What is a Puerh, really? (cont.)

So I can sleep at night knowing I can't live without it does anyone know where I can find a unicode set for Japanese katakana? If not then the specific unicode numbers so I can surf the unicode sites maybe finding a match. My email address is now bogus so replace ix.netcom.com with msn.com and netstuff with thenetstuff if you capture the Japanese any other way. Hopefully the email harvestors won't put the two together. Yeah someone was using netstuff on msn so you add a prefix. Spacecowboy was gone and also any coherent prefixes. Copycats.

Thanks, Jim

Well, having the fonts is one thing, using them with your computer another one. I have much less problems with Chinese now. The other day at the local bookstore I saw a booklet+ CDrom "learn Chinese in 10 minutes" and they said that contained a dictionary, word-processor, learning software...for the equivalent of $10. I bought that, and of course that doesn't work, but it contained a little patch that added the Chinese fonts I hadn't to Japanese XP and now I can imput them by stroke count or giving the key.

Kuri

Thanks for the follow up. I don't see that many missing unicodes for Chinese and Korean Google webpage links. It is more prominent with Google Japanese webpage links. I'll try to find a katakana+hiragana unicode set and see if that plugs the hole. I'll post back with any results. Of course then you link to the page and the more traditional language font packs are required which is another story. Is katakana the Japanese attempt to keep the language pure similar to the French standard of eliminating foreign words and phrases?

Thanks, Jim

Not exactly. Though foreign words could be written phonetically in hiragana, this would lead to much confusion when reading. Because of the countless number of synonyms in Japanese and the absence of spaces between words in print, a secondary phonetic character set for foreign words - mostly nouns - makes sense. Sometimes katakana is used for native Japanese words, if the writer feels the original kanji form is too abstruse. In fact, on official paperwork like government forms, medical records, or applications, individuals are required to write names and addresses in both kanji and katakana. This is simply to avoid any reading errors.

The number of foreign words in Japanese is enormous and continues to grow every year. Katakana is by no means a way to stem this tide.

--crymad

Cesano in 20 km far from Milano. From Milano to Vicenza (the city where I live) there are some 200 km. L

"Mike Petro" ha scritto nel messaggio news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

So there is no official Japanese policy too keep the language pure similar to the French ie for every foreign word there would be a national representation.

Jim

No, nothing like the L'Académie Française to protect the purity of Japanese. Though during WWII, borrowed words were banned outright. This has led to some fascinating discussions with older Japanese trying to uncover how exactly they were forced to refer to purely foreign things like bananas or kangaroos.

--crymad

Space Cowboy wrote:

L'Academie Francaise is an old private joke. Nobody ever listened to them and well, we have no real problem in French, we have always taken as many loan words as other languages, and never passed the limit (the limit in my opinion is when the man in the street no longer understands).

In Japan, it's the government that is desesperately trying to stop the anarchic katakana-word chaos. They have now teams working on the problem. The reason is the meaning of 80% of the katakana words is completely obscure, nobody understands. They've passed the limit long before I arrived. OK, they are loan words, but so randomly introduced and distorted (in pronunciation and usage). I'm sure Crymad gets the picture.

The other day the Prime Minister was talking to the Diete and said he wanted to discuss about "Japan frog" (the term was in spoken "katakana English"), everybody was puzzled. After a few minutes, someone asked him what he was talking about : he meant "Japanese flag". That guy is said to have extraordinary communication skills for a Japanese politician. Less educated people also create their katakana jargon.

On a package of tuo cha (it's written in decorative Chinese characters, that's how I know what it is), on the back, they wrote in katakana to put the "pua-rutibo-ru" (Puer tea-ball, they mean Puer tuo cha, they have just invented the neologism) in a "tipottu" (tea pot). A friend lectured me that I had to use an English style pot (a "tipottu") with a ball-shaped tea strainer (a "tibo-ru"). As she hardly speaks English, she never made the relation between "tibo-ru" and "tea ball", she has always considered it like a brand name.

Kuri

I found some interesting info on the beasties-theory.

Cheers

"Pu-erh tea becomes alive during a miraculous process that facilitates the development of active yeast cultures. The two beneficial yeast, which create the unique character of Pu-erh tea are known as the yellow and white yeast types. When the temperature of the environment is higher (Spring & Summer), yellow yeast is in its most active state, and thrives. This is the reason why Pu-erh tea is called "after oxidized tea". At this time the tea cake is oxidizing. It is best to drink Pu-erh tea in this stage.

When moisture content of the air is higher, the white yeast will become active. In this stage, the white yeast ferments the tea and you can smell the fragrance of aging of tea. Pu-erh tea would not be a Pu-erh tea if the cake did not consist of both yeast. However, the active period of both yeast may vary a little. Thus, if you smell moldy (yellow yeast) all the time, then this indicates that cake is either immature or of bad quality. The most reserve Pu-erh teas are aged and develop their character over the course of many seasons. Good Pu-erh teas get better with age, like some fine wines. "