User talk:A-cai

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Contents

[edit] Nice work!

Nice work on the Taiwan-related linguistic issues! – Kaihsu 14:01, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, take a look at Kwai Chang Caine#Trivia about Caine's name to see my most recent work. This TV series was recently released on DVD. A-cai 14:08, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Hello very nice work. If you are Chinese please could you help out Wikipedia:Missing articles for towns and cities with 100,000 or more inhabitants for major missing China cities. Thankyou Ernst Stavro Blofeld 15:18, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Amoy (linguistics)

Updated DYK query On 10 April 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Amoy (linguistics), which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

--howcheng {chat} 06:10, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Chai tow kway

Would it be appropriate to add POJ at Chai tow kway? Badagnani 00:43, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I added it, because this term is valid in Amoy speech. However, the article states that the Singapore dish is based on Teochew cuisine, so perhaps an appropriate Teochew spelling should be added. Someone else will have to do that, since I am not confident enough in the spelling (I think it would be: cai3 tao5 gue2 in Standard Cantonese Pinyin, but someone else will have to verify). -- A-cai 01:17, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lei cha

Can you somehow get the pronunciation of Lei cha in the Hakka language? Badagnani 05:09, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

The best I could do would be to look it up in an online Hakka dictionary, but I would have no way of verifying the accuracy since I don't speak Hakka. -- A-cai 12:32, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hainanese chicken rice

Should this have the Min Nan pronunciation? Badagnani 18:58, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

I have not personally encountered this dish anywhere outside of Singapore. Presumably the Min Nan pronunciation would be based on the Hainanese variant of Min Nan which is not the same as Amoy, which is what I am familiar with. -- A-cai 12:35, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bird's nest soup

Is Bird's nest soup a typical dish for Min Nan speakers? If so, can you add the Min Nan (POJ) pronunciation? Badagnani 03:07, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

The POJ is iàn-o. Although it is a common dish, I don't know that it is necessarily indigenous to Min Nan speaking areas in Fujian and Taiwan. -- A-cai 12:57, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Zongzi

Hi, in the POJ name for Zongzi, how come the second character isn't transliterated? Badagnani 14:35, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Because the Mandarin particle zi is not used in Min Nan (with the possible exception of a few loan words from Mandarin). In my experience, Bah-chàng is the most common term in Min Nan. -- A-cai 13:02, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Fascinating!

[edit] Wok hei

Hi, do you recommend adding Min Nan to the box at Wok hei? Badagnani 04:14, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

I do not believe this word has an equivalent in Min Nan. -- A-cai 13:04, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Har gau

Is this thing eaten in Min Nan-speaking areas? If so, can we get the Min Nan pronunciation in the box? Badagnani 04:18, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

That would be a qualified yes. There are a number of Cantonese restaraunts in Min Nan speaking areas. However, it is not native to Min Nan speaking areas of Fujian or Taiwan, so far as I know. -- A-cai 13:06, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shahe fen

Hi, I assume Min Nan people eat Shahe fen. Thus, would you advise adding a Min Nan/POJ romanization to Shahe fen? Badagnani 23:34, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

The Min Nan word is POJ: kóe-tiâu. -- A-cai 23:50, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

OK, thanks. Am I correct in saying that, as the term is applied by Min Nan speakers in Fujian, Taiwan, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, koe-tiau (I'm speaking here of the noodle itself, not any specific dish) is always fairly narrow (approx. 1 cm), as found in char kway teow or the pad Thai that is probably derived therefrom; in contrast to the very wide noodles used in beef chow fun? Or can the Min Nan word koe-tiau refer to any width, the way Shahe fen can in Cantonese (from the extremely wide sheets down to the thin ones, with the exception of mifen)? Badagnani 23:55, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

A quick search on google images suggests that the Min Nan word kóe-tiâu (Mandarin: guǒtiáo) is more of a generic term for any kind of rice noodle (thin or thick). -- A-cai 00:07, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Well, that answers that, then! Badagnani 00:08, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] TfD nomination of Template:Pop-up

Template:Pop-up has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Hersfold (t/a/c) 00:30, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Chinese translation of Crisis

For some reason your comment was placed in the article, so I moved it to the talk section.

I think you make good points, but perhaps all that is needed is a retitling of the article.

Bathrobe 10:40, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Taiwanese tone

Hi,

There are discrepancies in the descriptions of the tones in Taiwanese (linguistics). 2 is either [51] or [53], 3 is either [31] or [11], 4 is either [3] or [1], 5 is either [13] or [24], and 6 either doesn't exist or is [35]. Are these differences in dialect, or errors? Thanks, kwami (talk) 08:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I would put it more in the category of "guestimations" (if that is a word). In other words, individual speakers from different areas are probably pronouncing the word out loud, then writing down the tone contour to the best of their ability. If someone had more of a "bass" voice, they may go with [13], whereas a "tenor" would go with [24]. Regional differences may also come into play.
Here's what some of the books say:
  • 閩南語辭典 (Min Nan Dictionary), page 21 (in Mandarin, Min Nan). ISBN 9578447523. 
    This is a Min Nan dictionary. I have revised the table on page 21 so that it is easier to read for a non-Chinese speaker:
tone Xiamen Quanzhou Zhangzhou
1 55 33 55
2 53 55 53
3 21 31 21
4 11 55 11
5 35 35 13
6 11 22 11
7 11 31 11
8 55 23 12
  • 國臺對照活用辭典 (Mandarin-Taiwanese Comparitive Living Dictionary), page 2691 (in Mandarin, Min Nan). ISBN 9573240882. 
    If I'm reading his table correctly, the editor of this dictionary simply breaks it down into "north" (Taipei) and "south" (Tainan):
tone Taipei (closest to Xiamen speech) Tainan (closest to Zhangzhou speech)
1 55 44
2 51 53
3 21 11
4 32 21
5 14 25
6 only in Quanzhou speech
7 33 22
8 4 5
  • 台語發音拼音基礎 (Foundations of Taiwanese speech and Romanization), page 32 (in Mandarin, Min Nan). ISBN 9578447493. 
    This is an excellent primer on Taiwanese pronunciation. It uses the most "standard" tones found in Taiwanese speech (roughly the tones used in Taipei and Xiamen).
tone IPA
1 55
2 51
3 21
4 22
5 24
6 6=2
7 33
8 44
As you can see from the above, even the experts contradict each other to a certain degree. Of the three books, the last one tends to agree the most with my personal experience of listening to various speakers. However, you must remember that these are rough estimates, not hard fast rules. Does that help? -- A-cai (talk) 12:03, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, Acai. That helps a lot. It will be nice to have chart 2 in the Taiwanese article, and chart 1 in the Minnan article. I'll do that in a bit. Actually, it shouldn't matter if someone is an alto or a bass, as the Chao numbers refer to the speaker's range, not an absolute scale. Now that you mention reading Chinese, I realize I never even thought of checking Chinese Wikipedia. They might have some useful hints. kwami (talk) 18:08, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Would you like to translate some English content to Chinese?

Hi A-cai,

I'm wondering you would like to help out the Spread Open Media project by translating some content into Chinese. Feel free to reply on my talk page or via email.--Ivo talk / contribs (join Project Portugal) 11:14, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the offer :) Unfortunately, I already have a rather full plate of other wiki projects. Right now, I'm focusing on doing a translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (which, at the rate I'm going, will probably take another 20 years). If you would like a short passage translated, I might be willing to take a stab at it. Otherwise, it might be better to have someone else do it (someone who could dedicate more time to it). -- A-cai (talk) 11:42, 31 May 2008 (UTC)