Zdenek's definitions
A set of properties belonging to an object that pleasantly surprise a watcher. From commercials to cool electronics, the wow factor is an important thing to consider when designing it.
The IBM computers in middle 90's had a certain degree of the 'wow factor' to them. Sadly enough, their users weren't mostly able to recognize it.
by Zdenek December 30, 2004
Get the wow factor mug.It is, and means, the Chinese characters. This conceptual writing system is believed to be totally archaic by the European linguistic experts who don't have a single idea about the whole thing. Their logic goes as follows, from the most primitive to their Latin:
pictures - hieroglyphs - kanji - syllabary (on the Cyprus island) - Greek - LATIN.
Which is a complete nonsense, to say at least. I will try to explain why KANJI is the best script for certain Asian countries and why it should come to our general knowledge as well.
When a language contains a lot of homophones, which is seen on a regular basis in Japanese and Chinese, putting it simply phonetically will not do for more complex texts. So the text is much more clear with the glyphs. It shall also be taken into consideration that different scripts are optimised for different audiences. Unlike Latin, which was developed for general public and needed to express tongue-twisting sounds, and is therefore good for fast learning (some children learn it in 1 week), the Kanji is targetted to well-educated and subsequently wise people. It is also proved that when one masters Kanji, he can absorb information 2 times faster than when reading Roman letters. But there's more: Unlike Latin letters, one can see interesting coherences in the Kanji's radicals, which allow an experienced reader to understand a new character without exactly remembering it, and, what's more interesting, enrich their mind with understanding how a difficult word can be made of the simpler ones.
Now one piece of information related strictly to the Japanese use of Kanji: They use both traditional and simplified variants of it, which may complicate simultaneous learning of Chinese and Japanese. They also include okurigana suffixes after the word roots to express the tense.
pictures - hieroglyphs - kanji - syllabary (on the Cyprus island) - Greek - LATIN.
Which is a complete nonsense, to say at least. I will try to explain why KANJI is the best script for certain Asian countries and why it should come to our general knowledge as well.
When a language contains a lot of homophones, which is seen on a regular basis in Japanese and Chinese, putting it simply phonetically will not do for more complex texts. So the text is much more clear with the glyphs. It shall also be taken into consideration that different scripts are optimised for different audiences. Unlike Latin, which was developed for general public and needed to express tongue-twisting sounds, and is therefore good for fast learning (some children learn it in 1 week), the Kanji is targetted to well-educated and subsequently wise people. It is also proved that when one masters Kanji, he can absorb information 2 times faster than when reading Roman letters. But there's more: Unlike Latin letters, one can see interesting coherences in the Kanji's radicals, which allow an experienced reader to understand a new character without exactly remembering it, and, what's more interesting, enrich their mind with understanding how a difficult word can be made of the simpler ones.
Now one piece of information related strictly to the Japanese use of Kanji: They use both traditional and simplified variants of it, which may complicate simultaneous learning of Chinese and Japanese. They also include okurigana suffixes after the word roots to express the tense.
by Zdenek June 8, 2004
Get the kanji mug.It is a Japanese syllabary alphabet used to spell out foreign, now mostly English words. Consists of approx. 45 syllables, which can be further modified with accents "=b and °=p, prolongations (nigori) and smaller versions of vowels, ya-yu-yo and tsu. It doesn't allow for an exact transliteration, thus introducing a thick Japanese accent.
by Zdenek June 8, 2004
Get the katakana mug.by Zdenek August 21, 2004
Get the Ruzek mug.Changing your car's appearance to enhance it (in your eyes) - ranges from lame dasher frills and spoilers to reboared cylinders and rechipped injection circuits. It's supposed to make your car go (or just look) faster.
by Zdenek August 20, 2004
Get the tuning mug.Sort of very poor people in Japan. About 2% of all Japanese citizens. They are heavily discriminated.
by Zdenek May 25, 2004
Get the burakumin mug.