{"id":2040,"date":"2012-07-18T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/?p=2040"},"modified":"2020-11-17T10:37:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T09:37:03","slug":"a-language-learners-guide-to-reading-comics-in-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/a-language-learners-guide-to-reading-comics-in-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"A language learner’s guide to reading comics in Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post about reading comics in Chinese, written by Sara K.<\/em> It was written as a natural follow-up to her previous article<\/a>, but instead of talking about reading in general, this time she introduces comics for Chinese learners. I also enjoy reading\u00a0 comics, but rather than trying to write something mediocre myself, I hand over the pen to an expert. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

Olle Linge has already said why reading comics are good for language learning (Reading manga for more than just pleasure<\/a>), so this article is about how to use comics for language learning.<\/p>\n

I have read comic books ever since I learned how to read, I came into Chinese-language comics with a broad knowledge of the medium to support me, and even so, I had to learn how to best use the comics in my studies. There are two main issues:<\/p>\n

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  1. Picking a comic<\/strong> (this is very important, and also difficult to do without broad knowledge of what is out there)<\/li>\n
  2. Being comfortable<\/strong> with the comic book medium<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This article mostly focuses on (1), but I will first address (2).<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Attitude<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Many people look down on comics because they are for kids, porn, silly, or are simply degenerate. To people who have such an attitude, I say this: if you are more concerned with building highbrow-culture credentials than language learning, that is your choice, but if you refuse to read comics because they are too lowbrow for you, you are denying yourself a very useful tool for language learning. Many people are concerned, not about their own attitudes, but the attitudes of others. I think such fears are often exaggerated, but in some situations they are valid, so here are my suggestions:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Read in private<\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. Use book covers<\/strong> (you can make your own out of scratch paper). This is a good idea anyway \u2013 it keeps the comics in good shape.<\/li>\n
    3. Stick to comics which are obviously for grown-ups<\/strong> yet are obviously not porn. For example, The Drops of God (\u795e\u4e4b\u96eb), an international bestseller about wine, is a good choice in this category.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Kids comics, of course, are not only okay, they are wonderful. Kids comics generally will have simpler language, even pinyin or bopomofo (the phonetic script used in Taiwan). And many kids comics are enjoyable for readers of all ages. There are too many kids comics out there for me to offer a comprehensive overview, but here are two places to start:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Doraemon (\u54c6\u5566A\u5922)<\/strong>, perennially popular with the children of Taiwan (and Japan too, of course)<\/li>\n
      2. Shonen Jump<\/strong>, the most popular comic book magazine in the world (though only the second most popular comic book magazine in Taiwan \u2013 I’ll discuss the most popular comic book magazine in Taiwan later in this article). It is the origin of phenomenal hits such as Dragonball (\u4e03\u9f8d\u73e0), One Piece (\u822a\u6d77\u738b), and Death Note (\u6b7b\u4ea1\u7b46\u8a18\u672c), among others. There is plenty of information about Shonen Jump on the web.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        And finally, porn is also okay. There is no shortage of it, at least in traditional characters. There is comic book porn catering to many different tastes, including female tastes. And porn tends to be short \u2013 good for people intimidated by long works. Unfortunately, it might be hard to find porn suited to one’s tastes outside of Taiwan\/Hong Kong \u2013 in Taiwan\/Hong Kong, of course, one simply needs to enter the over-18-years-old section of a comic book shop and browse.<\/p>\n

        Comic grammar<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Like film, there are a set of well-known conventions used in comic books to convey the story \u2013 usually referred to as ‘comic grammar’. Most people learn comic grammar by reading lots of comic books \u2013 the same way people learn film grammar or television grammar. I have met people in both the United States and Taiwan who cannot ‘read’ comics in their native language because they have not picked up comic grammar (they don’t actually use the term ‘comic grammar’, but that’s what they mean).<\/p>\n

        Even though comic grammar is not uniform throughout East Asia, or even just in the Chinese-speaking world (for example, Hong Kong comic grammar is not identical to Taiwanese comic grammar), the similarities are strong enough that anyone who has read lots of East Asian comics shouldn’t have a problem with this when they start reading comics in Chinese. On the other hand, this could be a bit challenging for somebody who had not read many East Asian comics. If this is an issue, or if one simply does not want to pick up comic grammar at the same time one is trying to pick up Chinese, I suggest reading either a) kids comics (simpler comic grammar) or b) manhwa<\/em> (Korean comics), as manhwa tends to have more straightforward comic grammar than manga (Japanese comics) and manhua<\/em> (comics from the Chinese-speaking world).<\/p>\n

