Hangzhou Mandarin

[jsnm0211]

Hello,

I'm interested in studying Mandarin in Hangzhou. I would like to learn Mandarin in an environment where the pronunciation is as close to standard (biaozhun) as possible! How do you think Hangzhou compares with other cities?

If I was to over-hear some locals at a shopping centre, would they be speaking Wu dialect or Mandarin?

I hope you can help me!

Thank-you.

Mai

[Mugi]

If they're local locals (i.e. born and bred in Hangzhou) then they would be speaking Hangzhouhua, which belongs to the Wu dialect family. You might be able to pick out the odd word here and there, but for all intents and purposes it would be unintelligible to even a fluent Mandarin speaker.

That said, Hangzhou probably has quite a large population of non-locals, most of whom probably communicate in Mandarin. Whenever I've travelled there I've never encountered any communication problems.

I think there are a couple of people on this forum who live (or have lived) in Hangzhou and can probably give you a better idea of the situation. Best wait for their replies.

[jsnm0211]

Thanks Mugi... what is the standard of the locals' (born and bred in Hangzhou) Mandarin? How would it compare to what you would hear on CCTV?

Okay, I'll wait for the others to comment... but thanks for you help all the same

[cvkai]

Hello,

I am studying Chinese at the Zhejiang University and this place is incredible. The city is also very beautiful, specially because of the West Lake.

Well, I have been living here only for three months, and I'm studying the third level of Chinese (Book: 汉语教程 第三册-上 北京语言大学版社), so probably I don't have experience enough to understand how standard is the Hangzhou Mandarin.

What I can tell you is: the teachers here at the Zhejiang University have a clear pronounciation and some of them can also speak Hangzhouhua, but it doesn't have an influence on their accent when they are teaching.

Here at the University, I've already had some oportunities to talk with some Chinese students that are studying majors like Computer Science, and for me they have a "standard" pronounciation of Mandarin.

On the street, it really depends on the person that you are speaking with. Some of them have a very clear accent, but I can also find some people that is really hard to understand. But I think that this kind of situation you will find in any city.

Do you know John of the Chinesepod? On his blog (Sinosplice), you can find his opinion about the Chinese schools here.

http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2003/06/04/studying-chinese-in-hangzhou

I am really enjoying Hangzhou. Feel free to ask me more about this city.

[freefall]

I've been in Hangzhou for three months now. The Mandarin spoken by those who grew up here is the southern kind, e.g. zh becomes z, sh becomes s:

你知不知道 is ni zi bu zidao. My mandarin right now is basically a combination of biaozhun and southern-style. The words I've learned from the textbook, I usually have biaozhun pronunciation, but those I've learned orally I say their way. I don't really mind, and as I continue to learn I can correct myself if I decide to be strictly standard in my speech.

There are of course many people who speak very standardly as well, and if you go to a university (which I haven't done so far so I can't comment) your teachers will be standard. I'm tutoring a 5th grader in English, and in school all the kids are exposed to biaozhun speech, so in the coming generation I have a feeling that there will be more of it here in the south. But then again when she comes home she hears her parents speaking nonstandard and reverts to that. Oh and then brings me to another thing--this girl doesn't speak hangzhou hua. Only mandarin.

As someone commented before, I think it's good to learn this way. You're exposed to a wide range of speech variations as you learn and you learn to understand them all. If you only study standard then you might get confused when you actually come to china.

Hope this helps a bit. I'm feeling kinda disoriented right now because I was up all night last night. It's kind of a crazy story. I got home at 3am and was full of energy, so I decided to do something krazy. And yes, I mean krazy with a k. You know how all the apartment complexes in china have those security guards? I just chilled with them from 3am until 6:30am. It was incredible. Of course they were glad to have me because they were bored anyway, so we just talked and ran laps all night to keep warm.

[freefall]

The hangzhou hua is really not an impediment to learning at all. Sure, you hear it around, but pretty much everybody speaks mandarin and I mostly overhear mandarin when the locals are talking.

[jsnm0211]

Oh! That's all really great to hear! Hangzhou sounds like a great place!

Cvkai, in fact if I go to Hangzhou, it will be to Zhejiang university. Maybe I'll meet you in the near future. Are you an international student? What is the international program like at Zhejiang Uni, where are the foreign students from?

Thank-you all for your help!

Do you know where I can listen to a sample of Hangzhou-hua?

[cvkai]

Yeah, I am a International student... I'm from Brazil.

Most of the International students are from South Korea, but there are also a lot of Japanese, American, Mexican, Russian...

I live here at the Yuquan Campus (International College Building - Dormitory), and for me it's very convenient.

Well, I have Chinese classes every morning (Grammar, Speaking, Listening and Reading), we can also practice some Tai chi chuan, Calligraphy, Chinese Painting and Wushu in the afternoon.

You can also make some Chinese friends (here in Yuquan Campus) and they can help you improve your Chinese and you can help them improve their English.

What freefall said is right... most of time I hear Mandarin and not Hangzhou-hua, even among locals... and I think that there's no need to worry about the southern accent.

Ah, unfortunatly, I don't know where you can find some samples of Hangzhou-hua.

I hope see you soon here in Hangzhou. I'm sure that you will like here.

Most of Brazilian people choose going to Beijing or Shanghai because they are more famous than Hangzhou. They have no complain about their cities, but I prefer Hangzhou because it is not too big or crowded.