Mandarin Regional Differences

[Ari 桑]

Haha, yeah, alla sanghei nin! Um, thats about the extent of my shanghaihua.

[mr.stinky]

ari: Oh, I have a question. Are 干吗，干吗呢，干吗呀，干啥 etc all northern things?

south also has 干麻 and 干嘛

[Ari 桑]

Whats the difference between them?

[mr.stinky]

i originally thought it was 干么，short for 干什么, but the 干吗 would be do

what/something, as in 你明天打算干吗？

confusion came from hearing local peoples saying:

干嘛? what'cha doin'? what's up?

干麻?!!! what the hell are you doing?

i suppose 干吗 and 干嘛 are approximately the same.

(of course this is just my interpretation. could be wrong....)

[skylee]

干麻

never heard of it.

"幹嗎" / "幹嘛" are ok.

[magores]

Before coming to China, I bought books, CDs, etc. I learned that 10 was shí.

-But, my friends mom - born and raised in Taiwan - kept saying sí...

-And, most of the Chinese in my town (SF) spoke Cantonese. (yat, yi, sam...)

-And then I came to Beijing, where the taxi drivers refer to Chao Yang Gong YuanR Xi MenR.

-And the people at the copy store ask me if I want 10 fenR copies.

-And my co-worker who jokingly says "Mei menR" if I ask her anything at all

-And the lady who I give empty soda bottles to, who has no teeth, and speaks so fast, and in SO thick beijinghua that I barely understand anything she says

It surprises me that I have learned how to say anything at all even half-way close to "correct".

[Ari 桑]

Yeah, I personally don't think there is once correct way to say things. Theres just CCTV anchorman talk thats considered standard, but I'd say since so many people speak non-standard, really there isn't one standard.