        What do you want from comics?<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Answering this question is the first step to picking appropriate comics. For example, if you simply want to feel more comfortable reading Chinese, I would advocate reading a long comic book series full of cliffhangers \u2013 sticking to one cast of characters is generally easier than reading a bunch of short unrelated works, and cliffhangers keep one motivated (Shonen Jump, mentioned earlier, is a good source for this type of thing).<\/p>\n

        On the other hand, if one wants to expand one’s flexibility (being able to read a wider range of texts), I would advocate reading a bunch of stylistically different works to get exposed to as many kinds of Chinese as possible. Creative Comics Collection, Taiwan’s most popular manhua magazine (it outsells the Taiwan edition of Shonen Jump), is great for this. It’s full of short works which address topics as different as rooftop gardens, the history of Taipei, the different types of dragons used to ‘guard’ temples, a house built for use by the Japanese imperial family, and bathing habits in Ancient Greece (by the way, all of these topics appeared in the same issue).<\/p>\n

        From here, I am going to split this into three sections:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Colloquial Chinese<\/strong><\/li>\n
        2. Literary Chinese<\/strong><\/li>\n
        3. Non-fiction Chinese<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Of course, the most important thing is motivation. 7Seeds (\u5e7b\u6d77\u5947\u60c5), a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure manga by Yumi Tamura, does not fit any of the categories I describe (well, it might fit under ‘colloquial’). However, even though it does not fit well into any of the categories discussed below, if you want to read 7Seeds really badly \u2013 then go ahead and read it. Don’t stop yourself from reading something you’re really interested in, even if it doesn’t align with my suggestions.<\/p>\n

          Colloquial Chinese<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Many comics use very colloquial language, but not all. For people who are primarily interested in colloquial Chinese, I have two general suggestions: comedies and manhua.<\/p>\n

          In every language I have ever used, comedies tend to have the colloquial language of any form of fiction. I think it is because humor often requires very natural language in order to work. I know I have picked up much more Chinese slang from reading comedic comics than all other comics combined \u2013 and comedies only make up a minority of my comic-book reading. For example, I learned that \u5fa9\u53e4 (f\u00f9g\u01d4<\/em>) means ‘retro’ by reading the manhwa \u746a\u9e97\u7684\u5916\u5bbf\u4e2d (Mary Stayed Out All Night<\/a>).<\/p>\n

          I also think that, for the most extremely colloquial language, one should look at manhua (comics from China\/Taiwan\/Hong Kong\/Singapore). Sure, some manhua are written awkwardly (no language is immune to bad writers), and some translations are so good that they do not feel like translations at all. But, on average, I would say that manhua better reflects natural speech than comics in translation (I would say the same of comics originally written in English vs. comics translated into English). For example, Taiwanese manhua not aimed at children occasionally throws in some bopomofo (the phonetic script used in Taiwan), whereas I have never seen this in a comic in translation.<\/p>\n

          Speaking of bopomofo, that raises another issue \u2013 region. Ideally, one would read manhua from whatever region one is interested in. For example, as someone who is studying Taiwan-Mandarin, Taiwanese manhua is the obvious choice for me. People with a strong interest in Guangdong should pick up humor manhua from Hong Kong. Ask people from whatever region you are interested in if there are any good local cartoonists.<\/p>\n

          And of course, another reason to favor manhua, particularly manhua from one’s region of interest, is culture. One cannot master a language without knowing a lot about the culture, and manhua best reflects the culture of Chinese-speakers. Comics in translation can also contribute to cultural knowledge \u2013 Japan has such an overwhelming influence on Taiwanese culture that one has to know quite a bit about Japanese culture to understand Taiwanese culture \u2013 and translation choices also reveal culture. Nonetheless, I think serious language learners who want to try comics should at least try manhua to get the maximum benefit.<\/p>\n

          Finally, another way to use comics for colloquial Chinese is to combine them with idol dramas. This is a way to integrate reading and listening skills \u2013 start with the format one is more comfortable with, and then experience the story in the format one is less comfortable with. Here is a list of idol dramas which I know have a manga or manhua equivalent (though some of the manga\/manhua exist only in traditional or only in simplified characters).<\/p>\n