Taiwanese or chinese?

[FeiFen]

hi there,

I am planning to study mandarin next year. But I still confused which one is better, taiwan mandarin or chinese mandarin?? many people say that chinese mandarin is easier than taiwan mandarin. But some people say if you already know taiwan mandarin you can also understand chinese mandarin.

and I want to ask, when you are working outside from china region, also outside from taiwan. which language will be more used?? taiwan mandarin or chinese mandarin??

I need your suggest, thanks if you want to...

[abcdefg]

Not sure if you are talking about the writing system (simplified vs. traditional) or the spoken language. "Taiwan Mandarin or Chinese Mandarin" is a choice that doesn't make sense. Probably be good if you could clarify your question.

Regional considerations are not really a significant issue if you're learning Chinese from somewhere in the West. Take whatever course looks like it has the best reputation as providing good training, best teacher, best textbooks, best academic standards and so on.

[Steingletscher]

Mandarin, no question about it. Even in Taiwan they also use Mandarin. If you learn Mandarin, you have access to all of the Mainland and most of Taiwan. If you learn Taiwanese, then all you have access to is some of the Taiwanese market.

But if you are talking about the Taiwanese standard of Standard Mandarin versus the Mainland standard, then it doesn't really matter as all on the Mainland will be able to understand you, though think you have a slight Taiwanese accent.

As for the writing system, choose one and stick with it for a while, like a year or two of intensive study, and then learn the other. I don't think it doesn't really matter to begin with as long as you get to know one well enough to where if you encounter the other without having studied it, you can easily tell the difference. In terms of which to learn, I don't really see the debate since it is really easy to pick up the other once you have a foundation in Chinese.

[OneEye]

Steingletscher, the OP was clearly asking about Taiwanese Mandarin or Chinese Mandarin.

I don't really see why that's "a choice that doesn't make sense," but I do agree that it probably doesn't matter much unless you're planning to live in one country or the other. I agree with abcdefg that if you're taking classes, you should pick the best class you can find rather than worrying which standard they're teaching.

[Steingletscher]

Is there a difference between Taiwanese Mandarin and the Taiwan standard for Mandarin Chinese? My first paragraph assumes Taiwanese versus Mandarin while the second refers to the different standardization of Standard Mandarin.

[abcdefg]

By the question "not making sense," I meant it was not clearly phrased. I couldn't tell for sure what he wanted to know.

[li3wei1]

Part of the problem is that the title of the thread says Taiwanese, but the first post says Taiwanese Mandarin. So let's lay it out here.

Mandarin is spoken in both the Mainland and Taiwan, and it is much the same, about as similar as American and British English. The written language is also identical (again, minor differences), except that Taiwan uses traditional characters and the Mainland uses simplified, but this is a small hurdle.

Taiwanese, on the other hand, can refer to a number of languages spoken in Taiwan. It is most often used to refer to Minnanyu, or a variation of it. Here I'm out of my depth, so I'll stop swimming, but I suspect this is not what the OP was thinking of learning.

[FeiFen]

sorry if my question doesn't make sense and not that specific. but i doesn't know about that difference at all. What I know is they just the same mandarin.

If I want to learn about it can I choose which one I want to learn??Writing, sepaking, or listening??Doesn't we will learn about everything??

sorry if my question not specific at all but i am not understand at all about both of Taiwan mandarin and Chinese mandarin, but I want to learn.

[OneEye]

Is there a difference between Taiwanese Mandarin and the Taiwan standard for Mandarin Chinese?

Well, technically, yes, but that's not what I meant. I meant the OP was clearly asking about Taiwanese Mandarin and not about Taiwanese Hokkien, and even said "I am planning to study mandarin next year," so your first paragraph was irrelevant.

I agree the post could be more clear, but I have a feeling that this has more to do with the OP not having a clear understanding of what he's asking. That's understandable, and I remember when I was the same way.

[roddy]

FeiFen, you're asking the wrong question. Tell us who you are, where you're from, why you want to learn (any kind of) Chinese, how you'll be studying (self-study, teacher, classes), what budget you have, etc, etc, etc, and then we'll give you the best advice ever. Promise.

[Manuel]

I had a choice between studying in Taiwan and Mainland China, and chose Mainland China for two reasons:

1) Taiwanese accent is not standard (although in practice very few mainlanders speak with a standard putonghua accent).

