Chinese "Bopomofo" vs. Hiragana/Katakana

Buntaro

運動不足

Twenty-year veteran

27 Dec 2003

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2,104

• 23 Mar 2008

• #1

Hi everybody!

I understand that the Chinese language has a phonetic system similar to Hiragana/Katakana called Bopomofo. (I think this Bopomofo is only used in Taiwan, and is not used in Mainland China.)

Does anyone have a list of equivalent pronunciations between Bopomofo and Hiragana/Katakana?

 

M

magevampjoe

Sempai

5 Dec 2007

225

4

• 23 Mar 2008

• #2

I have attatched an image I found on wikipedia of a table of pinyin pronunciations for bopomofo.
Basically, it is a small set of characters that, like kana, are simple characters or basically kanji radicals.

Hope this helps.
(If it did, remember that there is a reputation feature hint hint)

Wikipedia Table PNG file
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Zhuyin_by_similarities.png
Click this link or paste it into your web browser to follow.

 

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

Moderator

Donor

Twenty-year veteran

8 Aug 2005

7,316

3,727

• 23 Mar 2008

• #3

wouldn't such a comparison be limited by the phonetic differences between Mandarin and Japanese? The writing system may be constructed in a similar way, but the languages themselves are dissimilar.

This becomes evident when looking at the chart linked above, where the characters represent consonant and vowel sounds, as opposed to mora (as in hiragana/katakana)

 

Buntaro

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Twenty-year veteran

27 Dec 2003

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• 24 Mar 2008

• Thread starter
• #4

Hi everybody!

I had forgotten how Bopomofo is a system of vowels and consonants, while Kana is a system of syllables. (Japanese Kana is not written in vowels and consonants.)

I can see how the two systems do not really have equivalents.