Andrew Dunbar wrote:

>
> --- suzmccarth <suzmccarth@...> wrote:
>
> > --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "John H. Jenkins"
> > <jenkins@...> wrote:
> >
> > > Cantonese-speakers rarely use phonetic input
> > because they're not
> > > trained in school to do a phonetic analysis of the
> > sounds they make
> > > when they speak, so it's very difficult for them.
> > They find shape-
> > > based systems easier to manage.
> > >
> >
> > So the phonetic analysis required to use the
> > alphabet has to be learned
> > in school? That is what I also believe.
>
> My Taiwanese friend was a teacher of Chinese
> and English. He told me that he learned bopomofo
> in shcool and only learned pinyin at university.
>
> I didn't ask him about learning phonetic analysis
> but it seems logical that would've been part of the
> teaching of bopomofo.

Bopomofo writes initial, final, and tone -- not segmental analysis such
as is required for pinyin.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...