clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5192 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi
| Message 1 of 22 13 February 2012 at 8:13pm | IP Logged |
မင်္ဂလပါ။ ကျွန်တော်ပိုလန်လူမြူ းပါ။
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Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5743 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto
| Message 2 of 22 13 February 2012 at 10:33pm | IP Logged |
Sorry for the off topic post, but how did you find studying Burmese?
I was talking to someone and he said that I might like Burmese based on my tastes in languages. I might dabble with it, because there seems to be some free resources on the Internet, which is the only thing I'd use, since I have no idea how I'd actually use it IRL.
Anyway, sorry to disappoint if you thought someone would actually respond in Burmese.
Edited by Michael K. on 15 February 2012 at 8:53pm
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clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5192 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi
| Message 3 of 22 14 February 2012 at 9:53pm | IP Logged |
It's OK.
I actually doubt that someone would study it on here - its not a very popular language.
As I am studying it, I think the grammar is unexpectedly very different from Chinese,
more close to that of Japanese.
There are grammatical case markers, and SOV word order:
Girl school-to go want = a girl wants to go to the school.
I think there is even something like verb conjugation, plural vs singular.
The grammar seems very different from Chinese, despite the relation between those
languages.
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Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6673 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin
| Message 4 of 22 14 February 2012 at 10:32pm | IP Logged |
The relationship between tibeto-burman languages and chinese languages are still actually disputed among
scholars.
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Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5743 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto
| Message 5 of 22 14 February 2012 at 11:13pm | IP Logged |
Thanks for responding, clumsy.
I wish I knew some Burmese so I could chat with you.
I understand why it's not very popular - there really isn't much of a demand for it offline, and I don't know how many Burmese people want to talk online.
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viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4680 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese
| Message 7 of 22 15 February 2012 at 2:58pm | IP Logged |
Actually, with the recent political changes in the country, learning Burmese may become more popular.
I have found Burmese the most difficult Asian language I've tried to learn. It's really nothing like Japanese or Chinese, and quite different from its Southeast Asian neighbors as well.
There is, however, a great resource for learning Burmese - John Okell's four volume set with extensive audio materials. It's much more thorough than anything out there for Thai or Khmer, although it will only take you to a certain point. Of the four volumes, I would recommend you get the ones on the script, on reading and the first one on speaking (the second is not that useful.) Okell and Allott's handbook on grammatical particles is another great resource when you start reading on your own.
To close, Myanmar is a fascinating country and if you want a linguistic challenge, Burmese is it.
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Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5743 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto
| Message 8 of 22 15 February 2012 at 8:52pm | IP Logged |
Thanks, viedums.
How have you used Burmese? Is there much of an Internet presence? How is Burmese literature?
I'm often tempted to learn languages, but I really need to have a use for it. I don't know if I'd ever even get a chance to speak Burmese even if I did learn it. It's kind of an obscure language from a distant part of the world.
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