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Writing in Cantonese, not Mandarin? Ask Ray
My guess is the immersion nursery is run by somebody from China, that automatically said Traditional Characters are Cantonese.
Original Question:
hi there
Some time ago I bought a number of CDs from your online shop and had them shipped to me in London, UK.
I
have since been told by my daughter's Mandarin immersion nursery that
the pictures I have shown them of the CDs show Cantonese language
writing.
I have not had a chance to lend them the CD yet, but that is my next stop.
For these two CDs at least, ALL the writing is in Cantonese not Mandarin:
I
have not had a chance to take pictures of the other CDs that I
purchased yet, neither have I had a chance to play the CDs to the fluent
Mandarin speakers.
However, I am already a bit shocked. Are you absolutely sure these are Mandarin?
Regards
K
My response:
Dear K,
Short answer is the books use Traditional Chinese Characters with Mandarin Chinese on the CD's and were published in Taiwan.
Longer answer is there are basically two styles of writing in Chinese. Traditional Characters and Simplified Characters.
Hong Kong, where Cantonese is spoken uses Traditional Characters officially. And that is what is mostly taught in the schools.
Taiwan, where Mandarin Chinese is the official language uses Traditional Characters.
China
where the official language, but a lot of dialects are spoken, uses
Simplified Characters since the revolution in 1949, and the use of
Traditional Characters was outlawed in China.
Simplified
Characters are the same as Traditional (if you know one, you can read
the other), where some strokes on some characters were removed.
The difference between usage of Traditional Characters in Taiwan and in Hong Kong, are more of a grammar issue.
On
which is easier to learn, you have people who argue one or the other is
easier. The claims are one has less strokes and the other has a system.
My opinion is they are both equally hard and the simplification did not
go far enough.
The books with CD's I sold you are in Mandarin, and
published in Taiwan with Traditional Characters along with Bo Po Mo,
which is a traditional type of phonics used in Taiwan. China uses Pinyin
for phonics, that is based on Russian pronunciation. There are also claims on which type of phonics is easier to learn from.
Sincerely,
Ray, Owner
www.childbook.com
Labels: Cantonese
Cantonese in Hong Kong, for non Native Speakers
Interesting:
http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/The-MBSR-Online-Course/4470.pd
Observations from the article:
- It's hard for a non native speaker to learn Cantonese in Hong Kong. The materials are made for native speakers.
- If you get the tones wrong in Chinese, native Chinese speakers will mock you. No comment about people in my family doing that to me when ever I speak Mandarin. Or asking me to repeat a word, after Of course, I don't do it when they make mistakes in English, and yes, that is a double standard. Or may be it's just funnier when a mistake is made in Chinese by a non native speaker?
- Great quote - Some students compared their experience of composing Chinese characters
with drawing pictures, which, according to their teachers, could only be
learned through rote learning and frequent practice. They found Chinese
characters difficult to learn and easy to forget.
I am not understanding this paragraph:
Written Chinese is challenging for Chinese and non-Chinese speakers
alike. This point is encapsulated in the title of an informative
research-based book, Difficult Characters, which presents
compelling empirical evidence showing speech plays a crucial role in the
process of becoming literate in Chinese (and, indeed, in any language).
This makes sense:
Written Chinese is challenging for Chinese and non-Chinese speakers alike.
Not sure about this, since Chinese is Character based, and is not phonic like English:
showing speech plays a crucial role in the process of becoming literate in Chinese (and, indeed, in any language).
Labels: Cantonese, Learning Chinese
Cantonese: a Dialect in Peril?
A program I was listening to on my local NPR Station,
Cantonese: a Dialect in Peril? - PRI's The World. From the BBC, PRI, and WGBH
My thought is Cantonese is becoming a household language, where Mandarin is becoming the language used for business. As a reseller I see the market interest is in Mandarin Chinese. I used to stock some Cantonese items, but they took a LONG time to finally sell them. Labels: Cantonese
Cantonese in China
More than 1,000 people gathered Sunday in Guangzhou, in southern China, to demonstrate against a local politician’s proposal to force a major local television network to stop broadcasting in Cantonese and switch to the country’s official language, Mandarin. Move to Limit Cantonese on Chinese TV is Assailed - NY Times The Mother of a student I tutored a few years ago I was surprised to find out did not speak Mandarin, but only Cantonese and she was from Guangzhou. Her kids both spoke excellent Mandarin. To me this shows how far the use of Mandarin in China has spread over the last 30 years. Labels: Cantonese
Learning Cantonese if you know Mandarin
I heard it again today, but if you already know Mandarin just rent a couple of HK Soap Operas with sub-titles and spend watch the series all the way through. After 20 or so hours of this supposedly you will be able to understand Cantonese. Originally I heard this from some Taiwanese who were working in a travel agency and needed to Learn some Cantonese. Cantonese is a dialect of Mandarin. I don't know if it helps that you also know Taiwanese. Labels: Cantonese
Cantonese - Why Childbook does not carry it
I tested carrying a few products in Cantonese after getting a few requests. I then sent out an E-Mail to everyone who had asked, and the product was so slow in selling. My personal opinion is Cantonese with the transfer from Great Britain to China has seen an increased usage of Mandarin. Cantonese will become more of a language spoken at home. In the US there is a large historical community of Cantonese Speakers that is centered around the historic Chinatowns, some overseas Chinese such as from Vietnam also speak Cantonese. Most people in the US are interested in speaking Mandarin because it's the official language spoken in China, and has the most opportunities. My guess is 99% of the US market for Learning Chinese is Mandarin. A while ago I also carried a few Taiwanese products, and these also did not sell well. My wife liked the Taiwanese Video's I had a lot, but unfortunately they were not selling. Since per Peter F. Drucker, the purpose of a business is to make a profit (no profit it's hard to stay in business), at this time I am going to focus on Mandarin. As I grow bigger I am sure I will add some Cantonese and Taiwanese products, but not for a while. Labels: Cantonese, Learning Chinese
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