Mandarin or Chinese?

[Guest realmayo]

A TV news presenter would be shamed if she spoke anything other than Received Pronunciation.

You mean a Chinese news presenter? It's just I've never heard people use "Received Pronunciation" talking about Chinese.

[malanting]

In fact, I mean an English one.

[malanting]

Then again, a Chinese presenter would also be shamed if she didn't speak 普通话. (On programmes broadcast nationally or news programmes.)

[imron]

A TV news presenter would be shamed if she spoke anything other than Received Pronunciation.

On British TV you hear presenters with a wide variety of accents all the time. It's very different from China.

We're going in circles here.

It might be a good point for everyone to agree to disagree. I don't think anyone is going to be convincing anyone.

[Guest realmayo]

Ah, well in the UK it's completely not true. The majority of BBC newsreaders do not speak Received Pronunciation. The main national news programme for example: different newsreaders speak in different accents, depending on what part of the country they're from. I think it's intentional -- to make the national news more inclusive to its audience.

[Guest realmayo]

It always seems hard for Chinese people who have been brought up to aim for standard PUTONGHUA to understand that in many other countries there is no "correct" accent. (Of course I'm sure it's hard for, say, English people who have no knowledge of China or Chinese to understand the interplay between different Chinese languages/dialects and a shared script.)

[malanting]

That might be because they don't differ much anyway. If you speak local dialect (especially if you're from the South) on a national programme in China most people won't understand.

[Guest realmayo]

They speak the standard language but with a non-standard accent. I'm not sure how easily that concept translates to the Chinese language!

[malanting]

It always seems hard for Chinese people who have been brought up to aim for standard PUTONGHUA to understand that in many other countries there is no "correct" accent.

I think it has more to do with PUTONGHUA itself. It's easier to set a standard since we've got four tones

[roddy]

It's easier to set a standard since we've got four tones

When do your holidays end?

[malanting]

They speak the standard language but with a non-standard accent. I'm not sure how easily that concept translates to the Chinese language!

I can understand it quite well. Just like a non-native speaking Chinese, the accent is different.

[malanting]

[roddy]

珍惜生命，远离网络! Step away from the keyboard and go enjoy your summer.

[malanting]

珍惜生命，远离网络!

I guess so. Off to read The Economist. 88

[Guest realmayo]

Off to read The Economist

"The horror! The horror!" :mrgreen:

[prateeksha]

For example, in English you still write "spring" although it's pronounced "sbring"

That's possibly the weirdest thing I have known about how the Chinese interpret English. Spring is spring. The English spelling cannot be confused with the Chinese pinyin equivalent!

[skylee]

This is why the local languages were classified as "dialects" and people are now pretty much shamed for speaking them in public.

This is so untrue. I am proud of speaking Cantonese and don't think any Canontese speakers would be ashamed of speaking Cantonese in public.

[外国赤佬]

That's possibly the weirdest thing I have known about how the Chinese interpret English. Spring is spring. The English spelling cannot be confused with the Chinese pinyin equivalent!

This is actually very interesting. He does confuse it! Because in English, p at the beginning of a word is aspirated, just like the pinyin p, but the pinyin b is not (and at the same time it's unvoiced unlike in English). So this comparison makes perfect sense to him!

[外国赤佬]

This is so untrue. I am proud of speaking Cantonese and don't think any Canontese speakers would be ashamed of speaking Cantonese in public.

I think I did mention that HK is one big exception to this rule. Cantonese is standardized and taught in schools, unlike the other dialects/topolects.

The mainland is littered with 说好普通话，方便你我他 and other similar slogans. I've personally met many people who were very proud that they only speak 普通话 unlike their parents and how their 普通话 was more 标准 than city X, etc. Oh, and there's also 普通话考试, people would constantly brag about their scores.

[skylee]

Cantonese is standardized and taught in schools

I don't think so. It is our native language, but it is not taught in schools. It is a language of instruction but what is taught in schools is standard Chinese (PS - and Putonghua, and Pinyin). And it is not standardised.