風、牆、風車｜wIND, wALL, wINDMILL

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風、牆、風車｜wIND, wALL, wINDMILL

某天，在下意外地看到這張柏林 Volkshochschule的宣傳卡，卡上印道（德語）#1：
One day, I accidentally saw this Berlin Volkshochschule’s flyer, printed (German) #1 on the card:

“Wenn der Wind der Veränderung bläst, bauen einige Menschen Mauern und andere Windmühlen.” (Chinesisches Sprichwort)

翻譯成中文：
「當風向改變時，有的人會築牆，其他則築風車。」（華夏諺語）
Translated in English:
“When the winds of change blow, some build walls and others build windmills.”(Chinese proverb)

在下想了很久也想不出哪句諺語，即使向在下的華文老師及他的華文老師請教，他們也無法理解。加上風車不是由古代華夏發明，而是多年前由波斯傳入，其後於明朝（約十三至十四世紀）開始被歷史記載及普及使用。然而，於文化創作中，「風車」可不常被提及。於網路搜尋資料時，更看到不少懂中文的華人也問著同樣的問題－這句所謂諺語的出處及其真確性。（⋯⋯）
I have taken long time to think but still could not get this proverb, even though I have asked my Chinese teacher and his Chinese teacher regarding this issue, both of them cannot understand. Plus the windmill was not invented by the ancient Chinese, but was spread from Persia many years ago. Until Ming Dynasty (around 13th to 14th century), windmill started to be recorded historically and used universally. However, “windmill” was not often mentioned in cultural creation. And when researching on internet, there’s a lot of people who understand Chinese have asked the same questions – the provenance of this so-called proverb and its authenticity. (……)

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春曉｜sPRING dAWN

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(fEAT. photo by Inga)

春曉｜sPRING dAWN

春天的到訪是令人陶醉還是夢醒？
Spring’s visit is to intoxicate or awaken people from dreams?

孟浩然（六八九年至七四零年，唐代詩人）－《春曉》：
Meng Haoran (689-740, Tang Dynasty poet) – “Spring Dawn”:

春眠不覺曉，處處聞啼鳥。
夜來風雨聲，花落知多少。
Day has dawned unconsciously during the spring sleep, and birds twitter everywhere.
Came on with sounds of wind and rain in the night, wonder how many blossoms have fallen.

還是一個新開始？
Or a new start?

..,

扻穿你個頭｜hIT yOUR hEAD

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扻穿你個頭｜hIT yOUR hEAD

今天在下介紹一下香港傳統的《祝壽歌》：
Today I introduce the Hong Kong traditional version of “birthday song” (Zuk Sau Go):

恭祝你福壽與天齊，慶賀你生辰快樂；
年年都有今日，歲歲都有今朝，
恭喜你 ，恭喜你！
Wish you being blessed with longevity, on a par with the sky and a happy birthday;
Wish you a wonderful day like today every year,
Congratulations, congratulations!

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山、雲｜cLOUDS, mOUNTAIN

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山、雲｜cLOUDS, mOUNTAIN

#cLOUD #pYRAMID

在工作過後，回家的路上，無意間看到這座雲霧金字塔就聯想到了以下這首詩：
On the way home after work, accidentally saw this cloud pyramid and thought of the following poem:

賈島 （詩人，七七九年至八四三年）之《尋隱者不遇》：
Jia Dao’s (Poet, 779–843):

「松樹下問童子，言師採藥去。只在此[山₁]中，[雲₂]深不知處。」
“Asked a boy under the pines, he told me that the teacher went to pick herbs.
Just in this [mOUNTAIN₁], but I do not know where is the teacher because of the deep [cLOUDS₂] around the mountain.”

..,

正體字｜tRADITIONAL cHINESE

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正體字｜tRADITIONAL cHINESE

在下相信愛用正體字的人有著同樣的執著，更不想任由這些美麗的文字和華夏文化的命脈被一個錯誤如斯無情的摧毀。
If people ask me about learning Chinese. First of all, please start with Traditional Chinese.
I believe that Traditional Chinese characters lovers have the same strong will, and don’t just want to let these beautiful words and the lifeblood of Great Chinese culture be ruthlessly destroyed by a mistake.

A credited-unknown picture was spread earlier on internet, it’s telling how meaningful of Traditional Chinese characters (left) in a quite straight way:

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漢中粵｜yUE iN hAN

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漢中粵｜yUE iN hAN

有人問道：
「粵語是否從國語中進化出來？」
Someone asked:
“Did Cantonese evolve from Mandarin then?”

拙見：
非也。粵語遠在百越／粵部落時期，南越（公元前二零三年至公元前一一一年）立國前，已於南方發方展。由於當時秦朝(公元前二二一年至公元前二零六年）中原區戰事頻生，南方民生相對較穩定，文化受到保護，並得以繼承，歲月足有二千年之久。亦因如此，粵語保留了不少古音，尤其唐朝（六一八至九零七年）和宋朝（九六零至一二七九年）時期。故此，不少學者普遍認為以粵語誦讀／唱古詩詞歌賦是比較有韻味。
In my humble opinion:
No. Yue first developed in the South around the period of “*Hundred Yue” (means hundred of Yue Tribes) and before the Southern Yue (203 BC-111 BC) was established. Due to frequent wars around Qin’s (221 BC-206 BC)) Central Plains area, livelihood was relatively more stable in the South and their cultures were protected and inherited, it’s been more than two thousand years. Also because of that, Cantonese has preserved many ancient pronunciation, especially in the time of Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Song Dynasty (960-1279). Therefore, scholars generally agree that reciting or chanting ancient/Classical Chinese poetries in Cantonese is more charming.

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廣東話（粵語）｜cANTONESE (yUE)

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廣東話（粵語）｜cANTONESE (yUE)

香港人說粵語家族中的廣東話。
Hongkongers speak Cantonese which is a dialect of *Yue Family.

長話短說，說廣東話和國語，就如說「標準德文」和「瑞士德文」一樣，只是廣東話和國語是獨立，屬於完全不同的語言家族的。及，廣東話不是國語的方言，而是粵語的方言。因此，香港的中文有標準中文（學校教授，主要書寫）和廣東話（生活實用，主要談話）。除非會說廣東話，否則只懂標準中文的話是不能理解廣東話的。
So explain in short, speaking Cantonese and Mandarin, just like speaking “Standard German” and “Swiss German”，but Cantonese and Mandarin are independent, belonging to completely different language families. And Cantonese is not the dialect of Mandarin, but the dialect of Yue. Therefore, Hongkong’s Chinese could be in “Standard Chinese” (School learning, mainly for writing) and “Cantonese” (Living language, mainly for speaking). In this case, “Standard Chinese” user will not be able to understand Hongkongers’ “Cantonese”.

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