[lit-ideas] Re: Chinese -- ??

From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:17:17 +0900

Julie,

I read Chinese and speak (though not as well as I once could) two
Chinese languages, Mandarin and Amoy Hokkien (the native language of
most Taiwanese). In Shanghai the local language is a member of the Wu
cluster of dialects. How different is different?

Suppose I want to say "How are you?"

Mandarin: Ni hao ma?
Hokkien: Li ho bo?
Shanghainese: Nong ho va?

There are also the tones to worry about. Mandarin has four, Hokkien 7
(5 for open syllables, two for closed syllables), and Shanghainese, I
don't know.

Cheers,

John

On 6/27/07, Julie Krueger <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Does anyone "here" read Chinese?  I realize there are fairly substantial
differences among dialects -- Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. -- the missives I'm
receiving are from Shanghai .... I have no grasp of what the linguistic
situation is there ....

Julie Krueger



--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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