Learn Chinese online - Shanghainese vs Cantonese -

> Learning Chinese > Non-Mandarin Chinese
Shanghainese vs Cantonese
Home New Posts

Login: Pass: Log in or register for standard view and full access.





Page 1 of 4 1 23 > »






ameliasj -

Shanghainese as I am, I am always seeking for threads on Shanghainese.
While, it seems that most threads here are about Cantonese.
I wonder why Cantonese so popular?

Is that means there're more foreingers in Canton than in Shanghai?

And is that because Cantonese is easier than Shanghainese?

Or is that has something to do with Cantonese song?

BTW, my mom is Cantonese, but I can only catch up a little when she speaks to my grandma. Actually
she never speaks Cantonese to me. It seems that Shanghainese is more native to her.



Pleco Software Learn Chinese with our Dictionaries for Palm and Pocket PC.
Learn Chinese in China Learn to speak Chinese 1MonthChinese.com -Mandarin School in China.
Chinese Textbooks Wide range, cheap, varied languages. Also Chinese cartoons, toys, gifts.
Study Chinese in Beijing Affordable Mandarin language courses at BLCU with ChinaUnipath.com.
HNHSoft Dictionary Learn Chinese on Smartphone and PDA with real person's voice.
XueXueXue IQChinese Get beyond the plateau.Take your Mandarin to a new level.
Chinese in Lijiang Short term Chinese study in a beautiful town with a focus on daily life.
MandarinTube Chinese Access to current everyday Chinese language and culture, 24/7.
Learn Chinese Homestay Chinese course, cultural activities & volunteer events in China.
Learn Chinese Online 1-on-1 instant tutoring, diverse courses, native teachers. FREE trial now!
Nihao Chinese Progam Free one-on-one Chinese lesson. Win 5-years of free lessons now!


About Ads (and how to hide them) -- Your message here









geraldc -

Cantonese is used by a large number of overseas Chinese and Hong Kong. It also has it's own
entertainment industry, films, televsion, songs etc.

You generally only get Chinese entertainment in Mandarin or Cantonese, I don't think I've ever
seen a Shanghainese movie.










L-F-J -

I've only seen one movie with Shanghainese, and that was just a short part of it. Even being in
Shanghai, the movie was in Mandarin.

Besides all the advertisement for Mandarin and Cantonese (songs, tv shows, movies, etc.) Cantonese
is the second most widely spoken of the Chinese dialects, second to Mandarin. Cantonese is also
spoken in many different places, and as geraldc said, many overseas Chinese we meet are Cantonese.
Otherwise, no matter where they are from, they'll use Mandarin. I don't think Shanghainese is very
widely spoken, overseas or elsewhere. At least not as much as Cantonese.

Also, I tried to learn Shanghainese once. I was able to find nong hao va, xia xia nong, and zai
wei... It's extremely hard to find any study material for it. Since Mandarin and Cantonese are the
most widely spoken that's what they have in the bookstores and online mostly.










ameliasj -

I don't know it is a good thing or bad, the government always require us to speak Mandarin, in
school, in shops, and almost everywhere outside home. (Teachers must use Madarin in class. ) For
foreingers and people from other city, that maybe more easy for conmunication. While for the
language itself, it may oneday vanished as a result of fewer and fewer use. I saw a lot of
children who never say Shanghainese even at home.

There are some books on Shanghainese, but not so popular and easy-to-find. Same as the
Shanghainese course.

When I learned Japanese, I find it sound quite similar to Shanghainese. So it maybe easy for
Japanese to learn Shanghainese. Just kidding.










rose~ -

In the UK, if I told someone I am learning Chinese, about half of the time they will ask if I mean
Cantonese. For many people in the UK, "Chinese" is synonmous with "Cantonese", which may sound odd
to someone from the Mainland. I suppose that that is related to the former colonialisation of Hong
Kong. But Cantonese is actually now a part of UK culture.

And like others said, Cantonese really has the status of a language (I'm not saying it is a
language). It has dictionaries, films, songs, it is listed on menus on a website as a language. In
Europe, it is the sound of Cantonese that people associate with Chinese.And most Mainland European
(not UK) Chinese University courses have Cantonese as a required component. And here I am working
in Shanghai, yet I don't speak Shanghainese. It would not be acceptable in Hong Kong for the
equivalent job.

Compare it with Shanghainese, which has no dictionaries, no films, no songs...It has no status
officially. It is not heard in official announcements like Cantonese. It is not the working
language of multinantional companies here. In fact, there are even signs in some places saying
"請講普通話". I know a lot of people mention shanghaining.com as an example of Shanghainese
culture, but that is just ONE website.

Until Deng Xiaoping's "opening up and reform" policy, there were not many Shanghainese speakers
overseas either.

It's kind of sensitive issue to me as I have a few Mainland freinds in the UK who used to
basically ridicule Cantonese.










Ncao -

I think if HK was never a British colony and if there wasn't a large oversea Cantonese speaking
community, the status of Cantonese would probably be the same as Shanghainese.










carlo -

Learning a language without exposure to native speakers and a vibrant subculture is virtually
impossible (even students of hieroglyphics spend years wandering museums). There are dozens of
Cantonese films and songs that I like, hundreds of books on Cantonese vocabulary and grammar, and
plenty of HK people I know who don't speak enough Mandarin. The appeal of Shanghainese is much
less obvious.










dalaowai -

Please don't take offense to my view on it, however to simply put it, Shanghainese isn't easy on
the ears.

I lived in Zhejiang and Shanghai during the past 3 years and I have to say that from the point of
view of people not familiar with the dialects, (i.e. foreigners or waidiren) Shanghaihua is really
painful to hear.

Every morning, I'm woken up around 5:30AM by my neighbours standing outside my apartment door
having a "normal" conversation. However, to me it feels like they're having a heated argument. As
for my Chinese friends who aren't Shanghainese, they often complain about this as well. I sure
enjoy the bus rides where two middle-aged Shanghainese women are yelling at each other in
Shanghainese and that every 3rd word is ngagoning (外国人). haha

Another reason is that a large percentage of Shanghainese aren't very supportive of others trying
to speak the dialect. If I try speaking Shanghainese to locals, they reply in Mandarin or English.










Ian_Lee -

Actually not too long ago Cantonese was shunned in HK too.

Until early '70s, Mandarin and English were the king. The hundreds of movies that were produced by
Shaw Brother Studio were all in Mandarin. Mandarin pop songs from Taiwan were heard everywhere.

Even you went to the theater, Hollywood movies charged the highest, Mandarin movies the second
highest while Cantonese movies the cheapest.

The phenomenon only reversed when free TV broadcast started to broadcast in late '60s which
principally used Cantonese.










ameliasj -



Quote:

If I try speaking Shanghainese to locals, they reply in Mandarin or English.

well, if you speak Shanghainese to me, I will reply you Shanghainese. I always use Shanghainese
when I realized that the listener could fully understand what I say.

The reason they reply in Madarin may because they are not sure whether you could catch up their
meanings fully or not. And if they reply in English, that may because they want to improve their
English( Well, we won't have chance to speak to native speakers everyday, so why not take
advantage of it.)

I never heard anyone saying that Shanghainese are painful to ears. It maybe painful when people
are quarrelling or arguing but never in opera. (I mean 沪剧，Shanghainese opera.) Have you ever
heard 沪剧?












All times are GMT +8. The time now is 04:50 PM.














Learn Chinese, Free Chinese Lesson, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet