Language Spoken in Xian

[Vinny / 文森]

Hello all,

Is Mandarin Chinese the native language in Xian? Or is it like say, Chengdu in Sichuan, where they have their own language that although is related to Mandarin, sounds completely different?

Thank you.

[外国赤佬]

There's 陕西话, but very few people speak it daily. The Mandarin in Xi'an is very 标准.

[malanting]

You may like 秦腔, an award-winning book by a famous writer 贾平凹. My friend from Xi'an likes it. (Don't believe those who tell you that few people speak Chinese dialects today. Far from that, locals speak dialects daily and can easily transfer from Mandarin to their dialect. Except that because of their local dialect, their Mandarin is rather 不标准. But teenagers should be able to speak both their dialect and Mandarin well.)

[fanglu]

Chengdu in Sichuan, where they have their own language that although is related to Mandarin, sounds completely different

Off-topic, but Sichuanhua is reasonably understandable for anyone who can speak Mandarin.

On topic, when I lived in Xi'an I did find some old people pretty much impossible to understand. But I think you'll find that's the case no matter where you are.

[Meng Lelan]

The Mandarin in Xi'an is very 标准.

I agree, having been there a couple years ago.

[Vinny / 文森]

Off-topic, but Sichuanhua is reasonably understandable for anyone who can speak Mandarin.

True, but for someone studying Mandarin it sounds completely different.

I've been to Chengdu and seldomly heard people there speak Mandarin. It wouldn't be a good city for someone to study Chinese, and I wondered if Xian is similar.

[外国赤佬]

Don't worry, the Mandarin in Xi'an is very clear and absolutely 好听, their 儿化 is simply beautiful.

[HusbandOfWuhan]

There are of course native dialects and sometime minority languages in nearly almost city, town and village of China. So Xian is sure to have it's own dialect. However, people there speak Mandarin as well as people from any other place in China. Some people speak more standard Mandarin, others with a less standard pronunciation. But if you want highly standard Mandarin, you may need to go to Beijing university and the Beijing television network. However, due to domestic inter-provincial migration, there are people who speak highly accurate Mandarin in every major city in China(including Xian) not only in Beijing.