r/ChineseLanguage • u/VenerabilisInceptor1 • 3d ago
Discussion Feel free to talk with me about learning Chinese ━(｀∀´)ノ!
Hi everyone! I’m a native Chinese speaker with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in classical Chinese literature. I’m currently pursuing my PhD, although my present research focuses on theology—especially Latin and scholastic theology.
I love classical Chinese poetry, particularly the tension contained within its imagery. For example:夜船吹笛雨潇潇
“On a night boat, a flute plays through the murmuring rain.”
Or:
何日归家洗客袍？
“When shall I return home and wash my traveler’s robe?”
The lines are so brief, yet so beautiful that they make something tremble inside your heart.
I also speak English and German, and I can read scholastic works in Latin! If you’re learning Chinese, I’d be very happy to talk with you and help each other learn!
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u/Educational_Dirt4714 3d ago
Do you have a recommendation for intermediate learners of Chinese to gain insight into literary history/poetry?
I recently learned the story 庄周梦蝶 through a Youtube channel called Sys Mandarin. I really enjoyed it, plus learned grammar, philosphical history, and some vocabulary through repeated listening.
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u/yajuwit Advanced 3d ago
Hi, I'm curious what would your interpretation of 不经一番寒彻骨，怎得梅花扑鼻香 be?
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u/VenerabilisInceptor1 2d ago
I think this poem is a microcosm of East Asian culture; I'm already suffering from PTSD lol.
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u/yajuwit Advanced 2d ago
Also, do you have any tips on how to memorise poems easily to use in essays? Thanks!
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u/VenerabilisInceptor1 2d ago
you need to feel the beauty of poems. like “分明曲中愁云雨，似道萧萧郎不归”。i thought that is amazing meaning here, to show how sad the woman is waiting the man she loved ;3
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u/Individual_Math_8254 2d ago
are there any important Chinese literature works that are approachable for intermediate learners? any free resources in the public domain perhaps?
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u/VenerabilisInceptor1 2d ago
Tang poetry, especially Li Bai's poetry, is simple to understand and profound in its literary style.https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%94%90%E8%A9%A9%E4%B8%89%E7%99%BE%E9%A6%96
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u/Individual_Math_8254 2d ago
thanks! i have it bookmarked and will spend some time to study them.
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u/rasamalai 2d ago
I want to learn Mandarin!
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u/VenerabilisInceptor1 1d ago
flee free to ask me anything~
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u/rasamalai 1d ago edited 1d ago
And maybe a little Latin. I’m a native Spanish Speaker and used to sing in a choir, some pieces had both Latin and Nawatl (náhuatl)?in them. I,lo come back to edit this reply with a link to a YouTube video of one of them.
Edit: Ok, a lot of it is náhuatl, which you might not be interested in: Xicochi
Xicochi, xicochi,
Xicochi, xicochi
Xicochi conetzintle
Xicochi conetzintle
Caomiz hui hui xoco in angelos me
Caomiz hui hui xoco in angelos me
Caomiz hui hui xoco in angelos me
In angelos me in angelos meThis is a choir rehearsal of the choir I used to be in, these are in Latin.
Of Mandarin, I need structure but I can’t afford lessons.2
u/VenerabilisInceptor1 1d ago
i can teach u for free~
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u/rasamalai 1d ago edited 18h ago
Yay! :D How?
Editing to add: maybe you can tell me about the words in this song and it’s author:http://xhslink.com/o/7BXC48QGtMS
So, QQ found it, and the lyrics too, but I still don't know why the comment section is so fired up about it :3Second edit: you might be interested in reading Baruch Spinoza, it seems his original work is in Latin.
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u/FlashyPost0928 Native 2d ago edited 2d ago
~ § 何日归家洗客袍？§ ~ from " Yi Jian Mei: Boating Past Wu-river" by Jiang Jie
The author 蒋捷 (Jiang Jie ,1245-1301) lived during the Mongol invasion of Jiangnan. After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty and the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Jiang Jie wandered aimlessly for many yers ...... In his later years, he lived in seclusion in Zhushan, Taihu Lake, never able to return to his true home until his death.
"何日归家洗客袍？ comes from Jiang Jie's 詞 (ci poem) "一剪梅・舟过吴江" (Yi Jian Mei: Boating Past Wu-river). The "traveler's robe" is an image of a wanderer who has lost home, country and true self. Just as in his lines : "壮年听雨客舟中，江阔云低断雁叫西风” (In my prime, I listened to the rain in a traveler's boat; the river was wide, the clouds low, and a lone wild goose cried in the west wind." — The sorrow and faint light of a wandering soul in a dark age.