News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Blue–Green Distinction in Language. Parent comment

Re:Blue–Green Distinction in Language by octbash on Thursday January 23, 2020 @09:31AM (#22127806)
Besides vocabulary/characters, in what sense is Mandarin not simple?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Blue–Green Distinction in Language by 2a0c40 on Thursday January 23, 2020 @09:40AM (#22127869)
Tones
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Blue–Green Distinction in Language by kaesar14 on Thursday January 23, 2020 @11:31AM (#22128869)
Which is a massive sense in which it is not simple! For any non-native speakers, (I'm a native English speaker), tones were nearly impossible to master, and I still have a terrible grasp of them I think. It requires a complete rewiring of the way you speak language, sure, but it also requires a complete rewiring of how you hear it too!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Blue–Green Distinction in Language by jhanschoo on Thursday January 23, 2020 @11:32AM (#22128892)
Tones are simple (in the sense of being governed by linguistic rules), just foreign.
[ Parent | on HN ]