what the differ between the taiwan , hk and ppl from china -

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joewong
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what the differ between the taiwan , hk and ppl from china -

Post by joewong » Apr 20th, '09, 07:08

what the differ between taiwan, hk and china people. i now in taiwan they speak manadrin and hk-cantonese and china -its manadrin too. i also heard recently that shanghai has its own language called shanghainese. i didn;t now this hahaha i thought everyone in china speaks manadrin.
is it true the southern part of china its poor

what the differ between the taiwan , hk and ppl from china or mainland china. what is mainland china anyways is it the central part of china

what the cultural difference, fashion and speaking differences and even in life in general , behavaiours and attitudes.

i'm cbc chiense born canadian hehe my family speak canto though. i never been to china or asia. i am just wondering since i spoke with some friends and some are from hk, taiwan ,china and mainland china.

i mean in japan you only have japanese and that its and same with korea jsut speak korean.

are there way you can tell a person is from where by looking at them. like for me i can tell whos japanese and whos korean by looking -most of the time i can tell. just teh look and the fashion sense

but with the hk, mainlanders and taiwan and china is there a way.looks, fashion, hair style, body types.....etc

Puppet Princess
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Post by Puppet Princess » Apr 20th, '09, 07:42

China is huge... it's natural hat there would be multiple languages.

If you have friends from Taiwan and Hong Kong why not just ask them this question?
Or even, do research and look up the regions' customs and lifestyles. Most of the things you are asking can be easily found out with a little help from my pal Google. It's the internet. Use it.

rmaggie
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Post by rmaggie » Apr 21st, '09, 06:33

er... i think the word you are looking for is dialect.

nophankh
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Re: what the differ between the taiwan , hk and ppl from chi

Post by nophankh » Apr 21st, '09, 09:02

joewong wrote:what the differ between taiwan, hk and china people. i now in taiwan they speak manadrin and hk-cantonese and china -its manadrin too. i also heard recently that shanghai has its own language called shanghainese. i didn;t now this hahaha i thought everyone in china speaks manadrin.
is it true the southern part of china its poor

Unless you have taken a linguistic course in college, this might be odd to you. China is made up of several dialects. Usually dialects are mutually intelligible, meaning if two people who speak different dialects, they can still understand each other. UK english and American English are sorta dialects of each other. Thai and Thai Isan are dialects of each other, they have similar sentence structures, sounds, and vocab. However, there are noticeable differences.

The problem with China is the their dialects are NOT mutually intelligible, each dialect is like a whole new language. They are considered dialects because the people who speak them share the "CHINESE" ethnicity.

There are several dialects in China. Here are the big ones:
Putonghua (Mandarin), Gan, Kejia (Hakka), Min, Wu, Xiang and Yue (Cantonese)
Theses dialects are totally different from each other.

The unifying force behind China is the written language. Though language is varied in China, the written form is unified. At food markets in Beijing they use signs to communicate with each other, a sign for apple, a sign for price. The point and communicate using that and they don't have to speak a word.

The reason behind all of this is because China is a big country, divided by natural barriers (deserts, mountains, major rivers, and other natural forces). Spoken language is formed by what we hear in nature. The sounds from our environment create our spoken form. We mimic what we hear and what we inherit from our ancestors. Languages is always evolving. When two groups who were previously one divide, the language they share will also change and evolve. By a couple of hundred years, it will be a totally different language.

Let's just say China is made up several countries with different culture and language but somehow they are united and consider themselves "Chinese". It's complicated and fascinating at the same time.

India is also like this. There is a big difference between a Bengali Indian and a Panjabi Indian.

Japan and Korea are small countries and their people have never been divided.
joewong wrote: what the differ between the taiwan , hk and ppl from china or mainland china. what is mainland china anyways is it the central part of china

what the cultural difference, fashion and speaking differences and even in life in general , behavaiours and attitudes.

i mean in japan you only have japanese and that its and same with korea jsut speak korean.

are there way you can tell a person is from where by looking at them. like for me i can tell whos japanese and whos korean by looking -most of the time i can tell. just teh look and the fashion sense

but with the hk, mainlanders and taiwan and china is there a way.looks, fashion, hair style, body types.....etc
Yes there are difference in terms of culture. There is a difference in body type, face structure among regions. I can't identify every group for you, this you will have to research yourself.

