안녕하세요?

Guess that's one of the expression that most people associate Korean with, just like Parlez-vous français? with French. Finally, after some hiccups, my Korean class has commenced. In lesson 1, my teacher, Ms Pauline (her preference of addressing), "koreanise" names into Hangeul. Mine, if following the Romanised name pronunciation, is 탄희엔. But, if using my chinese name, it would be 진기원.

Today, I would like to share this basic Hangeul table for learner just like me to use it as a tool to guide learning. For those who like the extended table, I also attached it below. Note that the extended table uses all the combination just for completeness and might not reflect the actual Hangeul use. Do notify me if you found typo in it, as I hand keyed those in.

Basic Hangeul Table

	ㅏ	ㅑ	ㅓ	ㅕ	ㅗ	ㅛ	ㅜ	ㅠ	ㅡ	ㅣ
ㄱ	가	갸	거	겨	고	교	구	규	그	기
ㄴ	나	냐	너	녀	노	뇨	누	뉴	느	니
ㄷ	다	댜	더	뎌	도	됴	두	듀	드	디
ㄹ	라	랴	러	려	로	료	루	류	르	리
ㅁ	마	먀	머	며	모	묘	무	뮤	므	미
ㅂ	바	뱌	버	벼	보	뵤	부	뷰	브	비
ㅅ	사	샤	서	셔	소	쇼	수	슈	스	시
ㅇ	아	야	어	여	오	요	우	유	으	이
ㅈ	자	쟈	저	져	조	죠	주	쥬	즈	지
ㅊ	차	챠	처	쳐	초	쵸	추	츄	츠	치
ㅋ	카	캬	커	켜	코	쿄	쿠	큐	크	키
ㅌ	타	탸	터	텨	토	툐	투	튜	트	티
ㅍ	파	퍄	퍼	펴	포	표	푸	퓨	프	피
ㅎ	하	햐	허	혀	호	효	후	휴	흐	히

