wish = pig = bamboo = boil

[HamdenRice]

This is why I'll probably never learn Chinese. I was watching this crazy tv show on a new cable channel that's apparently direct from China called Blue Ocean Network.

They have a learn Chinese show hosted by a crazy guy from Cameroon, West Africa who is some kind of linguistic genius, who in 6 years has mastered Chinese (to the point of being capable in a comic language artform called "crosstalk").

So he spent an entire half hour on the phrase "I wish you a happy birthday." But he warned that the word "wish" has to have the right tone. If you use the wrong tone, then the word could sound like "pig," "bamboo," or "boil."

Fuck it. I'll never study Chinese.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. I boil you a happy birthday

okie dokie then :)

[AsahinaKimi]

2. I think Chinese uses something like 8000 kanji symbols..

Thats a huge amount..and I maybe even short some... Japanese does not use as many because thankfully
they use Hiragana and Katakana. I have heard the simplest is the Korean system.