The
Chinese language has over 400
dialects in continental
China alone. The people of each
province have a special
dialect, and then the people of each
city,
town, and
village have their own special
dialect as well. However, unlike many
languages many of the
Chinese dialects are vastly different from some of the other Chinese dialects. In many countries, a person with a southern
vernacular (e.g.
Texan) can understand a person with a northern
dialect (e.g.
New Yawk). With Chinese dialects, some seem like an entirely different
language. The
Shanghai dialect is completely different from the
Nanjing dialect, which is only a couple hundred miles away. Fortunately, the entire
country uses a standard
writing system of
characters. Here are some main
Chinese dialects, by
province:
- Mandarin - "standard" dialect, used throughout China in addition to the local dialect. Everyone knows this one. Well, mostly. The more West you get the less people know it.
- Cantonese - Hong Kong, Guangzhou. I know this fairly well. Uses nine different intonations, making it difficult to express in English. Sounds like a song when spoken quickly.
- Hunanese - used in Hunan province, right above Guangzhou
- Pekingnese - Spoken in northern China. A lot of words ends in "r", making it sound like a growl. Otherwise it is very similar to Mandarin. Wintersweet would know what I'm talking about :)
- Taiwanese - This might as well be an alien language, it is so different from the rest of them
- Ammoy
- Folkenese
- Fukienese - spoken in Fujian province, facing Taiwan. The closest any Chinese dialect will get to Taiwanese
- Shanghainese - I know this one. Sounds completely different from any other dialect. When I first heard this, it bore a resemblance to Japanese, oddly enough. Almost like sing-song, but less so than Cantonese.
- Gansunese - way up north, next to Mongolia.
- Sichuanese - used in Sichuan province, smack in the middle of China
- Hainanese - a large island south of Guangxi province, close to Vietnam
- Yunnanese - spoken in south central China. Next to Laos, Burma and Vietnam.
- Jiangsunese - spoken in Nanjing and surroundings. I have no idea what they are talking about, but I have heard it on several occasions in Shanghai. As you proceed west from Shanghai to Suzhou to Wuxi to Nanjing the dialects change drastically, 50 miles out of Shanghai and you wouldn't have a clue what they were saying
- Hubeinese - not sure about this one. It is west of Nanjing, so I'd imagine it wouldn't be too different from Jiansunese
- Liaoningese - all the way northeast. Close to Korea, I have never heard this. It is probably very different from all the other dialects.