Why accuracy is important

Why accuracy is important 

Learning Chinese is not only difficult for foreigners but also a pretty challenging learning for many Chinese, being with an accurate spelling.  Foreigners learn Chinese through Pinyin with A-to-Z who often mess up the spelling by different intonations.  In case people who put the Chinese spelling to Pinyin incorrectly then the people after that will continue the learning of Chinese with the wrong pronunciation.

Here is an example of wrong Pinyin pronunciation –

關係 (in simplified Chinese as 関系) means relationship, an art of managing interpersonal issues in Chinese environment.  The accurate Chinese spelling is 關 Guan (using the 1^st intonation, meaning intensivie interactions within a door framework) –Xi (using the 4th intonation, meaning intensive interactions that is human related). 

Unfortunately, don’t know since when and why the Pinyin for this very sophisticated word was messed up. Perhaps it was originally learnt from Chinese who spoke dialect?

Today foreigners learn this very complex and yet very symbolic wisdom of interpersonal relationship as Guaxi. If I use the back translation method to put this Pinyin back to Chinese, then it will become *瓜 (meaning melon) 系 (meaning the system, series, family). As you can see that the inaccurate spelling means a total different thing.  Why Chinese do not correct this wrong Pinyin? Well, we simply try to maintain 'politeness", we try not to  embarrass  foreigner who work very hard to learn our language is a logical reason in Chinese thinking.   * there are at least 13 different words using the same spelling of Gua.

Now knowing the correct Pinyin should be Guanxi but not Guaxi, is there other similar mistakes? Whether to correct the wrong learning or to follow the wrong learning? There is a simple decision to make, starting from knowing what is right and what is wrong.  The same philosophy of accurate learning is not just limited to learn a language, but can also be applied to a simple cup of tea.  So what is your decision?

Chinese is a symbolic language.  Traditional fonts certainly are not only beautiful to appreciate but also there are either implications or obvious meanings behind each character.  So what does 關係 Guanxi tries to teach us?

• Why there are two 系 in a door frame? What does it mean?  What can we learn from it? 
• Why there is one 系 on the right side of 人 (means human)? What does that mean? What does it try to teach us?

Learning Chinese is very interesting, it’s not just about communication but also a chance to learn Chinese ancient philosophies and wisdom.

Chinese Philosophy Tea Time can be an interesting learning network for those who would like to deepen learning in Chinese while enjoying a fine quality of tea. Please contact us directly for more information.  

Mei Lan Hsiao 

Belgium Chinese Tea Arts Centre 

Paul van Ostayenlaan 12, 2050 Antwerp, Belgium 

Email: info@chinese-tea-arts.com 

Tel: (+32) 03-290 41 78   /   GSM: 0494- 50 68 99

www.chinese-tea-arts.com