Extended Hangeul Table

ㅏ

ㅐ

ㅑ

ㅒ

ㅓ

ㅔ

ㅕ

ㅖ

ㅗ

ㅘ

ㅙ

ㅚ

ㅛ

ㅜ

ㅝ

ㅞ

ㅟ

ㅠ

ㅡ

ㅢ

ㅣ

ㄱ

가

개

갸

걔

거

게

겨

계

고

과

괘

괴

교

구

궈

궤

귀

규

그

긔

기

ㄲ

까

깨

꺄

꺠

꺼

께

껴

꼐

꼬

꽈

꽤

꾀

꾜

꾸

꿔

꿰

뀌

뀨

끄

끠

끼

ㄴ

나

내

냐

냬

너

네

녀

녜

노

놔

놰

뇌

뇨

누

눠

눼

뉘

뉴

느

늬

니

ㄷ

다

대

댜

댸

더

데

뎌

뎨

도

돠

돼

되

됴

두

둬

뒈

뒤

듀

드

듸

디

ㄸ

따

때

땨

떄

떠

떼

뗘

뗴

또

똬

뙈

뙤

뚀

뚜

뚸

뛔

뛰

뜌

뜨

띄

띠

ㄹ

라

래

랴

럐

러

레

려

례

로

롸

뢔

뢰

료

루

뤄

뤠

뤼

류

르

릐

리

ㅁ

마

매

먀

얘

머

메

며

몌

모

뫄

뫠

뫼

묘

무

뭐

뭬

뮈

뮤

므

믜

미

ㅂ

바

배

뱌

뱨

버

베

벼

볘

보

봐

봬

뵈

뵤

부

붜

붸

뷔

뷰

브

븨

비

ㅃ

빠

빼

뺘

뺴

뻐

뻬

뼈

뼤

뽀

뽜

뽸

뾔

뾰

뿌

뚸

쀄

쀠

쀼

쁘

쁴

삐

ㅅ

사

새

샤

섀

서

세

셔

셰

소

솨

쇄

쇠

쇼

수

숴

쉐

쉬

슈

스

싀

시

ㅆ

싸

쌔

쌰

썌

써

쎄

쎠

쎼

쏘

쏴

쐐

쐬

쑈

쑤

쒀

쒜

쒸

쓔

쓰

씌

씨

ㅇ

아

애

야

얘

어

에

여

예

오

와

왜

외

요

우

워

웨

위

유

으

의

이

ㅈ

자

재

쟈

쟤

저

제

져

졔

조

좌

좨

죄

죠

주

줘

줴

쥐

쥬

즈

즤

지

ㅉ

짜

째

쨔

쨰

쩌

쩨

쪄

쪠

쪼

쫘

쫴

쬐

쬬

쭈

쭤

쮀

쮜

쮸

쯔

쯰

찌

ㅊ

차

채

챠

챼

처

체

쳐

쳬

초

촤

쵀

최

쵸

추

춰

췌

취

츄

츠

츼

치

ㅋ

카

캐

캬

컈

커

케

켜

켸

코

콰

쾌

쾨

쿄

쿠

쿼

퀘

퀴

큐

크

킈

키

ㅌ

타

태

탸

턔

터

테

텨

톄

토

톼

퇘

퇴

툐

투

퉈

퉤

튀

튜

트

틔

티

ㅍ

파

패

퍄

퍠

퍼

페

펴

폐

포

파

퐤

푀

표

푸

풔

풰

퓌

퓨

프

픠

피

ㅎ

하

해

햐

햬

허

헤

혀

혜

호

화

해

회

효

후

훠

훼

휘

휴

흐

희

히

Long Story

Why? I hope that explains it all.

What's in a Name?

Transliteration across different languages often fascinates me. At the same time, it may look like the selection of words (or alphabet) can vary much from the original language. Name of places especially, is often quite different from one language to another. Take Seoul, capital of South Korea for example. It is used to be called 漢城 or 汉城 in Chinese, where it is pronounce hàn chéng, but on 18 Jan 2005, Seoul Metropolitan Government officially announced Chinese equivalent of Seoul is to be called 首尔 or 首爾， pronounce as shǒu ěr, word by word pronunciation, but phonetically, shóu ěr. Interested reader should check on the Net for more debate and discussion on this topic. How does someone decide how to transliterate a name from one language to another? Russia for example, is known as 俄罗斯 or 俄羅斯，pronounce as é luó sī. If any reader knows the logic, please let me know. It often intrigues me to look for such information, but as usual, hardly any information on the standard of selection of words. Same case here in Malaysia, selection of words in Chinese for foreign words often vary from one source to another. There seems to be no standard across, even in other Chinese speaking country. The local Chinese community here thus set up a committee, called 马来西亚华语规范理事会, or Malaysia Chinese Standardisation Committee, to standardise the use of Chinese words in transliteration. It has to date release the official transliteration of government ministries and ministers name, the name of all states in Malaysia and its capital, and a couple of commonly used words like Ringgit and so on. The standardisation process sparks some debate on which words to use. I'll discuss more on this in future posting.

Errata

Finally, the yearbook is safe and sound with me. First thing to look for, is my little photo. To my surprise, it printed there that I'm from Subang Jaya. OMG, since when I'm from Subang Jaya? To make it clear once and for all, I'm currently risiding in Petaling Jaya, and never have been staying in Subang Jaya. Another misconception of Petaling Jaya, I'm staying in section 4, not SS4. Quite a number of people I met only think PJ address must be of SS something. Typical question someone might ask

A: Which part of PJ are you staying? B: PJ Old Town A: Section? B: 4 A: Oh, SS4, it's that near Kelana Jaya? B: Look, section 4 is not equals to SS4 A: Is that so? Then where is this section 4 that you mentioned? B: Specifically, it's on south-eastern of PJ, near to the border of KL/PJ, somewhere near Old Klang Road. A: Old Klang Road? Wow, that's quite far! B: Well, not actually....

Usually I really need to explain a lot to get them believe that such place does exist. The common way to explain it, I'll say it's near Gasing Hill. Gasing Hill is so near my place, I usually walk up to the hill. They usually get the rough idea. It helps to explain that Assunta Hospital is situated in PJ Old Town. Oh, for those who are interested to know about PJ Old Town, it's actually featured on Encyclopaedia of Malaysia and the latest issue of Heritage Asia [Focus on Selangor, Dec 2004-Feb 2005] .