2) In Taiwan they use traditional characters, while most of the Chinese-speaking world now uses simplified characters.

In addition, living costs in China are likely to be lower.

[li3wei1]

1) Taiwanese accent is not standard.

but that rules out most of the Mainland, too.

I studied in Taiwan, and everywhere I went in the Mainland, people told me that I spoke very clearly (I know, I know, take that with a large dose of salt). Not that I didn't have an accent, but that they could understand me. What's more important?

[Manuel]

LOL you pre-empted me, I was just updating my post.

[Lu]

1) Taiwanese accent is not standard (although in practice very few mainlanders speak with a standard putonghua accent).

That's not really a problem. Chinese teachers in Taiwan usually have a standard enough accent (with erhua even), and even if you speak like the average Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese, you'll still be clearly understood, you'll just have an accent. As someone mentioned, standard Mandarin from Taiwan and standard Mandarin from China are about as similar as British English and American English.

In addition, living costs in China are likely to be lower.

Actually I doubt that. It depends on where and how you live, of course, but I wonder if rent in, say, Tainan or the outskirts of Taipei isn't cheaper than in the university district of Beijing, or other big cities with good universities. Cost of food really depends on what and where you eat, you can live cheaply in Taiwan as well.

[FeiFen]

Sorry for my poor poor english and my poor knowledge about mandarin. like what I said before I don't know AT ALL about mandarin. until I am interested and begin to googling about that. and It is my first time joining international forum

I am from Indonesia, after finishing my school here I want start learning about Chinese. I am planning to get a class, like what usually university give for foreign people who want to study Chinese. but until now i still can't decide where must I go. China (like beijing, shanghai, guangzhou, etc) or Taiwan (like Taipe, Tainan, etc)

and after reading about taiwan mandarin and chinese mandarin I become more confused, which one must I choose. which one is better to be learnt, which one is commonly used, and which one is easier.

sorry if what i am asking make all of you confused. but I really really need your suggest and help. and I need your explanation about both of that (explanation for people who doesn't know AT ALL)

thx

[OneEye]

I really couldn't care less about what's "standard" and what's not because the standards are just abstract, prescriptive constructions created by the two governments to tell people how they ought to speak, not reflective of how any language group actually does speak, except for those who purposefully imitate the imaginary language (i.e. newscasters and such). "Authentic" and "widely understood" are my benchmarks. A good, clear Taipei accent is very widely understood throughout the Chinese-speaking world. A strong, Hokkien-influenced Taiwanese accent (the so-called 臺灣國語) is not. What's the equivalent in China? My impression is that people from Shanghai are very easy to understand and fairly neutral accent-wise. Beijingren, not so much.

Although, I was chastised by a girl from Beijing once for suggesting that people from Beijing have an accent. At least I think I was. I couldn't really understand her through all the rrrrrrr.

[Meng Lelan]

Although, I was chastised by a girl from Beijing once for suggesting that people from Beijing have an accent. At least I think I was. I couldn't really understand her through all the rrrrrrr.

I thought I was the only one with this issue until OneEye posted that comment. I have a really hard time in the area around Beijing because the rrrrrrrr makes it very difficult for me to hear and speechread with any accuracy. I never have this problem with those from Taiwan. So maybe the OP should be aware of this difference.

[FeiFen]

oowww, then I get what the difference. thanks to all of you who are kindly explain about the differences.

then, may I ask again where university must I go if I want to take the step in Taiwan?? any suggestion?? Taipe, tainan, or other?? and how about the living cost, where must I live (boarding house, hostel, or apartement), people, university cost, weather, and other things.

Will the teachers in the class teach from the very beginning about Chinese??because I don't know how to write, speak, and read AT ALL.

this is really really helpful thank you so much and sorry for asking continuously

[renzhe]

Most Beijingers have thick accents and none of them will ever admit it. It's a discussion best avoided.

[OneEye]

FeiFen,

If you decide to study in Taiwan, I'd definitely recommend Taipei. Generally, the further you get from Taipei, the more likely you are to be surrounded by native speakers of Hokkien rather than Mandarin, and I've found people's accents tend to be affected by that. There are a few good schools in Taipei. I spent 5 terms (15 months) at the MTC, and wrote about some of my experience here (and so have several others). For information about schools in China, check here.