Languages and Linguistics

I spent most of my 20 years in the US Army as a translator of Mandarin Chinese and Japanese documents. I have also studied, to a greater or lesser extent, Taiwanese (Holo/Hokkien) Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Malay/Indonesian, Vietnamese, Spanish, German, and French.

I attended the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center at the Presidio of Monterey, California for 47-week courses in Mandarin (1963), Japanese (1967-68), and Egyptian Arabic (1973). I also spent a year there (1979-80) on a team writing Mandarin extension courses for interrogators. I lived in Taiwan for 20 months (1964-66) and in Japan for 7.5 years (1968-72 and 1976-79). Unfortunately, I didn't get much chance to use my Arabic, so my skills have completely atrophied.

I haven't worked as a translator since 1980 and I'm not a linguist, but I'm still fascinated by languages and linguistics. I'm very interested in learning about Chinese linguistics, especially dialectology and reconstructions of earlier stages of the language. I'm also interested in Japanese as it relates to the reconstruction of Chinese. The Chinese dialect that interests me most is my late wife's dialect, Taiwanese Holo (also known as Hokkien). I've put up a Web page on the missionary romanization system, which is the most common system used for Holo.

PLEASE NOTE: I get lots of requests for info on Japanese and Chinese fonts, and even for free fonts. I use the fonts that are included as a part of the Macintosh Operating System. I cannot send out fonts, and I don't know where else to obtain them. Some of the links below may contain information on fonts. Other sources of information are folks on the sci.lang.japan newsgroup for Japanese fonts and the CHINESE and Mandarin Language Learners mail lists for Chinese fonts. Please do not send me e-mail asking me to send you fonts.

Someone pointed out that some Asian fonts for Windows are available from UnionWay. I'm not familiar with them, and can't confirm this (and don't use Windows), but I thought I'd add the link, anyway.

I now publish a database program, iData^TM 3, which is handy for storing all kinds of info in various languages. Here's a sample (made up) file of Japanese-language addresses. This is the Macintosh version, but an older, simpler version is also available for Windows. iData 3 is user-configurable, and has a very fast search function, too. It can also print labels and envelopes.

Links
Disclaimer: My listing of commercial sites does not constitute an endorsement of any kind. Visit at your own risk.
Ainu-English Word List
Subscribing to the CHINESE Mail List
Subscribing to the Mandarin Language Learners List
Chinese Language Topics
Japanese Language Topics
Other Languages
On-line Dictionaries for Other Languages
General Language Topics
Foreign Languages on the Mac

Please let me know about any broken links or about any links that you think I should add. (Email mike at this domain.)

Also, I don't do much investigation of linked Web sites, other than taking a quick look when someone requests that I add a link to their site, so take reasonable care when dealing with them. Also, please let me know if you encounter any unethical behavior on the part of any of the site owners.

Subscribing to the CHINESE Mail List (Back to Links List)

This is a list for promoting communication among teachers, researchers and students of Chinese. Topics for discussion may include 1) theory and practice in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, 2) linguistics, literature and their applications to teaching of Chinese, 3) technology and teaching, 4) creative classroom activities or 5) any other relevant issues.

To subscribe, send a message to: CHINESE-REQUEST@KENYON.EDU.

The message should consist of the following line only: subscribe chinese <your name>

Subscribing to the Mandarin Language Learners List (Back to Links List)

This list is for people learning Mandarin who want to share tips and practice their
language. This list is provided free of charge by ListBot and is owned by Benjamin Barrett.
It is recommended that you have the capability to read and write Mandarin before
subscribing, but this is not required.

To subscribe, go to http://home.netcom.com/~gogaku/english/mandarin.htm and follow the on-screen instructions.

Links to Chinese Language Topics: (Back to Links List)

AsianA Communications - Chinese Translation, Typesetting, Software and Webpage Localization

Cantonese Language Association

Central News Agency (Taiwan)

China Institute

China Links - Marjorie Chan's vast collection of links

Chinese at Wake Forest University

Chinese Biographical Database

Chinese Character FAQ

Chinese Characters and Culture

Chinese Classical Literature

Chinese-Course.com - Learn Chinese Online

Chinese-English Dictionary Project (CEDICT)

Chinese Fonts

Chinese-Language Information Page

Chinese Language Learning Resources

Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) Home Page

Chinese Mac Home - Using the Chinese language on Apple Macintosh computers

Chinese Mailing Lists

Chinese Newsgroups

Chinese on the Net

Chinese Text Sampler

Cihui Chinese Input for Macintosh

CJK Character Set Server

Classical Chinese Literature

Clavis Sinica - Chinese language reading and dictionary software

Dictionary of Chinese-Japanese-Korean East Asian Buddhist Technical Terms

Foreign Ink Ltd. - Asian-language Translation and Typesetting

Frequency and Stroke Counts of Chinese Characters

Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language

Hakka Chinese Homepage

Hakka Homepage (Dylan Sung)

Hello! Mandarin - Beijing Online School of Chinese Language

Jeffrey J. Hayden's Home Page

Just Shanghai - A Variety of China-related resources, and not just for Shanghai

Kingsky's Linguistic Web

Language and Nationalism in Asia

Language Attitudes Toward Written Taiwanese

Learn Chinese Online - Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese

Learning Chinese Online (Caifornia state University, Long Beach)

Learning Mandarin Chinese - Learn Chinese with free online lessons

Los Angeles Chinese Learning Center - Mandarin Chinese Language and Culture

Marjorie K.M. Chan's Home Page

Middle Chinese Spelling Construction Kit

Nigel Greenwood: Chinese (also French, Greek, Persian, Turkish, IPA, and more)

Pai's Taiwanese Language Page

Resources for the Study of East Asian Language and Thought

San Diego State University - Chinese Language Program

Sinologic - Software and More

Stephen Matthews - Chinese Linguistics (Hong Kong University)

Sunrise Chinese Library - Gopher Menu

Taiffalo's Study of Eco-Linguistics of Society (Taiwanese info)

Tai-gu-bang (Romanized Taiwanese email net)

Tianjin University of Technology - Chinese Language Program

University of Southern California - Chinese Language Program

University of Vermont - Chinese Language Program

Wenlin Institute: Software for Learning Chinese

Yahoo! Groups: Chinese - Mac

The Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork

Yingzi - Mark Rosenfelder's spoof on using Chinese characters to write English

The Zompist Phrasebook in Chinese (A hilarious guide for the Ugly American in China)

Links to Japanese Language Topics: (Back to Links List)

Serge Flore of the Netherlands has provided a chart of Japanese kana from a Dutch book on Japan that was printed in the year 1733. In addition to "catta canna" (katakana) and "firo canna" (hiragana ), it also includes what is referred to as "imatto canna", probably "yamato kana". These appear to be single examples of what are now referred to as "hentaigana".

Kana Chart from the Netherlands

Charles Kelly's Online Japanese Language Study Materials

Dictionary of Chinese-Japanese-Korean East Asian Buddhist Technical Terms

Hiragana Lessons from Benjamin Barrett

Japanese <-> English Dictionary Server

Japanese Text Initiative - Japanese Text Online

Jim Breen's Japanese Page - Online dictionaries and more

Kanji Crammer - Kanji Slide Show/Flash Card application

Kanji Networks - Etymologies of kanji, Chinese characters as used in Japan

Lava Software - Japanese Educational Software

Maruzen Books

Resources for the Study of East Asian Language and Thought