How do you tell the difference between madarin and catonese?

Question

Without learning either language. I live in a chinese neighborhood and it would be nice to know the difference.

Flushing, Queens, New York City.

I on a constant basis hear spoken chinese.

Sorry I spelled mandarin and catonese wrong I'm a little drunk.

I want to tell the difference like I can tell Italian and Spanish apart from each other even though they are very alike. And I don't know either language. And I could never mistake french or italian for spanish.

Answer 1

Mandarin, has 4 main tones, is to Chinese what French is to European languages.

Mandarin is much smoother, softer and more melodic compared to Cantonese.

Cantonese, has 8 tones including high-highs and low-lows, is more sing-songy, harsh, and bouncy and it is actually easier for English speakers to pronounce than Mandarin.

Cantonese is like this read in English:
wang bang ting cow foot sow ping kit ma. (just sounds no meaning)

The characters are for the most part the same, but Cantonese has its own characters too. These will be seen in comic books and such where the dialect is used. Otherwise, proper writing is the same as Mandarin.

Answer 2

Ok, No offense, but for us Mandarin speakers, Cantonese speakers talk as if they are always in an argument with someone. One would think that they are on the verge of exchanging blows with each other but are just exchanging friendly banter. I guess you can use that as a basis to discern between the two languages, as some Chinese who are unfamiliar with Cantonese do as well.

Mandarin tones are milder to the ear, seemingly more "refined". It's like the difference between the British (Mandarin) and the Australian accent in English.

Answer 3

I live in Guangzhou in China, where the language most people speak is Contonese. Though of course many people also speak Mandarin Chinese. Being able to speak Mandarin (standard) Chinese means I can tell the difference fairly easily. Though to be honest, some people here have such bad Mandarin, it really sounds like they are speaking Cantonese.

But to listen to the languages and tell the difference between them is very hard. Both languages are tonal languages (Mandarin uses 4 and Cantonese 7), they use a lot of similar words and phrases (if something is too expensive then the phrase to say this is the same in both languages...useful for bargaining in Hong Kong). Also on the mainland of China they will use of a lot more Mandarin words in their Cantonese than Hong Kong people do (the word for Waiter in Hong Kong is Waiter, and if you want to say thankyou then just say "thankyou").

None of this really helps you....you could listen for some key words.

Hello ...Mandarin Ni Hao (Knee how) and Cantonese Lei Ho (Lay Ho).

One good one to listen for is the word for good. Because instead of saying "yes" they will say "good".

Mandarin ..... Hao de (How de) and Cantonese (Ho).

In a conversation a mandarin speaker will agree to something by saying Hao de Hao de Hao De....and a Cantonese speaker will say Ho Ho Ho Ho.

As you get to know people better you will hear the differences...most Cantonese to me sounds harder, while Mandarin has a much softer, smoother sound.

But be aware there are many Chinese languages and dialects, so you be in a neighbourhood where people most speak another dialect. Common ones in immigrant communites around the world include, the Shanghai dialect, Min Bei (from northern fujian province) and Min Nan (from southern fujian province and also used by many people in Taiwan, though the official language is in fact Mandarin).

However, generally speaking, only older people and people from Hong Kong don't speak Manadarin Chinese.

Answer 4

The Chinese and Japanese languages are truthfully on no account very similar to each and every different. They are significantly extra extraordinary than French and English, for illustration. While there are (stereo)normal "appears" related to Korea, China, Japan, and so on., the simplest and so much correct means to differentiate among individuals from extraordinary East Asian international locations is accessory. It's simply the equal as for Europe, rather. Although you perhaps in a position to inform a German man or woman from a French or English man or woman simply by watching, style is truthfully a greater clue than facial facets. The truly provide-away is continually going to be the accessory. Even if you are rather well at recognizing ethnic facets, this may not continually let you know the nation the man or woman is truthfully from. There are for illustration ethnic Koreans who have been born and raised in Japan. There also are many individuals who should not have the normal "seem" for his or her nation. A very noticeable difference is whether or not or now not the man or woman speaks a tonal language. Even if you do not talk a phrase of Chinese, it is effortless to respect that each one Chinese dialects (additionally Vietnamese and Thai) use variant in tone to differentiate extraordinary phrases. Japanese is NOT a tonal language (neither is Korean). So you'll slender matters down rather a little simply by taking note of tone. If you are ever simply loss of life to understand, you would simply ask the man or woman wherein they are from or what their ethnic historical past is. It's fine to invite in an open-ended means ("Where are you from?") as an alternative than wager ("Are you Japanese?"), when you consider that guessing the incorrect nation can routinely motive offense.

Answer 5

Mandarin is the national language of China and Taiwan. Cantonese is a completely different language, primarily spoken in Canton and Hong Kong, as well as nearby areas.

Answer 6

Kenneth if you're talking about the spoken language ... to an English speaker Cantonese will sound ...well I know its a cliche and my apologies to asian readers but it will sound more "singy songy" to you.

Cantonese has six tones whereas Mandarin also known as Putonghua has 4 tones . Also Cantonese has more final consonant sounds then Mandarin.

Bear in mind however your neighbours also could be speaking one of several closely related dialects! like "swatow"

Just ask them!

P.S. Are you sure its cantonese?

THey could also be speaking Hokkien or Hakka depending on from they or their parents migrated from!

Just to complicate things some people of Chinese descent from Malaysia VietNam and Thailand may identify themselves as Chinese but be more fluent in Malay Viet or Thai or read Chinese better than they speak it!

Again if your neighbours speak any Englsih just ask them!

PPS When written in the Roman alphabet Cantonese uses a different transliteration system than Mandarin.

Mandarin uses Wades Giles or Pinyin and sometimes the Yale system.

There are several different systems for writing Cantonese in Roman letters including the notorious "shopkeepers who add ee to everything on a sign cos stupid gwailo no understand chinee" system!

Asian Readers Joke on steretyping by both asians and gwailo intended and hopefully forgiven.

Answer 7

Kenneth,

The only difference between Madarin and Catonese is the pronouncian of the dialect. Madarin is the mainland language, whereas Cantonese is through Hong Kong and Twian.

I think cantonese has some mixture of British English pronouncion because England used to be in charge over Hong Kong. That is why Hong Kong don't want to go back to China. The standard of living in China is terrible compare to Hong Kong.

Answer 8

From what I understand, Mandarin is the dialect spoken in mainland China, while Cantonese is spoken elsewhere (Taiwan, Hong King, etc.), and that the differences are in pronounciation of various words (written Chinese is the essentially the same, no matter which dialect you're speaking).

Answer 9

They have the same characters but that is where the similarities end. Speakers consider them to be dialects of the same language because they use the same characters, even though the languages are mutually unintelligable.

Answer 10

first you need to spell mandarin and cantonese, these are regions of china. if you're interested in this noble culture you should type in these correctly spelled regions into goggle.