Puppet Princess
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Post by Puppet Princess » Apr 21st, '09, 19:25

I thought they called it dialects because they use the same writing system? I mean, if they all spoke different languages and had their own writing system people would be much quicker to call it different languages, which is really what it is. But because the writing system allows for universal communication scholars consider it dialects.

Korea IS divided though. It just hasn't been divided long enough for there to be any drastic changes in their language. Except for colloquialisms and slangs, not many words have changed.

nophankh
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Post by nophankh » Apr 24th, '09, 04:17

Puppet Princess wrote:I thought they called it dialects because they use the same writing system? I mean, if they all spoke different languages and had their own writing system people would be much quicker to call it different languages, which is really what it is. .
No, defining dialects is a complicated matter. It's not just sounding the same, you have to add culture into the definition too. Take for example, Thai and Lao, they are very similar structurally and sound wise, You would consider Thai and Lao a dialect of each other, but it's not because of cultural and political reasons. Lao and Thai though very similar are defined as different languages.

If you speak lao or thai, they are pretty much interchangeable.

Though writing is an important element in language, when you talk about dialects it's not part of the definition. Dialects is about sounds and not the written form.

Puppet Princess
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Post by Puppet Princess » Apr 24th, '09, 05:39

Ummmm... Thai and Lao are similar when SPOKEN but they do NOT share a writing system. They look similar, yes, but Lao has 26 consonants and Thai has 44. So the reason they are not dialects isn't just because of cultural or political reasons... they are not dialects because they aren't the same language. If they were the same language they could be understood in written form. That's like when my uncle will speak Spanish to his friend and she will speak back in Italian. The languages are very similar so they can understand each other perfectly fine. But it's not the same language. They are simply related languages.

Also, Arabic is spoken by 25 different countries spanning northern Africa and up Saudi Arabia. Egypt, Niger, Turkey, and Israel are very culturally different and yet they all speak the same language labeled as Arabic dialects. You can not call them all one race like you would with Chinese people. So if dialects require culture, politics, and race to define them then... no one told the middle east and Africa.

nophankh
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Post by nophankh » Apr 24th, '09, 06:21

Puppet Princess wrote:Ummmm... Thai and Lao are similar when SPOKEN but they do NOT share a writing system. They look similar, yes, but Lao has 26 consonants and Thai has 44. So the reason they are not dialects isn't just because of cultural or political reasons... they are not dialects because they aren't the same language. If they were the same language they could be understood in written form. That's like when my uncle will speak Spanish to his friend and she will speak back in Italian. The languages are very similar so they can understand each other perfectly fine. But it's not the same language. They are simply related languages.

I speak both Lao and Thai, yes, I know that their written system are different. From what I remember from language class, the written form is not a factor when defining "dialects". Writing is relative new while communicating with sounds has been with us since the beginning of our development. I don't know how to explain it, it was how I was taught from my linguistic professor. Trust me, writing systems doesn't determined dialects.

In definition, dialects are "regional speech patterns", which basically has nothing to do with writing systems.

Puppet Princess
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Post by Puppet Princess » Apr 24th, '09, 06:27

You are completely changing what you are saying now.
First you say "It's not just sounding the same, you have to add culture into the definition too."
And now "dialects are "regional speech patterns"."
But you say two languages that are almost identical and come from the same region are different languages.

nophankh
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Post by nophankh » Apr 25th, '09, 05:17

Puppet Princess wrote:You are completely changing what you are saying now.
First you say "It's not just sounding the same, you have to add culture into the definition too."
And now "dialects are "regional speech patterns"."
But you say two languages that are almost identical and come from the same region are different languages.

"But you say two languages that are almost identical and come from the same region are different languages"

Yep, that's correct.

Dialects is a regional speech pattern and is also defined by culture.

I have not changing anything, I'm just adding to my definition.

Just read up on it or better yet take a linguistic course. I'll understand. Last POST!

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