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My brain: zero. 都/部 : one

jbradfor

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For some reason, two months ago my brain suddenly refused to distinguish between 都 and 部. I guess they do look somewhat similar -- city/area radical on the right, and left is some lines on top with a box-ish thing in the bottom. But I never had issues with them before.

I think it started when I realized that 都 has an alternative meaning and pronunciation than the one we are all taught in first-year Chinese. Upon learning that, so much more made sense. Now I know why Kyoto is written "京都"; "capital all" makes no sense at all. I should have realized it earlier as well with 成都, but it never clicked.

But now that I know that, with how close the pronunciations are (du1 vs bu4), my brain decided they are too close to distinguish.

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jbradfor

So, how should 大都 be pronounced?

Běijīng B)

I know, I know, it was pretty embarrassing. The evidence was all around, I just never picked up on it.

都 was probably the 20th (or so) character I learned, so I just had it burned into my mind that "都 means all pronounced dou1". Even when I saw things that didn't quite fit, it was so ingrained that I didn't change.

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