially q, especially since these seem to represent allophones rather than phonemes. A few times, as a thought exercise, I've thought of revised forms of it.

So have I. For me, it’s the vowels and the tones which are most annoying. (Third tone is low, not falling-rising!)

bradrn wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:48 pm

Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:34 pm I personally rather dislike Pinyin for the way it uses x, and especially q, especially since these seem to represent allophones rather than phonemes. A few times, as a thought exercise, I've thought of revised forms of it.

So have I. For me, it’s the vowels and the tones which are most annoying. (Third tone is low, not falling-rising!)

Knowing Portuguese, I don't mind pinyin <x> at all. In fact I think the system uses the Roman consonants quite cleverly. You cannot teach Mandarin phonology with a romanization, so you shouldn't try; making it easy for Mandarin speakers makes more sense. Some weirdness with the vowels, but that's hard to avoid. And Wade-Giles is horrible.

On third tone, tones vary enough that you can't really say anything is wrong-- within Mandarin dialects third tone can be 214, 31, 42, 53, 55. But FWIW both Norman and my Mandarin textbook have it as 214 in isolation or at the end of a phrase, 21 otherwise (which is the most common). (And of course it changes to 2nd tone before another 3rd tone.)

I suppose it's, on some level, a matter of taste. I can agree that Pinyin is clever, but I think that is also the reason I do not like it. They fit in more-or-less all the sounds of Mandarin — actually overrepresenting them (I think "x, q, zh" could easily be replaced with "sh, ch, j", using an "i" following to represent the palatal pronunciation and fronted [u] > [y]; (there's also the use of -u and -i where -ou and -ei would be more consistent, which is a decision I find perplexing). I'm aware of the origin of the use of x is probably Portuguese and older stages of Spanish, but for use as an educational tool, I think that and "q" are counterproductive, as you're going to get your Spanish, English, French, and German speakers pronouncing them instinctually in all sorts of unintended ways. I also don't like c for [ts]-like sounds unless it's specifically a "soft" pronunciation, though, so I expect others will like the economy with which Pinyin uses the Alphabet even if I don't.

Well, I sent a package with a bass guitar in it to someone and it arrived damaged, and UPS’ site is making it difficult for me to file a claim.

My stress is through the roof. I feel like I'm having a slow-motion panic attack.

I've been struggling to register for a full course load (at least 60% of 2.5 credits per semester), I haven't registered for student loans/grants from OSAP, I still haven't found a place to rent, and I go to the states tomorrow to visit my mum and the customs people are probably going to ask where I live in Thunder Bay.

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:07 pm My stress is through the roof. I feel like I'm having a slow-motion panic attack.

I've been struggling to register for a full course load (at least 60% of 2.5 credits per semester), I haven't registered for student loans/grants from OSAP, I still haven't found a place to rent, and I go to the states tomorrow to visit my mum and the customs people are probably going to ask where I live in Thunder Bay.

I hope things work out somehow.

Worse news: I'm not able to apply for OSAP funding due to unsatisfactory academic progress, so now I have no means of paying rent and I haven't found a job/don't know how to find a job, nor do I think I can pay for studies/pay off loans during the one-year restriction period.

I feel despair that I cannot find any rooms to rent in time for the beginning of my studies. Can't secure funding atm due to OSAP restriction (that I am appealing), but can't find a room to rent either.

I have found about 5 ads for rooms to rent (all posted at least 14 days ago) but I have the problem of being so socially inept and utterly mediocre that the sellers of these places I have found will most likely not want anything to do with me and will simply ghost my attempts to contact them for more information.

Well, take some solace in the (actually not very happy) notion that they're in it for money rather than to be your friend, so they probably won't care if you're inept as long as you can pay them.

I spent too much time without checking my main email account. Now I have to catch up. Sigh.

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:51 am I spent too much time without checking my main email account. Now I have to catch up. Sigh.

Ok, I'm done now. Didn't take as long as I expected.

After two years, I finally came down with COVID after attending a birthday party last Saturday. So far (since Monday) it has felt like the most annoying, persistent cold: congestion, fatigue, fever. Only today though I discovered I am now experience loss of taste and smell (stronger flavors and scents remain detectable)

Arzena wrote: ↑Fri Sep 02, 2022 12:06 pm After two years, I finally came down with COVID after attending a birthday party last Saturday. So far (since Monday) it has felt like the most annoying, persistent cold: congestion, fatigue, fever. Only today though I discovered I am now experience loss of taste and smell (stronger flavors and scents remain detectable)

Ugh - that sucks.

Get better, Arzena!

Thanks, yall, for the well-wishes the fever has broken but my senses of smell and taste aren't back yet

I feel like crap today for no good reason. I.e. I feel a bit lowish but jittery and antsy, which means I'm probably at least mildly mixed right now. Hopefully this is just an isolated lousy day - I get these every so often - and does not turn into anything bigger. (And I was having such a good week - I'd made considerably progress on my project at work, to the point that the application I was working on seemed to actually work after little over a week of work on it, when it had been expected that it would take at least a number of weeks to get everything working...)

Hope you can get to feeling better soon.

Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 6:41 pm Hope you can get to feeling better soon.

Oh, things've returned to normal, thank gawd.

Oh, wonderful.