Differences Between Mandarin Chinese(Putonghua) and Taiwanese-Chinese languages??
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The older generation would probably know but the younger generation that has been purely bought up on simplified script would probably understand anyway from 65% to 70% of it.
Everyone I know can read newspapers in traditional characters.
How different are the spoken and written languages? If I learn Mandarin and try to communicate with the Taiwanese, will I experience any difficulties?
The previous posts are correct but perhaps not as clear to someone not familiar with "chinese".
Mandarin is very different from Taiwanese. Similar to the difference in English and German or Spanish.
However a large portion of Chinese people speak more than 1 dialect of chinese. In Taiwan a large portion speak both Mandarin and Taiwanese so if you speak Mandarin you will be able to communicate with most Taiwanese, but only because they also speak Mandarin and not just Taiwanese.
Mandarin itself is spoken with many accents just like English is in Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland and the US. So while you may learn the official Mandarin pronunciations you will perhaps struggle a bit with some stronger accents. A little time listening though and its easy to catch on.
The most maddening part is that in places like Taiwan they will freely blend words from many different prominent languages when speaking informally. Singapore has a great example of this where they freely mash up Malay, Hokkien and English words and slang. You just have to spend a lot of time in an area to get a good grasp on this.
If you are gonna be going to different areas in China or are just wanting to learn Chinese then you should stick with Mandarin. If you are going to be in a specific area only then it may be better to concentrate on a more regional dialect like Cantonese for Hong Kong or Hokkien / Taiwanese for Taiwan. Even thats debatable.
You are best off learning the simplified script then picking up the traditional script as you go. Storefronts, ads and logos often use traditional script where as official newspapers and printed material tend to be mostly simplified script. Taiwan and Hong Kong are the only 2 places were the traditional script is widely used.
The previous posts are correct but perhaps not as clear to someone not familiar with "chinese".
Mandarin is very different from Taiwanese. Similar to the difference in English and German or Spanish.
However a large portion of Chinese people speak more than 1 dialect of chinese. In Taiwan a large portion speak both Mandarin and Taiwanese so if you speak Mandarin you will be able to communicate with most Taiwanese, but only because they also speak Mandarin and not just Taiwanese.
Mandarin itself is spoken with many accents just like English is in Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland and the US. So while you may learn the official Mandarin pronunciations you will perhaps struggle a bit with some stronger accents. A little time listening though and its easy to catch on.
The most maddening part is that in places like Taiwan they will freely blend words from many different prominent languages when speaking informally. Singapore has a great example of this where they freely mash up Malay, Hokkien and English words and slang. You just have to spend a lot of time in an area to get a good grasp on this.
If you are gonna be going to different areas in China or are just wanting to learn Chinese then you should stick with Mandarin. If you are going to be in a specific area only then it may be better to concentrate on a more regional dialect like Cantonese for Hong Kong or Hokkien / Taiwanese for Taiwan. Even thats debatable.
You are best off learning the simplified script then picking up the traditional script as you go. Storefronts, ads and logos often use traditional script where as official newspapers and printed material tend to be mostly simplified script. Taiwan and Hong Kong are the only 2 places were the traditional script is widely used.
So-called Taiwanese is Southern Min, a dialect in Fujian where the majority of Taiwanese population descend from. The problem is, more than 15% Taiwanese are Hakka people whose native language isn't Southern Min.
However, Taiwan mandarin is much like Indian English. It's probably better to brand Taiwan Mandarin as Taiwanese since most Taiwanese including the Hakka people speak it.
They speak Cantonese in Hong Kong, but nobody made up a name like Hong Kong language? Hong Kongnese? Canton means Guangdong and Min means Fujian.
I do realize their political view, but Americans speak English, not American even though the U.S is a sovereign state. Maybe I underestimate how insecure people in Taiwan are, .
Born in Taiwan and was in grade school there (80's). Since Mandarin is the national language, that was what I learned in school. But Hokkien was very commonly spoken as well. That said, it was rare to meet anyone that spoken Hokkien only and not Mandarin. The two are essentially different spoken languages. I have very little clue what someone is saying in Hokkien. There are of course some similarities like English and Spanish or French may have similarities. I'd say the written language is pretty standard (outside of Tradtional vs. Simplified). I want to say you can pick up a newspaper and have it read in different dialects.
As mentioned earlier, while everyone spoke Mandarin, it's very often you'll hear it with different accents. My maternal grandparents were Shanghainese and paternal grandparents were from Shandong and they each spoke with their respective accents. And the Mandarin spoken by people in Beijing is very different (northern influence?) - often spoken with a curled tongue.
The confusing part of me is that in English, a lot of terms translated from Chinese mix the different dialects - mostly Cantonese and Mandarin. I guess that makes sense as a lot of the cultural influences in the States probably came from Hong Kong after Communist China took over.
Taiwanese Mandarin often drops the "h" from their words, which can be pretty difficult when you can´t tell the difference between si, shi, chu, cu, ce, che, etc. That silent h is pretty common across the Straight in southern China though. Northern Chinese pronounce that, but throw in an "er" sound every damn where...well, more Beijing than anywhere else.
The vocabularly differs from Mainland China as well, but probably no more than say, British English and American English. Both the Taipei dialect as well as the Beijing and heading north towards Harbin dialects have a good deal of prestige and you´ll do fine learning either.
Maybe some of you would have a different experience if you tried, by foreigners are often, well...shunned isn´t the word...but locals are often offput by foreigners learning the local dialects like Hokkein or Hakka and trying to speak it to people. It´s often a private dialect used with family and friends and not at work or school. I felt very welcome in Asia, but clearly the locals establish a polite distance between themselves and outsiders.
Mandarin is more commonly spoken at home in Taipei, Taoyuan and Taichung areas.
Hokkien or Taiwanese is more spoken in the south of Taiwan.
Hakka is more spoken in Hsinchu and Pingtung.
Nobody think mandarin speaking Residents are not Taiwanese people in tw. Taiwanese people identify we vs not we by a person's mandarin accent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macroy
Born in Taiwan and was in grade school there (80's). Since Mandarin is the national language, that was what I learned in school. But Hokkien was very commonly spoken as well. That said, it was rare to meet anyone that spoken Hokkien only and not Mandarin. The two are essentially different spoken languages. I have very little clue what someone is saying in Hokkien. There are of course some similarities like English and Spanish or French may have similarities. I'd say the written language is pretty standard (outside of Tradtional vs. Simplified). I want to say you can pick up a newspaper and have it read in different dialects.
As mentioned earlier, while everyone spoke Mandarin, it's very often you'll hear it with different accents. My maternal grandparents were Shanghainese and paternal grandparents were from Shandong and they each spoke with their respective accents. And the Mandarin spoken by people in Beijing is very different (northern influence?) - often spoken with a curled tongue.
The confusing part of me is that in English, a lot of terms translated from Chinese mix the different dialects - mostly Cantonese and Mandarin. I guess that makes sense as a lot of the cultural influences in the States probably came from Hong Kong after Communist China took over.
Some schools in Taiwan teach mandarin to foreigners using pinyin even most people in Taiwan don't like the systems or policies of mainland China. They are using pinyin because they want more money or attract more foreign students.
Some schools in Taiwan teach mandarin to foreigners using pinyin even most people in Taiwan don't like the systems or policies of mainland China. They are using pinyin because they want more money or attract more foreign students.
Bumping a one year old thread just to say this?
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