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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Belle700 Senior Member United States Joined 5696 days ago 128 posts - 143 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 25 of 39 14 September 2011 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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Think about why you are interested in these languages. Is it purely cultural? Do you want to understand movies and music? You mentioned that you have neighbors who are from China. Look at your community and see if there is a dominance of one of those three languages. If it is Chinese, then start with that. If you see more of a presence of Japanese or Korean, then start with one of those. Do you plan to work or attend school in China, Korea or Japan? That would also influence your decision. If you want to learn one of these languages for no reason other than you love the culture and are fascinated by the country, then choose the one that appeals to you the most, simply because you love it.
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| caracao Triglot Groupie France Joined 5120 days ago 53 posts - 84 votes Speaks: French*, English, Italian Studies: German | Message 26 of 39 17 September 2011 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you like movies, tv shows, litterature, I would recommend Korea. They have great movies, and not only actions movies.
Watch The King and the Clown (historic) or Poetry (dramatic). The Korean cinema is booming! If you like cinema, all you'll find in Japan or China is action, monsters, mangas or horror movies. I never really like japanese or chinese culture, that's why I chose Korean. And Korean has hanja too, it's best to learn them at some point (around 2000), it helps you to memorize the vocabulary. But you don't have to learn them at all, it just help I found. But on the other hand, I'll just say, learn the language you like!!!! Edited by caracao on 17 September 2011 at 7:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5415 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 27 of 39 17 September 2011 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||
Uh...no. I'm guessing you weren't referring to Chinese movies when you mentioned monsters, manga, and horror, so I'm presuming the only Chinese movies you've seen are the kung fu flicks so mindbogglingly stupidly overrepresented in the West. A few great Mandarin-language films that have nothing whatsoever with any of those things you mentioned: 唐山大地震 (Aftershock) (2010) At the time (and possibly still), the highest-grossing domestic (and possibly otherwise) film in China. An incredibly beautiful and epic story about the endurance of familial bonds, brought full circle from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. No, it's nothing like 2012. 艋舺 (Monga) (2010) One of the highest grossing films in Taiwan. Although a gangster film, ultimately about brotherhood and friendship, subjected to irresistible external social pressures. 大腕 (Big Shot's Funeral) (2001) Not quite the classic that the other films listed here are, but a modern comedy about the psychological pressures of societal mass-commercialization. 一一 / (Yi Yi: A One and a Two) (2000) The quiet but painful multi-generational ennui of the middle class. Beautiful beyond belief, and a must see. It's available, subtitled in English, on YouTube. 活着 / (To Live) (1994) A painfully intense portrait of one family's struggle of loss and renewal through the nightmares that were the Chinese Civil War, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. 戀戀風塵 / (Dust in the Wind) (1986) Quiet and contemplative, as serene and understated as its title implies, and about as far from "action, monsters, mangas or horror movies" as it gets. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, more. I just listed a few personal favorites. These doesn't even include all the Cantonese-language films of Hong Kong, with some personal favorites (that, again, having nothing whatsoever to do with "action, monsters, mangas or horror") being: 志明與春嬌 (Love in a Puff) (2010) A fatalistic romantic comedy. A fairly accurate portrayal of contemporary everyday life in Hong Kong. 72家租客 (72 Tenants of Prosperity) (2010) Pretty silly, but a completely modern comedy, representative of the popular Chinese New Year film tradition of Hong Kong. 半斤八兩 (The Private Eyes) (1976) A classic comedic film by a classic comedic director (Michael Hui). As for Japanese cinema, I haven't seen many Japanese films, but I do know that Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world: 
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| caracao Triglot Groupie France Joined 5120 days ago 53 posts - 84 votes Speaks: French*, English, Italian Studies: German | Message 28 of 39 17 September 2011 at 9:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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No I wasn't mentionning Chinese cinema. (90% of the Japanese movies are either about monsters, robots, dead people, sex, or action). There are some good Japanese movies too. Too few.
And as the number of films produced in a country, that's not really a reference, 95% of the American cinema is... pick the adjectives you like. lol commercial if you like. I only like good movies, sorry. Chinese make good movies too, but I haven't seen many. I can't talk about something I don't know. Chinese is definitely my next target, they got great historic movies for instance. Let me learn Korean first. Edited by caracao on 17 September 2011 at 9:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| w1n73rmu7e Newbie United States Joined 5940 days ago 31 posts - 46 votes | Message 29 of 39 18 September 2011 at 1:13am | IP Logged | ||
Quality is more important than quantity. According to your list, India has the largest film industry, but I don't see anyone jumping to learn Hindi so they can watch the crap that Bollywood churns out, regardless of how much of it there is. How many movies you can watch in a given year is pretty limited anyway, so I'd say Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are all great choices as far as volume goes if you like the content. Edited by w1n73rmu7e on 18 September 2011 at 1:14am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5415 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 30 of 39 18 September 2011 at 1:18am | IP Logged | ||
As a whole, Japanese cinema is highly respected among film critics — certainly more so than its Chinese and Korean counterparts. Edited by nway on 18 September 2011 at 1:19am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| w1n73rmu7e Newbie United States Joined 5940 days ago 31 posts - 46 votes | Message 31 of 39 18 September 2011 at 7:39am | IP Logged | ||
Personally speaking, I've found Korean film to be much more enjoyable than Japanese film. So I'd say it depends on which country's film industry the OP's most attracted to. Edited by w1n73rmu7e on 18 September 2011 at 7:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| caracao Triglot Groupie France Joined 5120 days ago 53 posts - 84 votes Speaks: French*, English, Italian Studies: German | Message 32 of 39 22 September 2011 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Same, I prefer Korean movies, as I said, in Japanese it'as always about rape, sex, violence, "mafia", robots or monsters. Don't we have enough of that in American movies?
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