• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Cantonese or Mandarin?

i would guess mandarin, although both are pretty popular. cantonese is HK and southern china.

but cantonese is definitely "cooler" 😀 i wish i knew it.. i only know a little mandarin 😱
 
In China is Mandarin. Outside I think is mandarin too.
Vancouver seems to have more cantonese/HK, but here in SoCal I think mandarin will take you further
 
mandarin is most of it... cantonese is like 200 million or so, which is a lot (more than french), but mandarin is more common.
 
Mandarin, is the 'national language' of both China and Taiwan. While Cantonese is quit popular due to Hong Kong and most of the Chinese action movies are from Hong Kong.

I think most people can speak Mandarin, even the Cantonese speaking Chinese.


<- Took two years of Chinese in College.
 
Okay... I think Mandarin can be taught is because of the phonic symbols for the written Chinese is used. Just like there are two type of phonic system for English. If you look at an English dictionary..you can see that they are two type of phonic for (American English and er English English) One can learn to speak with an English accent that way.

I don't think there's a phonic system for Cantonese...so it's hard to teach that in school. You have to pick that up from talking to people who speak the same language.
 
diu

hehe...

cantonese!!! (is cooler) more people speak mandarin but i think most cantonesers understand some mandarin (i speak cantonese with my parents but i understand mandarin)
 
Mandarin!

Lets see my level of speaking Cantonese is about the same as a 2 year old... maybe 3. My understanding of Cantonese is about the level of a 4 year old... and I can?t speak Mandarin. My Chinese is slowly withering away, I hope I don?t completely lose it... or else I can?t speak with my family lol.
🙂
 
china, taiwan = Mandarin
hong kong = cantonese (mandarin is getting more and more support)
peopel move out china/taiwan less than 20 yrs ago = mandarin
people move out china way back then (> 20 yrs) or from hong kong = cantonese
 
i speak cantonese.. well sorta.. i can understand most of it.. and i can speak enough to get by.. i recently went to china/hk and being immersed in hk, brought my cantonese back to decent form.. but in china they all speak mandarin.. and even most people in hk and southern china will know how to speak mandarin as well.. so i guess the more universal chinese language is mandarin.. i wanna learn it before i go back to china in 2 years..

outside of china though is different.. i know in san francisco, everyone speaks cantonese.. and, as stated before, vancouver has a large cantonese speaking population.. i can't speak for any other places
 
Originally posted by: HenHowC
cantonese sounds loud and obnoxious...or maybe its just the people speaking it 😉 😀
Click to expand...

to a person who understands no chinese. cantonese is obnoxious and loud, while mandarin sounds more pleasant and subtle. but to those who understand cantonese, its not. almost all cantonese speaking people can speak mandarin and understand it, partly because its the country's official language. taiwan speaks mandarin as well, and taiwanese is like a secondary language, even though it is starting to get more popular.
 
Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
Taiwan speaks Taiwanese, it's a little different than typical Mandarin, sorta like English and American English.
Click to expand...

NO, Taiwanese speaks Mandarin AND Taiwanese....

Taiwanese's Mandarin compare to mainland Mandarin is like English and American English...

while
Taiwanese's Taiwanese is night and day from Mandarin....
 
<-- Cantoneser in NY. I can speak and understand most of it, but I cannot even write my own name in Chinese. My fiance who was born in China and moved here when she was 8, is the same way.
 
Originally posted by: Pepsei
Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
Taiwan speaks Taiwanese, it's a little different than typical Mandarin, sorta like English and American English.
Click to expand...

NO, Taiwanese speaks Mandarin AND Taiwanese....

Taiwanese's Mandarin compare to mainland Mandarin is like English and American English...

while
Taiwanese's Taiwanese is night and day from Mandarin....
Click to expand...

taiwanese's mandarin is like american english compared to "reaL" english. i think thats what you meant to say. the never generation in south taiwan (where taiwanese is ONLY spoken) have trouble pronouncing some sounds in mandarin too.

taiwanese is completely different from mandarin, they are in no way similar.
 
Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
Taiwan speaks Taiwanese, it's a little different than typical Mandarin, sorta like English and American English.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...NO.

Taiwanese is very different from Mandarin. Although most Taiwanese understand both.
 
Most taiwanese speak Mandarin...I know very few young people who can have a full coversation in only taiwanese. Usually they mix mandarin (with heavy taiwanese accent) with some taiwanese words. People in taiwan who can ONLY understand taiwanese are the very old generation (like my granddad RIP). Is just ridiculous that the government wants to push taiwanese as a language...is simply dialect and is only oral. Cantonese *could* be more like a language since it has specific words and it is written differently from mandarin (try reading the subtitles of HK movies if you only know mandarin). I know mandarin and taiwanese and personally cantonese sounds bad (I guess because I don;t understand sh!t). I don't really like how taiwanese sounds either
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top