Chinese!

[kiradaisuke]

chinese got many type language

mandarin - zhong wen
hakka
teo chew
hokkien
cantonese
shanghai yi
and more~~~ sry i only learn a few haha..

example, "i love you"

mandarin :wo ai ni
cantonese: ngo oi nei
hakka: nyai oi nyi
hokkien: wa ai lu

example two, "who are u"

mandarin: ni shi sui
cantonese: nei hai bin ko
hakka: nyi hei lei sha
hokkien: lu shi ha mik lang

[Hisgashi]

Thats all correct Yi Sheng is actually written more, spoken less. Da Fu is spoken more, written less. 空调 and 冷气 don't really depend where people are situated in though it still happens. Yi Sheng is used by Cantonese people more.

[ShibaInu]

hmmm, i currently work here in China but i don't think i'm an authority yet with regard to the Chinese language...i'm still studying and learning it...anyway, allow me to comment on some of the messages posted here...

Originally Posted by CoolNard

Well, like i said earlier on, Chinese words are categorized into different pitches, according to how they're said.
There're four different classifications altogther. This is their correct order, from first to last.
-normal pitch.
-high pitch, rising alittle to the end.
-low pitch, rising alittle to the end.
-short and sharp pitch.

It's hard to describe how they really sound like, you'll have to hear them for yourself. ^_^
hope that helps.

you're right...although let me elaborate it further...

Mandarin or the official Chinese Language is commonly described as having four tones but it's more accurate to think of it as having five tones, that is, if we include the neutral tone (but don't worry about this 5th tone yet)...

Now as coolnard already mentioned, chinese has four tones...
(1) high tone
(2) high rising tone
(3) low falling rising tone
(4) high falling tone

coolnard is again right in saying that it's better to hear them rather than describe them...Unfortunately, we have to pay close attention to these tones if we want to learn how to speak chinese correctly because a single chinese word can have different meanings depending on their tones... For example, the chinese word 'ma' can have various meanings depending on the tone.

ma(1) - mother as in 'ma ma'
ma(2) - hemp
ma(3) - horse
ma(4) - scold
ma(5) - question marker (placed at the end of the sentence)

So make sure you say or pronounce the word correctly to avoid being misunderstood...

Btw, the Chinese word(s) i posted and those that have been posted by others like coolnard are known as the Pinyin System...it's a way of writing Chinese using the Roman alphabet...It's a very good start to learn chinese before moving on to the more difficult Chinese characters...

Will post more later...

[CoolNard]

Incredibly detailed ShibaInu!
Definitely looking forward to your future posts ^^

[ShibaInu]

Originally Posted by Gwen_Goth

in the spirit of not derailing; i have a friend from china; she says she is from southern china; and she doesnt understand northern chinese too well; is there a difference in accent?

Yes, there is a difference in accent..Although they both speak Mandarin (the official Chinese language), people from Beijing or in the northern part of China usually add an 'r' sound at the end of many words...So instead of just saying 'na' which means 'where' (on 3rd tone), a Beijing local will say it as 'nar'...

Or from where i am now (central east China, near Shanghai), the chinese locals would usually say ni(2) ha(3) (which means how are u? are u good? or simply hello) instead of 'ni(2) hao(3) without the 'o'.

Originally Posted by Gwen_Goth

also i know there are different chinese languages (cantonese and manderin right?) whats in use now? i never get it the right way round...

As far as i know, the official Chinese language in China mainland is Mandarin or Putonghoua which is mainly based from the Beijing dialect...but just like any other languages, there are slight variations in each province or localities...Btw, Cantonese is mainly spoken in Hongkong...

[ShibaInu]

Originally Posted by CoolNard

Incredibly detailed ShibaInu!
Definitely looking forward to your future posts ^^

Xie(4)xie(4) (thanks)...will try to post some more helpful stuff if i can...

[ShibaInu]

Originally Posted by BURLYZ

I know Chinese and Japanese and if you compare them you will find that Japanese is much more useful for communication and the Kanji is also better than Chinese "Hanzi."

I'm not entirely sure if i can agree with u...While it's true that Chinese is maybe one of the hardest languages to learn, learning it is very useful as more and more nations realize that China is becoming a key player in the world's economy...And wherever place/city u go, you might come across a chinatown...Even the next world olympics is to be held next year in Beijing...

But please don't misquote me as liking China better than Japan...I actually like both cultures (as well as Korea)...that's why i'm here in China and looking forward to visit Japan soon...

[CoolNard]

Oh and just to add on what ShibaInu's said, the third tone, is a little special.
When you try to say two chinese words in a row which belong to the "third tone" category, they'll somehow sound naturally wrong, not to mention weird. So what the Chinese do is to change the tone of the first "third tone" word to a "second tone" one without completely converting the meaning+the structural writing of the character into something different - it's only the tone which has changed. So it'd be like:
A(3rd tone) R(3rd tone) -----> A(2nd tone) R(3rd tone)

A and R represents the respective Chinese characters. ^^

Hope I didn't say anything wrong.. X_X

[ShibaInu]

Originally Posted by CoolNard

Oh and just to add on what ShibaInu's said, the third tone, is a little special.
When you try to say two chinese words in a row which belong to the "third tone" category, they'll somehow sound naturally wrong, not to mention weird. So what the Chinese do is to change the tone of the first "third tone" word to a "second tone" one without completely converting the meaning+the structural writing of the character into something different - it's only the tone which has changed. So it'd be like:
A(3rd tone) R(3rd tone) -----> A(2nd tone) R(3rd tone)

A and R represents the respective Chinese characters. ^^

very well said...that's exactly what my chinese teacher keeps telling me (which i always forget)...

[CoolNard]

haha, thx, i've learned it instinctively, sorta.. so i don't really need to remember it at all..

But i can't seem to recall any real examples... >_<"