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Taiwan also have many Minnan/Hokkien and Hakka speakers.. Hakka seems to be a forgotten dialect..
What are these dialects on Taiwan? Those are separate from what's called "Taiwanese"? I've found that Tiawanese is just a slight variation of Mandarin. Just a few easy phonetic changes.
What are these dialects on Taiwan? Those are separate from what's called "Taiwanese"? I've found that Tiawanese is just a slight variation of Mandarin. Just a few easy phonetic changes.
No Taiwanese is a separate language, basically what they call Minnan. Maybe you're thinking of Taiwanese Mandarin?
On the train in the Taipei there are often announcements in 4 languages: Mandarin, English, Taiwanese and Hakka.
What are these dialects on Taiwan? Those are separate from what's called "Taiwanese"? I've found that Tiawanese is just a slight variation of Mandarin. Just a few easy phonetic changes.
I'm no expert on Taiwan, all i can tell is Hakka and Hokkein are different dialects, and both dialects are prominent in Taiwan
Let the members who are familiar with Taiwan tell you more..
No Taiwanese is a separate language, basically what they call Minnan. Maybe you're thinking of Taiwanese Mandarin?
On the train in the Taipei there are often announcements in 4 languages: Mandarin, English, Taiwanese and Hakka.
Oh, maybe so. Thanks, this is interesting.
But the way the term "Taiwanese" has been used on this forum on other threads has been in reference to Taiwan Mandarin.
So, why should only Minnan be labeled "Taiwanese", if there are 3 other "dialects"? Who decided which one gets to be called "Taiwanese", leaving the other 3 out? Are you sure about this?
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 02-23-2014 at 10:34 PM..
But the way the term "Taiwanese" has been used on this forum on other threads has been in reference to Taiwan Mandarin.
So, why should only Minnan be labeled "Taiwanese", if there are 3 other "dialects"? Who decided which one gets to be called "Taiwanese", leaving the other 3 out? Are you sure about this?
The majority of people in Taiwan speak some variety of Minnan, so they call it Taiwanese.
However, the official language in Taiwan is Mandarin.
I heard that there is huge debate over whether or not Chinese dialects should really be called dialects, because some of them are different enough to be separate languages. Cantonese and Mandarin are said to be separate languages.
How different are they? When I imagine dialects, I typically think of variation in the same language on the level of a New Yorker speaking to a Texan or American vs. British English. I don't think there would be so much controversy over Chinese being called only a language with multiple dialects if they were so similar.
quite different, i can give you an example ,when i studied in high school ,i cant communicate with my class mates from different towns in dialect, we totally cant get each other, and we have to use mandarin. plus i am chinese
But the way the term "Taiwanese" has been used on this forum on other threads has been in reference to Taiwan Mandarin.
So, why should only Minnan be labeled "Taiwanese", if there are 3 other "dialects"? Who decided which one gets to be called "Taiwanese", leaving the other 3 out? Are you sure about this?
Minnan be labeled "Taiwanese",because dialect of minnan is spoken in taiwan, and taiwan is more fomous in china ,so we call what taiwan people spoken as taiwanese.taiwan just is a typical area where people there speal minnan dialect. actually ,minnan means an area where people speak the same lauguage.the area includes taiwan, xiamen,quanzhou city.
cantonese is the other main dialect spoken in china,it was spoken in the areas including guangdong,guangxi
in china ,there are many kinds of dialect ,and minnan and contonese ,not like any other less knowned dialect just spoken limitied in samll area ,are the dialects which are spoken in large area.
taiwan people speak minnan dialect ,not contonness,and taiwan is the symbol of the minnan dialect .so we labeled minnan as taiwanese.actually ,they are the same .
Cantonese is completely different from Mandarin, and they are two kinds of languages. In China, one speaks Mandarin well but maybe not understand Cantonese completely; however, one speaks American English can full understand one who speak British English. In my opinion, be influenced by the local language, a Chinese people speak Pu tonghua (standard Chinese), and some pronunciation are the same as his local language, instead of the standard Chinese pronunciation and this is called dialect, which means he speak Chinese with local dialect.
Cantonese is completely different from Mandarin, and they are two kinds of languages. In China, one speaks Mandarin well but maybe not understand Cantonese completely; however, one speaks American English can full understand one who speak British English. In my opinion, be influenced by the local language, a Chinese people speak Pu tonghua (standard Chinese), and some pronunciation are the same as his local language, instead of the standard Chinese pronunciation and this is called dialect, which means he speak Chinese with local dialect.
Yes, exactly. To call Cantonese a dialect of Mandarin is a very political thing to legitimise Mandarin throughout all of China and de-legitimise the other languages in China. They're under threat in China, no different to say Tibetan or Uyghur, yet no one seems to care. In Singapore the traditional 'dialects' have been eroded away by Mandarin...
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