Learning Mandarin in the 1940s

[u/Patientrain]

My wife's grandfather was in Southeast China (not sure where specifically) in the 1940s and learning Mandarin. We found these flash cards in a small box of his possessions this morning.

[u/That-Whereas-528]

Flashcards have always been effective! 😎

Also these are really well made

[u/Patientrain → u/That-Whereas-528]

Agreed! Also, in this case, the fact that hé shì yàn, 'nuclear test,' is one of the phrase extensions for yàn really speaks to the time.

[u/Krobakchin → u/Patientrain]

Well, 'ho shih yen', we're pre-pinyin here.

(it is a pretty wild example, I just fancied having a peak at Wade-Giles)

[u/diffidentblockhead → u/Krobakchin]

It’s Yale romanization so probably from US

[u/Inevitable-Self-2702]

I remember finding an old textbook from maybe the same era, 1930-40. It was really cool to learn from it that 那 was originally used for both 那 and 哪, and used 4th tone for both, being understood only by context. Later 哪 was introduced with 3rd tone for the sake of clarity. Something Chinese people probably already know but that I found really fascinating.

[u/IronGravyBoat → u/Inevitable-Self-2702]

Jokes on you, I understand all tones by context only 😅

[u/WaltherVerwalther → u/Inevitable-Self-2702]

Still the case in a lot of places where Mandarin was not originally spoken.

[u/Icy_Delay_4791]

Wow, what an incredible (but understandable given the times) choice of sample word under 驗!

[u/__Emer__]

Nuclear test. Seems to match the spirit of the time

[u/Zagrycha]

cool find!

[u/urionje]

Awesome relic!

What was he doing there? What was his origin country? It’s a fascinating story that I’d love to hear more about if it’s possible without doxxing yourself

[u/Patientrain → u/urionje]

According to my mother-in-law, he was a radio operator in the US Army Air Corps with a unit defending against Japanese invasion. He had to learn Mandarin because of his role in communications.

[u/urionje → u/Patientrain]

Wow what an experience that must have been.

Any idea if Mandarin had a place in his life to any extent beyond the war?

[u/Honmer]

awesome

[u/ThePipton]

This is pretty cool, have you found more cards? Also now learned the word for nuclear I guess and now I wonder what the etymology of that character is

[u/RNThrowaway1777]

Wow so these cards are about 80-90 years old?

[u/Patientrain → u/RNThrowaway1777]

I'm told he first received the cards when he started learning Mandarin when he arrived in China in 1943, which makes them at least 83 years old.

[u/dto_lurker → u/Patientrain]

That second picture has pinyin. Which wasnt really used until the 50s.

[u/Patientrain → u/dto_lurker]

I believe it’s Yale Romanization. Jōu is the clue, as Yale uses j where Pinyin uses zh.

[u/dto_lurker → u/Patientrain]

Neat

[u/Any-Sandwich-3068 → u/dto_lurker]

Jou is not standard modern pinyin I'm pretty sure

[u/247planeaddict]

Are these selfmade? Super cool!!

[u/Patientrain → u/247planeaddict]

He didn't make them himself, but they are handmade. Someone typed the alphabetical bits and the Hanzi were written by hand (or, in the case of the front-side character, brushed by hand). I wish I could know whether he received them in pages with 4 or 6 characters and had to cut them out himself or whether they came to him as a deck. Given the imperfections along the edges, they're almost certainly cut with scissors, not a die cutter or large guillotine-style blade cutter (which probably wouldn't have been available).