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PhSt

Junior Member
Registered Member
I have a friend from Hubei province, one day I let her watch a clip from a Taiwanese tv show, but she said she only understand very few words from the video, So is Taiwanese Mandarin different from Mainland Mandarin?
 

Gatekeeper

Brigadier
Registered Member
I have a friend from Hubei province, one day I let her watch a clip from a Taiwanese tv show, but she said she only understand very few words from the video, So is Taiwanese Mandarin different from Mainland Mandarin?

No. Mandarin is a western concept. It was back in the days when westerners dealing with Chinese officials. The Chinese officials speak the language which till this day the West still refer to as Mandarin.

In Chinese it is simply known as putonghua. Simply means ordinary language. And since Taiwan's populace mainly came from China the first place. They speak the same language. The idea of putonghua is that people from the north can communicate with the people from the south.

In my city's Chinese association, our teachers from inner Mongolia communicate effortlessly with teachers from Yunnan. And with one teacher from Taiwan.
 

supersnoop

Major
Registered Member
I have a friend from Hubei province, one day I let her watch a clip from a Taiwanese tv show, but she said she only understand very few words from the video, So is Taiwanese Mandarin different from Mainland Mandarin?

Are you sure it's not in Taiwanese Hokkien/Min-nan?

Hokkien can be very different from other Chinese "dialect" sometimes.

For example, the word "Tea"/茶 in any language is originated in China. Cantonese/Mandarin/Japanese/Korean/Russian/Indian languages/Persian etc. all use "Cha" or something similar. So why is "Tea" so different? Since Dutch traders came by sea, they dealt directly with Hokkienese (Fujian is where most tea is grown), who say "Deh".
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
I have a friend from Hubei province, one day I let her watch a clip from a Taiwanese tv show, but she said she only understand very few words from the video, So is Taiwanese Mandarin different from Mainland Mandarin?

If its Minnan or Hokkien it would sound almost like a different language, but you can also say the same with Hakka, Cantonese and Shanghainese.

As for Putonghua, also referred to as "Mandarin", Taiwan has a different accent from Beijing.
 

Mt1701d

Junior Member
Registered Member
Guys; I now deleted almost three pages of non-sense, BS and other off topic stuff. :mad:

I don't know if COVID times are too boring, but stop with these constant political side-steps. Either you stick to the topic or you better stop posting off topic stuff. Otherwise I'll send some of you into winter or if you like spring vacations!

Take this as a warning.
Hi Deino,

First of all I would like to apologise for engaging with the BS... however I would like to know when you say you deleted the posts whether they are deleted deleted or are some kind of records kept... this is just in case that if as I predict a hit piece does come out and the material is taken out of context to slander our members or myself, we have the records to show and defend ourselves also and more importantly take legal action if necessary
 
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