Name change

Where's the old Info Generator? It's still here, but there's a rebranding involved. I Genner, the new brand name, but still keeping the same philosophy of providing more infos and some of my 2 cents. I have some ideas for this blog, especially on language, anime, manga, KL/Klang valley, computer related topics. I'll try to put up English posting on Mandarin for those who are puzzled with my facination with the Chinese language. One reader commented once that he would prefer the non-chinese posting, so that he can read. I hope by this way, he's happy with this. For those who are looking forward to my Mandarin posting, 别担心，我还会送上中文的文章哦！

三声及轻声（二）

2005年都到了，是时候公布答案了。以下的解答纯属参考与分享，解答准确性还没有被证实。任何用途于以下文章，本人及原本解答者一概不负责。 据朋友的解答关于轻声的问题，其实一般字句都按照原调发音的。有些字不按原调却念轻声，主要是为上下句子能够通顺、好听，就像北京人喜欢说话带儿化韵，只不过是语言和特殊语境习惯而已，不需要可以学习，不然说起话来就显得很假了。有些字念起轻声来比原调让人更感舒服，例如：舒服、聪明、麻烦，等等。 那三声“重叠字”，一般还是用[223]式的。照他这么说，演讲稿和草稿纸是念 yán jiáng gǎo、cáo gáo zhǐ。只有当遇到四个上声字时，才比较麻烦。看词组辨识的方法是可以运用，但不能套用。毕竟它还有词组关系，这样的解购方法会把词或词组拆得过于零散，不符合语言习惯。在这里，语法规定不一定能解决这个字句发音的问题。因为语法只能解决句式结构的问题，词组字句的结构组合是否合适，却无法解释读音。语音，在华语来说本身就是一的独立的学问。紧记的是，位于最后（词末、句末）的上声字一定不能变调，这没有什么例外的；至于是否有口诀，他本人就没听说过。 大家也想知道那句都是上声（三声）应该怎么念吧？他就这样解释。句子可以拆组成：你|给我|早点|写好|演讲稿。以词或词组为单位，尽可能不要拆得太散，但词句又要分明。“演讲稿”这类词组，结构比较严密，所以还是最好不拆开来说。但像‘你给我’这样的句式词组（其实也还构不成严格意义上的词组），就可以尽量拆开来，说起来也能轻重分明，更能起到一定的强调等语气效果。终结来说是念 nǐ géi wǒ záo diǎn xié hǎo yán jiáng gǎo。 最后他本人认为语言这东西，视乎语境、语感，尤其华语，本来就不像英语那样的语法化结构，所以更讲究的是你的认知。说起来舒服、感觉还行就可以了，反倒不需要太刻意讲究；只要能抓好句子的节奏，一般应该不会是太大的问题。 怎么样，还满意吗？往后有更多有关华语的题材可以与大家分享。敬请留意!任何意见不妨写给我吧！

三声及轻声

已好久没有写中文的Blog了，趁2004年还没过完之前，来一个吧。最近不知怎么的，对华语的一些疑问顿时会想起。更巧的是，在圣诞节当天，与一班旧同 学讨论起一些有趣的话题。今天先分享我的疑问，下回才分享圣诞节那些吧！该疑问已找在北京念大学的旧同学解答。真的非常谢谢他抽空回答我的问题。 以下是该电邮的大意： 如 果遇上两个并排的三声字，第一个字会变二声，而第二个字读音没变。但是如果遇上三个字或以上呢？ 例如： 演讲稿、草稿纸。听说是看词组来辨别， 如演讲稿—演讲的稿，所以是 yán jiǎng gǎo。但我觉得念起来怪怪的，还是 yán jiáng gǎo 听起来比较好听。可是草稿纸就没这么容易辨别了，因为可以是草写的稿纸或者是拿来草稿的纸，那应该是 cáo gáo zhǐ 还是 cáo gǎo zhǐ 呢？ 其实是否有什么语法规定，正确的念法该是如何？那是否有口诀可以容易记得呢？下句子的正确的读音是什么呢？

