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To: Seeker of Truth who wrote (35578)	7/1/2003 10:51:19 AM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Respond to of 74559

Well Malcolm, at least my kids are alright ;o) I'm somewhat of a music nut too. I know a vast number of songs but I sing alone if you get my drift... Rising descending pitch is fine. It's the replication that is problematic... regards Kastel

To: Seeker of Truth who wrote (35578)	7/1/2003 11:34:02 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

I know a lot of Americans who learn to speaking Chinese (Mandarin), and some of them already learned >10 years. But none of them can get hold of the intonation in Chinese very well. Good example is Colin Pine - Yao ming's translator. I know most of Chinese who speak English also with funny intonation, but relatively speaking, intonation in English is not as crucial as the intonation in Chinese. Even among Chinese ourselves, we may misunderstand each other when one uses a wrong intonation.

To: Seeker of Truth who wrote (35578)	7/1/2003 7:03:04 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 74559

<However it's not obvious that more intellectual effort is involved in conversing in Mandarin rather than English. Distinguishing a rising pitch from a falling one is something like maintaining your balance; it's largely automatic, not like understanding relativity.> Malcolm, the hard work comes from the simplistic grammar. Because the meaning doesn't come from the words, but requires interpretation from context, a person has to think really hard to derive the right meaning. English just lays it out clear as day. One house, two houses, we went, we will go - try that in Mandarin and see how easy it is. Mqurice [who is not a linguist, knows nothing of Mandarin except what his son told him, and is making this up as he goes - but it's fun anyway]