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so we are she


Guest Pommey

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men , woman all the same. so does your wife call all she ?

This might because he/she has the same pronunciation in Chinese.

Ëû/Ëý share the same pinyin as " ta".

 

I am certain that this is the reason. When I was learning Mandarin, that was one of the many things that surprised me about the language. Only "ta" for a pronoun? <_< I guess they have to do a lot of finger pointing if they want to specify the person they are talking about. :D

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Ta sounds the same for both he or she but they are written different.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_pronoun

 

"In modern Chinese, there is no gender distinction in pronouns in the spoken language: the pronoun Ëû (t¨¡) means 'he', 'she' or 'it'. However, around the time of the May Fourth Movement, a new written form Ëý of the pronoun was created to specifically represent 'she', and Ëû is now sometimes restricted to meaning 'he'."

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Guest ShaQuaNew

Seems all Chinese have trouble with English pronouns. I can be in the middle of a conversation with a Chinese person, thinking we are talking about a man, and then I hear: "Yes, she did that the other day."

 

 

<_<

 

 

I think, who is she? It's a tough transition for Chinese people to make the transition to English where much of our conversation is gender-specific.

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My lao po does it too. It can be very confusing at times. She tends to use "she" more often for males than "he" for females. Didn't she learn that you're supposed to use "he" when gender is unknown? I've been trying to correct her on it (at her request), but she doesn't seem to be improving yet.

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My lao po does it too. It can be very confusing at times. She tends to use "she" more often for males than "he" for females. Didn't she learn that you're supposed to use "he" when gender is unknown? I've been trying to correct her on it (at her request), but she doesn't seem to be improving yet.

 

Not when you expect it. I had a guy at work refer to his boss (a he) as "she". Didn't faze me at all

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Guest ShaQuaNew

My lao po does it too. It can be very confusing at times. She tends to use "she" more often for males than "he" for females. Didn't she learn that you're supposed to use "he" when gender is unknown? I've been trying to correct her on it (at her request), but she doesn't seem to be improving yet.

 

Not when you expect it. I had a guy at work refer to his boss (a he) as "she". Didn't faze me at all

 

 

I sometimes overlook the omission or misuse of pronouns like, He and She, but I have learned from my work that most everyone appreciates being told when they've spoken incorrectly. I suppose if you do it too much, it could be deemed annoying, so probably striking a balance for being corrective might be helpful. What's not helpful, is to ignore the misuse in an ongoing manner. I make a strong effort to speak using correct grammar to my wife and colleagues, and try not to "dumb" down the conversation by using words that might be more easily understood.

 

My wife still sometimes exchanges "he for she," when she speaks, but also catches and corrects herself a lot more.

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