13 votes

Is Cantonese Chinese? 【广东话属于中文吗】

Wiktionary, in its entry on 「中文」, says this (uncited) in its 2nd and 3rd definitions: 中文 (Mainland China, Taiwan, proscribed) Mandarin (Hong Kong, Macau) Cantonese In Sense (2), the proscribed note ...
dROOOze's user avatar
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10 votes
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What does "liam" mean in this song's lyrics?

From the video: 想起走過的路 阮的腳步 雖然經過風雨 不怕寂寞 因為放在心中 是你的笑容 陪阮面對困難和艱苦 交給時間替阮來安排 唱出深深的愛 感謝你 惦在這舞台 不管起起落落 你的情 阮攏知 有時陣難免心頭酸 受著命運來阻礙 但是阮瞭解 是溫暖的期待 感謝你 惦在這舞台 對阮真心疼痛 ...
user-487's user avatar
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9 votes

What kind of nuance does 呗 have?

From 汉语大词典 呗 II bei ˙ㄅㄟ 1. 助词。表示事实或道理明显,易于了解。 ▶ 何永鳌《火焰山上四十天》:「有什么奇怪的,一块红石头呗。」 2. 助词。表示勉强同意或无所谓的语气。 ▶ 周立波《暴风骤雨》第一部一:「他想,不明白就不明白吧,反正他们会给他车钱,这就得了呗。」 ▶ 草明《乘风破浪》第四章:「他闷闷不乐,低着头说:‘挺好呗。’」 So, ...
SLS's user avatar
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9 votes
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Is Cantonese Chinese? 【广东话属于中文吗】

There is no serious dispute that, in linguistic and general usage, Cantonese is a Chinese language in English, or 汉语 in Chinese. The question is that 中文 and 华语/华文, while generally synonyms of 汉语, can ...
xngtng's user avatar
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8 votes

What does GG mean here?

After a close match, the players might say "good game" to each other It can also be used as a mocky, for example, I beat you 6-0 6-0 in tennis, but you still played a good game Typing "...
Tang Ho's user avatar
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7 votes
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二 Mandarin pronunciation vs. other dialects and Japanese

Here there's some other people asked the same question. 忆珩 and Nimmer provided answers that maybe very helpful to your question: 忆珩: 二、耳等字属于日母止摄三等,日母古音是个舌面的鼻音ȵ,本来是从泥母n中分化出来的,后来北方方言中日母鼻音消失并且卷舌化成了ʐ,...
Lucius Hu's user avatar
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7 votes
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Is there a politically neutral Chinese term for Greater China that is acceptable to all Chinese speakers?

maybe "大中華區". most multinational corporations used this term to describe the regions you mentioned. such usage is correct, in context of nowadays, or recent decades. historically, taiwan was ...
水巷孑蠻's user avatar
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7 votes

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

"...if 四 is "unlucky" merely because it sounds "similar" to 死, what makes it especially different from those 53 characters?" My speculation, and too long for the Comment ...
Wayne Cheah's user avatar
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6 votes
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What is the polite way to say a grandparent has passed away?

The common polite terms for 「死了」(died): 過身 (passed away) 去世 (left this world) 逝世 (departed from this world) 仙逝 (departed to the spiritual world) 走了 (had gone) Example sentences: 他過身了 他已經去世了 曹操在 220 ...
Tang Ho's user avatar
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6 votes

In Sichuanese does 日本人 mean “fuck me”?

I am a native Sichuanese and have been living in Sichuan for decades. I personally have never heard of anyone using this phrase and don't think I ever will. Instead of a everyday phrase, this is more ...
Max's user avatar
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6 votes
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How similar are Hakka and Cantonese?

If we take Guangzhou to represent Cantonese and Meixian to represent Hakka we can get an idea. Part one: Isolated-word-intelligibility test With Hakka as the speaker people from Guangzhou only ...
Mou某's user avatar
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6 votes
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Why did my teacher mark down 一把 as a classifier for 手機?

To me, 部 is a formal classifier for 手机. 台 is usually used for a bigger machine, like computer & TV 一台电脑 & 一台电视. 一台手机 doesn't sound quite right to me. 一把手机 is not used in practice for ...
dan's user avatar
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6 votes
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How are "vernacular" and "literary" readings of characters chosen and used outside of Mandarin?

