Re: The pitfall of Chinese/Mandarin

Adam Walker wrote:
I have heard that the distinction in written
> chinese between <ta> `he'
> >and <ta> `she' is a recent innovation, perhaps
> inspired by foreign
> >languages.
> Actually, there are even more ta's there's one
> listed inmy old dictionary
> (which I've never actually seen used) with the cow
> radical for animals and
> there's one (which *is* in use) for divine use with
> the omen radical. And
> the ta that means "it" uses a different character
> altogether.
>
> Adam
Answer: You are right, the three 'ta' in Chinse are
different in shape. When you read, you won'e mistake,
but in more case, people exchange ideas by speak not
by write. So, I think borrowing two sounds 'he' and
'she' and keeping the old shape may be necessary.
Yes the 'she' is inspired by foriegn language. It only
happened in mainland of China, the Taiwanis insist the
traditional writing system not only no 'she' but very
hard to write.
Su Cheng Zhong

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