China bans English words in media
#16
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 37
Re: China bans English words in media
I don't really think that people struggle that much. It doesn't really take much to learn a few different ways of saying things. I even find myself using " gas " instead of petrol because that is what everyone else does. I think spelling settings on the computer are annoying though, they are always fixed to American. I only realised a while back about pyjamas / pajamas. Zed and Zee are annoying too. My own son was telling me that I was wrong for saying Zed because his teacher ( Filipina ) told him it was Zee !
Obviously its not a life or death situation, most of the time its funny.
But I teach a bit of English sometimes and I picked up a fireman toy and said fireman but the parents corrected me and said 'no firefighter' ! and they say zee and I said zed which is fine unless they start to doubt my English speaking abilities because its different to all their kids books and tapes (mostly all American authors etc).
#17
Re: China bans English words in media
I hate the word 'airplane', another word invented over there. American's are lazy speakers ! They make new words that are easier to speak.
#19
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Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 37
Re: China bans English words in media
#22
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 37
Re: China bans English words in media
#23
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 5
Re: China bans English words in media
very interesting, it sounds like the french. but all power to them
#24
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4
Re: China bans English words in media
It sounds like that, doesn't it.
What amazed me the other day was understanding the diversity of the different dialects. I think someone told me once that Cantonese and Mandarin are kinda similar and you can get by with one of those. I wouldn't know as I don't speak either dialect but maybe someone can confirm.
What I hadn't realised though was that Hokkien (which is spoken in Penang) seems to be totally different to Mandarin.
What amazed me the other day was understanding the diversity of the different dialects. I think someone told me once that Cantonese and Mandarin are kinda similar and you can get by with one of those. I wouldn't know as I don't speak either dialect but maybe someone can confirm.
What I hadn't realised though was that Hokkien (which is spoken in Penang) seems to be totally different to Mandarin.
Cantonese is very different from Mandarin. I would consider it to be called a language, but, hm many consider it a dialect.
#25
Re: China bans English words in media
Cheers redvino. So where does Hokkien fit into the picture? Just asking as that is the common Chinese dialect here in Penang island.
#26
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4
Re: China bans English words in media
But I fell curious about the topic and thanks to a quick internet search I found this....
The Penang Hokkien people trace their origin to seafarers to left the province of Fujian in southern China since the 17th century......
Please read the whole article....
http://www.penang-traveltips.com/pen...ien-people.htm
#27
Re: China bans English words in media
Cheers Manuel. I've only been living in Penang for 8 months so I'm no expert I'm afraid.
#28
Re: China bans English words in media
It sounds like that, doesn't it.
What amazed me the other day was understanding the diversity of the different dialects. I think someone told me once that Cantonese and Mandarin are kinda similar and you can get by with one of those. I wouldn't know as I don't speak either dialect but maybe someone can confirm.
What I hadn't realised though was that Hokkien (which is spoken in Penang) seems to be totally different to Mandarin.
What amazed me the other day was understanding the diversity of the different dialects. I think someone told me once that Cantonese and Mandarin are kinda similar and you can get by with one of those. I wouldn't know as I don't speak either dialect but maybe someone can confirm.
What I hadn't realised though was that Hokkien (which is spoken in Penang) seems to be totally different to Mandarin.
Mandarin is the only language you need to learn if you want to go anywhere in China and have a chance of being understood though. But it's not what a lot of Chinese will speak at home. Look at China as a sort of unified Europe that's had a common language for centuries but everyone reverts to their "local" language at home.
N.
#29
Re: China bans English words in media
Well I meant more difficulty through accents actually, I.e when I asked for water, sometimes they just didn't understand me so I'd drop the T and then it was easier.
But there are actual differences in words such as;
pants/trousers, garden/yard, chemist/pharmacy, crisps/chips, toilet/restroom, C.V/Resume, cinema/movie theatre, flat/apartment, petrol/gas, garage/gas station, holiday/vacation etc...
Sometimes it just takes extra few seconds to register but other times it just like 'say what now?' Brits understand a lot of American terms through their TV programs (thank you Friends) but I'm not so sure how much they know the other way around?
But there are actual differences in words such as;
pants/trousers, garden/yard, chemist/pharmacy, crisps/chips, toilet/restroom, C.V/Resume, cinema/movie theatre, flat/apartment, petrol/gas, garage/gas station, holiday/vacation etc...
Sometimes it just takes extra few seconds to register but other times it just like 'say what now?' Brits understand a lot of American terms through their TV programs (thank you Friends) but I'm not so sure how much they know the other way around?
#30
Just Joined
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1
Re: China bans English words in media
Bakedbean. Putonhua or main language in China is based in Mandarin. Mandarin is the main official language, not a dialiect. It is the most widely spoken form of Chinese spoken in all of China north of the Yangtze River and in much of the rest of the country and is the native language of two-thirds of the population varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. There are between seven and thirteen main regional groups of Chinese (depending on classification scheme), of which the most spoken, by far, is Mandarin (about 850 million), followed by Wu (90 million), Cantonese (Yue) (70 million) and Min (50 million).
Cantonese is very different from Mandarin. I would consider it to be called a language, but, hm many consider it a dialect.
Cantonese is very different from Mandarin. I would consider it to be called a language, but, hm many consider it a dialect.