Questions tagged [shanghainese]

Shanghainese (Native name: 上海閒話/上海言话), or the Shanghai dialect/Hu dialect (simplified Chinese: 上海话/沪语; traditional Chinese: 上海話/滬語), is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region.

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2 votes
1 answer
134 views

Why “to drink water” in Shanghainese is 吃茶?

While listening to two people speaking Shanghainese (沪语)I realized that they have two different ways to say “water”. Based on the pronunciation I heard: the first is /sɨ/ similar to 死 in Mandarin, ...
1 vote
1 answer
102 views

How do you write "yi ga shi duo" (Wu dialect)?

Either Han characters or a standard romanization would do. Thanks!
7 votes
1 answer
430 views

Number of phonemic vowels in Middle Chinese

How many phonemic vowels are there in Middle Chinese? I'm interested in this question because Shanghainese has 16 phonological vowel/12 phonemic vowels, and was wondering if it had innovated more ...
6 votes
4 answers
3k views

Is the number 4 really considered unlucky because it sounds similar to the word for "death"?

From what I've Googled so far, there are lots of claims that the number 4 is considered unlucky in Chinese. 四 is understandably considered unlucky in Japanese and Korean because it sounds identical to ...
2 votes
2 answers
245 views

The Shanghainese pronunciation of 無

吳語小字典 吳語學堂 I have two sources for the Shanghainese pronunciation of "無" (leaving colloquial pronunciation aside); one says the initial is /v/ while the other /ɦ/. I found the same ...
2 votes
1 answer
112 views

Is there a translation of the daodejing into modern mandarin grammar?

Apologies for a classic "lmgtfy" question, but you probably appreciate that the nature of what I'm asking is hard to properly convey to a search engine, regardless of whether the query is ...
1 vote
3 answers
251 views

My boss from Shanghai said, her name "doesn't mean anything". I am confused!

So, I worked for a lady originally from Shanghai, but operating a TCM health clinic in California. English is her second language. I never got the chance to clarify her statement to me when she told ...
4 votes
3 answers
470 views

Are there any multi-syllabic words in Chinese without a glottal stop?

Are there any words in Chinese of 2 more syllables where there isn't a glottal stop between the syllables such that each syllable is not pronounced clearly, that a final consonant and initial ...
2 votes
1 answer
145 views

How do I pronounce 用勿着 in Shanghainese?

There isn't a pronunciation for it on Wiktionary, and I don't know whether it is a fossilised or an analysable phrase, so therefore I don't know whether or not right-prominent tone sandhi applies. My ...
0 votes
2 answers
148 views

What does 垃海 mean in Shanghainese?

I found this sentence on Tatoeba: 我会得垃海九点钟回来. I will be back by nine. What does ‘垃海’ mean in this sentence? My guess is ‘by [nine]’, but the phrase doesn’t show up on Wiktionary.
3 votes
1 answer
143 views

(Shanghai Wu) "但是, 晓得 个 伊 来仔." Is this correct?

但是, 晓得 个 伊 来仔 /dé.zz̩ ɕiɒ.tə́ʔ ɦəʔ ɦi le.tsź̩/ Intended meaning: "But, she came here knowing (that this fight was hopeless)." Is the use of 个 here correct? (伊 refers to an animate ...
2 votes
1 answer
128 views

Wu dialect children's learning materials

Are there any good resources for teaching our child Wu dialect. I'm looking for games / music / toys that have spoken songs or dialog so he can listen. He is 19 months and we have been speaking ...
13 votes
3 answers
7k views

Are there differences in writing between Chinese languages, such as Mandarin and Shanghainese

There are already many questions about the different spoken languages that can be called Chinese. This question on the other hand asks about the written one(s?). Well, to start, is the written ...
2 votes
1 answer
283 views

Does Shanghainese have a buzzing sound & what does it mean?

I overheard a Chinese man speaking over the telephone on the London underground last night. At one point he made a buzzing sound which in the context of his call I understood to be a word or at least ...
4 votes
3 answers
372 views

What is the Mandarin equivalent for the Shanghai term for dirty?

In the Shanghai dialect dirty is pronounced something like "o co" with the o pronounced like the "o" in cot and the "c" pronounced like the usual c in pinyin (kinda like an 'ts' sound). Which ...
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

Are Sinitic languages mutually comprehensible?

According to this map, there are different Chinese "languages" (Sinitic languages) in the Chinese area. Is my understanding correct that the "official" Chinese language is the Mandarin? In other ...
6 votes
4 answers
7k views

Resources for learning Shanghainese

I'm surprised a question like this hasn't been asked yet. It seems Shanghainese is a dying language and it's rarely spoken. I'd like to know about resources and ways to learn the language by myself. ...