Divided by a common language

[CardSharp]

Wheras the "Bible" has been translated into SO many different languages... Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Germanic, Old English, etc. and that has happened within a much shorter timespan.

And each time it's translated the person doing the translating is allowed to tweak it to their own liking....

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Standard dialect is based off of Beijing dialect I believe. They are close with differences. What you hear on CCTV is what is the official dialect.

That's right, Standard Mandarin was based off the Beijing dialect.

However they are very slightly different, for example to say "what type".... in Standard Mandarin is "na zhong" while in Beijing dialect it is "nei zhong". I also really like the fact that people from Beijing say "zhei ge" instead of "zhe ge".

I think having a Bejing dialect gives off a sense of "prestige", at least that is what I perceive after watching Mandarin films. It is a sort of prestige dialect, like the way Queen's English is the prestige dialect of Britain.

 

[CardSharp]

That's right, Standard Mandarin was based off the Beijing dialect.

However they are very slightly different, for example to say "what type".... in Standard Mandarin is "na zhong" while in Beijing dialect it is "nei zhong".

I think having a Bejing dialect gives off a sense of "prestige", at least that is what I perceive after watching Mandarin films. It is a sort of prestige dialect, like the way Queen's English is the prestige dialect of Britain.

No bloody way, really? I've always thought of it as a homely language with street food vendors and market vendors having the heaviest Beijing accents and Cantonese being the language associated with good Chinese film aka HK film. (I saw ching kung express recently. Great film)

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

No bloody way, really? I've always thought of it as a homely language with street food vendors and market vendors having the heaviest Beijing accents and Cantonese being the language associated with good Chinese film aka HK film. (I saw ching kung express recently. Great film)

LOL yes... when Hong Kong people learn Mandarin, they always want to speak with the Beijing dialect, and say "zhei ge" all the time lol.

I think it's because there is a lot of Beijing dialect in Chinese films, so everyone can instantly recognize it.

It makes sense though, Beijing is the capital city of China. So of course people will want to emulate the dialect that is spoken in the capital.

 

[no_name]

Hebrew and Greek are old languages too that is still used today without much if any changes at all.

 

[no_name]

Standard dialect is close to what was spoken in Taiwan but a bit 'rounder'. To you it brobably sounds like we're speaking like Germans. In taiwan people who have Min nan background speak mandarin that sounds differently to people who are of the KMT background. Which makes me wonder if Taiwanese chinese is a dialect from a part of china or just something that spontaneously developed on the island.

Some variant of beijing dialect is quite curly, and all the words seems to be linked together in one breath. Also I heard once on CCTV some army guy from south region of china (around hunan, I think) being interviewed and I have a hard time understanding what he said without teletext, he reminds me of Sylvester Stallone

 

[no_name]

I also think the Romans expanded too quickly. If they have fully colonise one part of europe at a time and made the native speak all but latin then europe today might have been united. Sure the roman empire might fell but with a common language it will be easier for subsequent rulers to reunite the region.

I am also interested in whether arabic writings today is used by all the tribe in middle east before the time of Muhammad. It seems to me there should be alot of different languages. Also interestingly hebrew looks quite different to arabic.

 

[dingyibvs]

I find that you can usually guess the meaning of simplified text if you can read traditional, but the reverse is harder. If you study chinese history/culture in university in china, do they teach you traditional chinese characters?

I don't know about that...I left China right before my teenage years, never took Chinese lessons in the states, and I can still read traditional and simplified Chinese mostly fine(maybe not literature or textbooks, but newspapers and magazines are OK). I was never taught how to read traditional Chinese either.

 

[CardSharp]

Standard dialect is close to what was spoken in Taiwan but a bit 'rounder'. To you it brobably sounds like we're speaking like Germans. In taiwan people who have Min nan background speak mandarin that sounds differently to people who are of the KMT background. Which makes me wonder if Taiwanese chinese is a dialect from a part of china or just something that spontaneously developed on the island.

I quite like the Taiwanese accent, the mandarin new presenter for Omni news here in Canada is Taiwanese. At least I think he's Taiwanese.

 

[no_name]

another example of Taiwan mandarin

The younger news broadcasters now have a bit of weird and informal presenting style. Chinese news presenters were alot more formal when I was little.


This is standard mandarin i think

mao's hunan accent, some words sound quite different and I have to read the text.

When some racist people mimick what they think is 'chinese' accent I actually think they got the impression from cantonese speakers rather than people who speak mandarin.

Cantonese:

Min nan (everyday street speaking were not this civil):

 

[CardSharp]

Chair Mao, sir, what the hell did you just say?

Oh Western mock Chinese is almost certainly Cantonese. It's those people who had the earliest contact with the outside and it's likely what stuck in Westerner's mind

 

[Tractor]

The word "Mandarin" sounds so sweet in English(just like "violin") .
Does anyone know why Putonghua(National language)is also called Mandarin?
I heard it is based on language of Manchu(today one of the minority nationalities in China),is that true?
Sun Yat-sen ,founder of Republic of China and also a Cantonese is famous for his hostile statement against Manchus.So that hate Mandarin is also a tradition.

 

[Nomenclature]

The word "Mandarin" sounds so sweet in English(just like "violin") .
Does anyone know why Putonghua(National language)is also called Mandarin?
I heard it is based on language of Manchu(today one of the minority nationalities in China),is that true?
Sun Yat-sen ,founder of Republic of China and also a Cantonese is famous for his hostile statement against Manchus.So that hate Mandarin is also a tradition.

According to Wikipedia, it's from Sanskrit:
Mandarin Chinese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The English term comes from the Portuguese mandarim or Dutch mandarijn, from Malay [məntəˈri], from Hindi mantri, from Sanskrit mantrin (meaning councilor or minister[4]); it is a translation of the Chinese term Guānhuà (simplified Chinese: 官话; traditional Chinese: 官&#35441, which literally means the language of the mandarins (imperial magistrates).

 

[Tractor]

According to Wikipedia, it's from Sanskrit:
Mandarin Chinese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I got it,thanks.It's a rumor that mandarin is about Manchu or something barbarian spoken.

 

[justanobserver]

According to Wikipedia, it's from Sanskrit:
Mandarin Chinese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Holy **** !
'Mandarin' comes from 'Mantri' !!!
wow! I had no idea there were so many contacts between ancient India and China !