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At one point, apparently it was fashionable amongst teens to type characters by using pinyin and always selecting the first character in the list of options, re
by suchire 2y ago
At one point, apparently it was fashionable amongst teens to type characters by using pinyin and always selecting the first character in the list of options, regardless of the intended actual character. That was essentially phonetic writing, but as a result, texts were incomprehensible to parents (the desired outcome).
- whoisburbansky 2y agoIf the texts were incomprehensible to parents, how were they comprehensible to their intended recipients?
- oasisaimlessly 2y agoRead the nonsense text aloud and then listen. Presumably with practice, you don't actually to actually speak aloud, and your 'inner monologue' voice is sufficient.
- neaden 2y agoIt sounds like the Chinese version of 1337speak.
- raincole 2y agoThe real answer to your question: the most commonly used Chinese input method allows you to type the first pinyin letters only, and the algorithm will figure out the most likely Chinese characters you want. It's not "the parents" can't read it. It's that people who don't use electronics have a harder time reading it.
- raincole 2y ago(I misread the top comment)
- olalonde 2y agoI think it's just easier for beginners (or teenagers) to go from phonetic to meaning. I guess advanced Chinese readers don't even read the words out loud in their head and go directly to meaning. I'm beginner/intermediate at Chinese and surprisingly, I noticed that my pinyin often seems better than many Chinese natives.
- Prickle 2y agoIt's the same logic as writing a sentence like this: Y U gna be late It's grammatically completely incorrect. But you can still understand it. When it comes to chinese/japanese characters, many have the same phonetic reading. So you can do something similar, while selecting the wrong characters.