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How to Speak Music
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November 11, 2011 - 9:06 am

The attached video speaks for itself but my daughter has more to add.  She says that people who speak an oriental language have a musical advantage because the languages have words that sound like musical notes.  A child is then exposed to music training simply during the course of learning to speak.  Is my daughter correct?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl.....a-15487055

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November 11, 2011 - 12:25 pm

Chinglish has long existed – It generally describe how Chinese (Chinese from English as second language background) mixed English with Chinese, speaking English with Chinese grammar, etc. E.g., English: Do you agree(or not)? Chinglish: You a bu agree? In the show you post, it also demonstrated how Chinese interprete English, it could be totally wrong. Like in the show, the word Doctor has two meanings — a physician or someone who completed a dotorate degree. However, in Chinese, a physician is a doctor — yi sheng, someone who completed a dotorate degree is a bo shi. I remembered as a child, one of our family friend went to see the movie "bees" and came home to tell us the story. She kept saying Yi sheng (physician) and years later, i realized that it was actually a Ph.D :p

In Malaysia, we tend to use a lot of lah, lo, as ending words in a sentence or question. In Singapore, there's Singlish:P

 

Oliver said:

The attached video speaks for itself but my daughter has more to add.  She says that people who speak an oriental language have a musical advantage because the languages have words that sound like musical notes.  A child is then exposed to music training simply during the course of learning to speak.  Is my daughter correct?

I don't know how true it is, but:

Mandarin Chinese has 5 tones, and Cantonese has 9 tones (in fact, one of my cantonese friend said there were 18 or 15 tones in ancient Cantonese, the modern one has less). Therefore, Cantonese does sound musical.

 

FYI: tones play important roles in Chinese language, if one used the tone wrong, it could mean something else.

e.g.:

ni chou1 bu4 chou1 = would you like to have a cigarate?  

ni Chou2 bu4 chou2 = are you worried?

ni chou3 bu4 chou3 = are (edit: you) ugly or not?

ni chou4 bu4 chou4 = are (edit: you) stinky or not?

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November 11, 2011 - 1:04 pm

It's a good thing my daughter does not know of this forum or I would surely get an "I told you so" smile

However, the mention of "tones" is certainly interesting. 

My Grand Daughter has many Chinese friends in her social circle and can hold limited conversations in Chinese AND she has just started violin lessons so I will have to keep a close eye on these related circumstances.

coffee2

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myguitarnow
Laguna Beach

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November 12, 2011 - 1:19 am
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Very interesting post… I have been studying the art of Wing Chun Kung Fu for many years. It is from the Cantonese. I have to say that I never even heard of Chinglish. I have to say that most asian languages are very mathematical and it shows in the music. Western music is more free for all as not so concerned on the right note but ways to get to the right note by bending and sliding instead of spending too much time hitting the right note so precise. I love all kinds of music from all over the world. jimi-hendrixWestern music is just 7 notes but sounds as 12 note chromatic for sharps and flats. It's really more than that though but we all need rules to follow then we can go on and explore to go on and write our own stuff 😉

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QuicheLoraine
Nashville, TN
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November 20, 2011 - 3:28 pm
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This conversation reminds me of- Un poco con moto lit. "A little, with feeling", something I saw in Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (finale, perhaps?), years ago in Youth Symphony. During rehearsal, our director grabbed what was left of his hair and angrily yelled, "UN POCO CON MOTO!!!" (sounding very "molto con moto") which sounded like Chinese to me, I remarked to my Chinese stand partner, which he made funnier repeating in a kung-fu movie accent. It became our favorite retort and greeting. Years later, I found my stand partner on Facebook, and the first thing he posted on my page was "Un poco con moto!"- lol!   

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November 20, 2011 - 7:36 pm

LOL i don't know how to say Un poco con moto, so i can't tell if it sounds like Chinese or not.

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
November 20, 2011 - 7:58 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
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Maybe more Japanese depending on how you pronounce it. rofl

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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QuicheLoraine
Nashville, TN
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November 21, 2011 - 7:13 am
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pky said:

LOL i don't know how to say Un poco con moto, so i can't tell if it sounds like Chinese or not.

@pky- Lol! It was one of those Italian music words, and the way our director yelled it at us, he expected us to know what it meant. Of course at the time, we were afraid to ask him- ha!  

Henrik, my stand partner I mentioned, would always make me laugh, always at an inopportune moment. Thanks to him, every time I hear the Overture to The Barber of Seville, I think of Buggs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (:

@Fiddlerman- lol!     

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BCShalom
Seattle, WA

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November 21, 2011 - 7:40 am
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I feel much better about Hebrew now!  We have many different meanings for words with inflection and context. But tone and so many different meanings??

Oy Vey, I am glad I am a Jew!!!!  For once!!!  LOL

 

Shalom Shalom coffee2

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