How easy is it for a Cantonese speaker to understand spoken and written Mandarin, and vice versa. How about other "dialects"?
Question for Chinese speakers
I think Cantonese speaker understand Mandarin more easier
than Mandarin speaker understand Cantonese. Mandarin is a strong culture. Because Peking is the capital of China and Pekingese speak Mandarin. Mandarin speaker and other dialects speaker don't understand Cantonese even if several words or one sentence. As for other dialects, such as Shanghai dialect, Suzhou dialect, Hangzhou dialect, which are called Wu language or Wu dialect，are not understood by Mandarin speaker. But most Wu dialect speaker can understand Mandarin because of school education. Mandarin has been damaging the dialects of various regions.
than Mandarin speaker understand Cantonese. Mandarin is a strong culture. Because Peking is the capital of China and Pekingese speak Mandarin. Mandarin speaker and other dialects speaker don't understand Cantonese even if several words or one sentence. As for other dialects, such as Shanghai dialect, Suzhou dialect, Hangzhou dialect, which are called Wu language or Wu dialect，are not understood by Mandarin speaker. But most Wu dialect speaker can understand Mandarin because of school education. Mandarin has been damaging the dialects of various regions.
Can I butt in with another question for Chinese speakers?
Does this sentence make sense?
晖彗会毁慧蚘
Thank you.
Does this sentence make sense?
晖彗会毁慧蚘
Thank you.
Written Chinese is Unified and all dialects speaker can understand written Chinese.
Qin Shi Huang who was the first emperor of Qin Dynasty unified the written Chinese form in 220 B.C.
Qin Shi Huang who was the first emperor of Qin Dynasty unified the written Chinese form in 220 B.C.
<<Does this sentence make sense?
晖彗会毁慧蚘
Thank you. >>
You're welcome. This is not a sentence. Just a group of characters piled up together. Doesn't make any sense.
晖彗会毁慧蚘
Thank you. >>
You're welcome. This is not a sentence. Just a group of characters piled up together. Doesn't make any sense.
As a kid, I acquired oral Cantonese from my parents, and learned written standard Chinese (Mandarin) read in Cantonese. Later, I also learned Mandarin (both written and spoken). And a bit later, because of the internet, I also learned written Cantonese that people came up with since the 1990s.
So now, I'm a native of written AND spoken Cantonese, a native of written standard Chinese (perhaps with some "regionalisms" due to limited exposure), and an intermediate of spoken Mandarin.
And I tell you guys again, Cantonese is a LANGUAGE, although we don't have a separate country. Mainland Chinese students I met in Hong Kong generally agree with this, because they discovered that they couldn't at all understand what people are talking about without learning Cantonese. This is far from some others' claim that Cantonese is a dialect. If you say it's a dialect, then it must be intelligible to Mandarin speakers to a very high degree, to the extent that they won't need to learn Cantonese in order to understand it. But, the fact is exactly the reverse.
Many of such people maintain a notable accent, but whatever I talk in Cantonese, they can understand everything very well. Again, it shows just how easy Mandarin speakers can learn Cantonese and vice versa.
The original question is largely demographic. Many Cantonese speakers just can't understand Mandarin well, for the simple reason that they've hardly learned any Mandarin when they were younger - in the 80s, 90s. I was also largely monolingual by the time I went to high school.
So now, I'm a native of written AND spoken Cantonese, a native of written standard Chinese (perhaps with some "regionalisms" due to limited exposure), and an intermediate of spoken Mandarin.
And I tell you guys again, Cantonese is a LANGUAGE, although we don't have a separate country. Mainland Chinese students I met in Hong Kong generally agree with this, because they discovered that they couldn't at all understand what people are talking about without learning Cantonese. This is far from some others' claim that Cantonese is a dialect. If you say it's a dialect, then it must be intelligible to Mandarin speakers to a very high degree, to the extent that they won't need to learn Cantonese in order to understand it. But, the fact is exactly the reverse.
Many of such people maintain a notable accent, but whatever I talk in Cantonese, they can understand everything very well. Again, it shows just how easy Mandarin speakers can learn Cantonese and vice versa.
The original question is largely demographic. Many Cantonese speakers just can't understand Mandarin well, for the simple reason that they've hardly learned any Mandarin when they were younger - in the 80s, 90s. I was also largely monolingual by the time I went to high school.
Woozle Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:19 pm GMT
Can I butt in with another question for Chinese speakers?
Does this sentence make sense?
晖彗会毁慧蚘
Thank you.
*********************************************
I used Google Translate to translate it for you:
Hui Hui Hui will ruin Ascaris
Does it make sense to you?
Can I butt in with another question for Chinese speakers?
Does this sentence make sense?
晖彗会毁慧蚘
Thank you.
*********************************************
I used Google Translate to translate it for you:
Hui Hui Hui will ruin Ascaris
Does it make sense to you?
晖彗会毁慧蚘
Yeah, thought so. It should have been "bright comet can destroy intelligent tapeworms", but there are no grammatical particles at all.
Yeah, thought so. It should have been "bright comet can destroy intelligent tapeworms", but there are no grammatical particles at all.