Accents a problem when learning standard mandarin?

Accents a problem when learning standard mandarin?
Aug 8, 2012 10:47
guest32253	Hi all, I want to visit China for 2 months and learn mandarin. But since every city has its own accent, is it difficult to learn the standard mandarin? Currently i'm thinking about going to Kunming which seems like a nice city, but since it's so far from Beijing, the center of standard mandarin, I'm wondering if I will get distracted by an eventual accent on the streets? Will I be able to understand the guy in the store, the bus driver, local people in general and the guy selling me dumplings? Is there another city (not too cold in the winter and not expensive) that is better suited for learning standard mandarin? Thanks a lot for you time! Best, Elena

Aug 8, 2012 10:47

guest32253

Hi all,
I want to visit China for 2 months and learn mandarin. But since every city has its own accent, is it difficult to learn the standard mandarin? Currently i'm thinking about going to Kunming which seems like a nice city, but since it's so far from Beijing, the center of standard mandarin, I'm wondering if I will get distracted by an eventual accent on the streets? Will I be able to understand the guy in the store, the bus driver, local people in general and the guy selling me dumplings?
Is there another city (not too cold in the winter and not expensive) that is better suited for learning standard mandarin?

Thanks a lot for you time!

Best,
Elena

Aug 8, 2012 20:44

JIMMYB
Points:
Join Date: Feb 7, 2007
Status: Offline

GUEST32253,

Locals have their dialects. They communicate with each other in their dialects. The sellers may not speak standard mandarin but the can undersand it. Young Chinese speak good standard mandarin. You may find them and practice your Chinese.

The standard mandarin is transformed from Beijing dialect but a bit different from Beijing dialect. I think the key is that you find a correct way to learn mandarin. It doesn't matter where you live.

Jun 21, 2013 06:05

GUESTANDILE

Ok well, Mandarin is the most widely skoepn Chinese language (spoken almost everywhere in China). Most of China writes in simplified script (think of them as two different alphabets to write the same thing even though they're not technically alphabets).I would say go learn Mandarin unless you're planning to stay long term in Hong Kong, Macau or to an extent Guangzhou. Most people will understand you if you speak Mandarin, (maybe not HK or Macau) but for the other places, if they don't understand you, it probably means they don't want to talk to you.When with a group of people, just don't expect people to be using Mandarin to accomodate you (it's very hard to swich languages with someone if you've been speaking to that person in a particular language all your life, it's kind of ingrained in your head. Even my dad doesn't accomodate me when he speaks with his friends, with me in the conversation (he has to translate everything) even though we can all speak Mandarin, my family friends perfer to speak in their own language (which my dad did not teach me).Oh, and there are some people who don't understand Mandarin at all because they've only been using their regional language all their lives, but that number is decreasing and you should be fine at least in large cities. Mandarin can be written in both scripts, Cantonese, I'm pretty sure someone probably has figured it out but I have no idea how to write it using simplified script because the simplified characters for it doesn't exist (from what I recall the HK Special Character Set is ony offered in Traditional). I suppose you're a learner so don't worry about this too much, doesn't apply to you I don't think. The other languages (e.g. Shanghainese etc) can be written but it's hardly ever because of the lack of standardisation (also because it's not taught in schools)

Jun 23, 2013 01:05

GUESTYERKO

First of all, Mandarin is the official laugnage of China, so if you ever decide to learn Chinese, Mandarin is what you should learn. There are plenty of dialects across the Chinese country, but Mandarin is the most widely used laugnage in China, and it's the one that everybody is supposed to know.The version that is being taught now is simplified Chinese, which only means that some characters are written in a simplified way compared to the traditional version of the past (grammar and pronunciation are the same).Example:国 Guf3 > simplified chinese for country 國 Guf3 > traditional chinese for country The government of the People's Republic of China in Mainland China has promoted simplified characters since the 1950s and 1960s, in an attempt to increase literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China and Singapore, while traditional chinese characters are used only in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.Cantonese is for sure the second most widely spoken variety of Chinese; it's spoken mainly in the Southern part of China (Shanghai), and is very much different from Mandarin; in fact, grammar and characters are often different, different idioms and words, and the main problem is that Cantonese pronunciation is totally different from Mandarin pronunciation; all these factors make the two laugnages not mutually intelligible (they might be just sometimes, in case of simple written sentences).Example:I LOVE YOU:Mandarin: 我爱你 (wǒ e0i nǐ)Cantonese: 我愛你 (ngf3h oi ne9ih)DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?:Mandarin: 您说英语吗? (nǐ shuō yīngyǔ ma?)Cantonese: 你識唔識講英文呀? (neih sīkm̀hsīk gf3ng yecngme1n a?)

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