Start Learning Chinese in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

Gender differences in the language

ec07
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: August 12th, 2009 12:03 am

Gender differences in the language

Postby ec07 » August 27th, 2009 3:49 am

Are there any gender differences in the Chinese language? For example, Japanese women use atashi for I and men use ore for I. Is there something similar to that in Chinese? I

lan_dawei
Established Presence
Posts: 82
Joined: June 24th, 2009 3:32 am

Postby lan_dawei » August 27th, 2009 2:07 pm

The closest I can think of is 他 and 她,both which are pronounced "ta1". Chinese also has a plethora of names for relatives, far more detailed than in English for relatives which are gender specific. We're happy just to say "cousin" but Chinese is far more precise (and IMO confusing! :-) )
下次再见
蓝大卫
www.mychinaconnection.com

Get 40% OFF Forever Discount
jchow
New in Town
Posts: 5
Joined: April 24th, 2010 2:30 pm

Postby jchow » April 24th, 2010 3:46 pm

there's no difference when you use the first and the second personal pronoun, but the third has its differece. but i think it's not complicated, just like english - I(我), you(你), he(他),she(她), it(它)
but the appellations of relatives are more complex than english and japanese, i think, like lan_dawei said.

Return to “General Discussion and Help Learning Chinese”