Firstly, let us clarify one distinction: "literary Chinese" (文言文), a register of the written language in common use across the East Asian Sinosphere before the early 20th century. Its opposite is "...
Michaelyus's user avatar
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6 votes
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What does GG mean here?

well, it means “game over” 😸 網絡潮語大檢閱 GG、FF 甚麼意思? https://evchk.fandom.com/zh/wiki/GG have fun :) Note: GG = "完蛋了" or "Good Game" 「GG」是指「Game Over」,有「完蛋」、「輸了」、「玩完」的意思,起源於台灣論壇「...
水巷孑蠻's user avatar
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6 votes
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Is 的 used in Singlish?

Although liao (from Minnan 了 "liau") is often seen in Singlish conversations, 的 is almost nonexistent in Singlish. In fact, it is also almost nonexistent in the Chinese varieties the ...
user's user avatar
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5 votes
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When is a 方言 a language and not a dialect

I'm going to assume that the question you want to ask are how mutually intelligible various 方言 actually are. This 2009 study by Chaoju Tang and Vincent J. Van Heuven has some data on it. Here's the ...
Ringil's user avatar
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5 votes

Spoken unsubtitled Min in a (now deleted) Youtube video: characters?

The full lyrics can be found on the Web. (But, there are a few minor errors.) A video with all subtitles can be found on the YouTube site. (There are a few minor errors too.) The lyrics are the words ...
user-487's user avatar
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5 votes
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What dialect/topolect is 凉薯 a part of?

According to Wiktionary: 柳州話 (Liuzhou Mandarin) 萍鄉話 (Pingxiang Gan) 南寧話 (Nanning Pinghua) 長沙話 (Changsha Xiang) 婁底話 (Loudi Xiang) These topolects correspond to the areas highlighted in the light ...
dROOOze's user avatar
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5 votes
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Why is Húnán pronounced with an F?

It's topolect. Here's page 27 of《长沙方言词典》: As you can see 湖 is consistently pronounced: fu (rising tone). It doesn't have anything to do with being a proper noun or anything else, this is the Xiang ...
Mou某's user avatar
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5 votes

Why does Cantonese sound vaguely British?

Mandarin has a strong R sound like American English “car”. But Cantonese doesn’t have an R sound. The Cantonese vowel eoi sounds very similar to British English long O. But neither Mandarin Chinese ...
Ken Callow's user avatar
5 votes
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What is 乜 doing in my landlord's WeChat message 明天有人在家乜?

乜 is a Cantonese word "mat1" or "me1", meaning "what". And it makes no sense in this sentence. My guess is that your landlord meant to say 明天有人在家嗎? and she uses "...
monalisa's user avatar
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5 votes
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''China'' name in different chinese dialects

Do most Chinese dialects agree on a similar pronunciation of 中国/Zhōngguó as in Mandarin? Dialects do not agree as such. They pronounce 中国 the same way they pronounce the two characters 中 and 国 ...
monalisa's user avatar
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5 votes

''China'' name in different chinese dialects

China, (meaning the "People's Republic of China", or "Mainland China") is, in its written form at the present moment, "中國", regardless of your Dialect, Ethnic origin, or ...
Wayne Cheah's user avatar
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5 votes
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What exactly is the difference between 哲 and 喆?

The average speaker will likely recognize 喆 as it is used in person names, but will not recognize it as a variant of 哲.
user2249675's user avatar
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5 votes

Is Cantonese Chinese? 【广东话属于中文吗】

Cantonese is one of many Chinese dialects, Mandarin is also one of many Chinese dialects. The difference is Mandarin is the current official language of the entire China. And yes! Cantonese is a ...
Tang Ho's user avatar
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5 votes
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鉛 Reading Phonology

Bu (2018, p. 75-76) contests that changed to avoid confusion among minerals: These two characters are excellent examples of phono-semantic dissimilation because each has an potentially ambiguous ...
Mou某's user avatar
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4 votes

Chinese Languages With Multi-syllabic Readings Of Single Characters

In certain cases compound words and set phrases may be contracted into single characters. Some of these can be considered logograms, where characters represent whole words rather than syllable-...
大胳膊雅各布's user avatar
4 votes

Chinese language?

The term Mandarin (普通话) denotes a dialect which is now the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China and used in most of the China mainland. But it was under heavy influence of the ...
zypA13510's user avatar
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4 votes

What's the Mandarin equivalent of 埋 in Cantonese?

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/946/ 埋 /maai4 / jyutping /mai2/ /man2/ pinyin [1] [v] bury; cover up; lay sth underground [2] [v] conceal; hide; lie ...
Tang Ho's user avatar
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