你给我早点写好演讲稿

是否有语法规定哪些字在什么时候应该念轻声，如果该字基本单字不是轻声，而配上另一个字成词时才轻声？如果单字本身已是轻声那就比较容易了。 先卖个关子，他的回答留到下次才分享吧 ：D

Fantasy

I can have a million? Someone within 5 meters radius started to doubt this statement as well. His argument is that he has no stake in it, which I totally agree. If it's really that worthy, why don't we see the results, even the level of enumeration does not see significant adjustment [Note: non-significant is not even there :( ] I don't deny the points he brought out, neither did I buy the story. So long I'm ok with the progress and there are intellectual development, as of now, I'm pretty much contented. Someone did ask me a couple of days ago, how the appraisal coming. How am I going to explain how this works? Telling my friend there's a million or more coming? I guess the typical "dream on" response is not too far from the speculation.

Rail-ly Change

As announced by KTM, the Kommuter service will now have a new ticketing structure. Finally they are introducing the weekly pass, which offers saving of 28%. Although restricted to the source and destination station purchase, unlimited rides and in-between route embarkment & disembarkment are allowed. Sadly, the "Anywhere" (Mana-mana) and "Travel" (Kembara) tickets will no longer be issued. Those tickets are fantastic package, coz it allows anyone to travel unlimitedly on the same day of purchase to go anywhere there is covered by the Kommuter service. Mana-mana cost RM5 when it started, but up RM1 when the fare structure revised. Kembara costs RM10. Both actually works the same, but in order to get the Mana-mana RM6 offer, the following condition must be fulfilled :

1. It does not fall on the school holiday.
2. It does not fall on a weekend.
3. It does not fall on public holiday.
4. Purchasing of ticket only started after 9am [but traveling ends on the last train of the day]

So, you might think that you cannot fulfilled all of the above, there's where the Kembara card comes in which you don't have to fulfill the condition above, but you have to pay for RM10. Even for RM10, is totally worth it, especially doing the long distance travel. I have used this offer for 4 times. Here's what can be done in case you wonder :

1. Checking out Seremban town, walking in Seremban lake garden which also has a little zoo-like thing which displays various bird.
2. Eating Kajang sate in Kajang itself
3. Seeing old rail depot in Sentul. Check out the building around it.
4. Visit the old part of Klang town, which has a Sultan palace near by the station, Gedung Raja Abdullah (i think it's the oldest building in Selangor), "little India". Nice food and great Ais kacang as well. There is a little cake shop at the end of the old shop houses which is very cheap and delicious! You can have a look at the infamous Klang river as well which looks different when seeing it in KL.
5. Go to south port of Port Klang which you can have a view of the sea and sun set if you want. Note: it is scorching hot in the afternoon, esp around 3pm. You can get a ride to Pulau Ketam from here as well.
6. Rawang town is a town with heavy traffic so walking around the town requires skill. Also, it is famous for a deep fried fish dish, which I have yet to try.

Too bad that the offer will ends on 31 December 2004. Reason given? Lukewarm response. I'm gonna miss this very much, unless I want to pay for high price for it [Forget it!] Also, annoucement through loud speaker informed passengers that trail basis of direct route Rawang ↔ Port Klang will commence today.

Manga Experience!

I've never know reading manga (comic in Japanese) can increase my knowledge. Lately, after reading Yakitate!! Japan, only I notice that blood type grouping is not just confined to the ABO method that we learn in school. From the manga, it introduce me to Bombay blood type, or if you want to study more about this, try google it and you'll get to know much more. The following blood type is quoted from BloodBook.com (Note: it does exist)

O Rh negative: D- C-E-c+e+, M+S-, Le(a-), K-, Fy(a+b-), Jk(a+b-) CMV-

Meaning to say, you still have all thos D, C, E factor and so on! What is so much of a big deal you might ask. It is useful for blood transfusions. That also means that blood type O is technically not a universal donor. Hmm.... maybe they should put some footnote and disclaimer in textbook just to not confuse or pass on incorrect knowledge to students. So, go read more manga today!