|
 |
Wenzhou Dialect | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| standtorise Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5433 days ago 12 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Mandarin, Norwegian, Korean, Finnish | Message 1 of 27 31 August 2010 at 10:25am | IP Logged |
|
Hello everyone,
I am curious as to whether anyone is attempting to study Wenzhou dialect (温州话）and has any advice on how to go about learning it. I keep reading about how it has the reputation of being the most difficult language to learn in China and I have had no luck thus far in finding resources for learning it. Any input would be appreciated! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| minus273 Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5765 days ago 288 posts - 346 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Ancient Greek, Tibetan | Message 2 of 27 31 August 2010 at 12:04pm | IP Logged |
|
The grammar is similar to Mandarin. Not identical, but the two systems are rather commensurate.
For a Mandarin speaker, (really) voiced consonants and strange vowels are big phonological difficulties. But you speak French; it's OK. a Wenzhou [ b] is a French [ b] (whether it's equivalent to an English [ b] depends on the English speaker), and a Wenzhou [ø] is quite similar to a French [ø]. With 《温州方言词典》 and a native speaker, you should be able to se débrouiller out. Edited by minus273 on 31 August 2010 at 12:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| waiawy Newbie China Joined 5213 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 3 of 27 06 September 2010 at 7:07am | IP Logged |
|
I am a Chinese.
You are sure you want to learn Whenzhou dialect , cause very few people understand Whenzhou dialect in China. In fact only people live around Whenzhou understand that, and that area is very small portion of china.I have a friend from Whenzhou , I 've tried to learn some Whenzhou dialect from him and a couple of days later I gave up ,thinking even learning a foreign language is a easier job comparing to that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6342 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 4 of 27 06 September 2010 at 8:46am | IP Logged |
|
Wow, that's the first time I see another person interested in learning the Wenzhou dialect! Unfortunately
there are very few resources for the dialect, I bought 2 mp3 courses and a DVD called 百晓教你学说温州 话 on Taobao.com. There is also a dictionary however I've never seen how good it is and how it transcribes the sounds of the language. All of these resources were obviously written in Chinese so make sure you or someone you know can read Chinese characters before buying them. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6582 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 5 of 27 06 September 2010 at 8:46am | IP Logged |
|
I think it's awesome that you're interesting in learning Wenzhouhua. Too many people disregard the local languages and think just getting by with Mandarin is fine. Of course, finding materials is going to be a challenge. Most likely you'd have to actually go there if you want to find some material, and even then it's not unlikely that it simply doesn't exist, as the general attitude in China is that nobody needs to bother learning the local languages.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| standtorise Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5433 days ago 12 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Mandarin, Norwegian, Korean, Finnish | Message 6 of 27 06 September 2010 at 9:16am | IP Logged |
|
Thank you for all the insightful comments! Yes, I realize now that the amount of
resources available to learn 温州话 is very limited. Obviously, the only ones worth looking at seem to be in Chinese. I have always been one who enjoys studying the languages of East Asia, particularly because of their perceived difficulty for an English speaker. It is even more intriguing to me to dive into a Chinese language that is said to be almost impossible to learn by many Chinese people I have talked with. In short, I do like a challenge in what I choose to study as the reward for doing so is simply amazing. Also, I find the history behind the usage of 温州话 during World War II fascinating, as it was designated as a way to protect valuable wartime information. Since I believe I have a good understanding of written Chinese characters, The ideal learning tool would be one that has a printed form paralleled with audio recordings. Now, I am not entirely sure about this, but I believe that while 温州话 cannot be written in Standard Mandarin, it can still be written in characters (which I believe reflect Classical Chinese). If this is indeed true, my ideal resource would be one that has both the original text for 温州话 and Standard Mandarin next to it, all of which is complimented by audio. I know it is a lot to ask for, but I hope there is something that exists in that realm. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6342 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 7 of 27 06 September 2010 at 10:56am | IP Logged |
|
There is a short course called 简单温州话100句 that has the audio, the vernacular transcription and the
mandarin translation for 100 sentences in 温州话, however these mostly consist of common use expression so they will not get you to a very advanced level by themselves. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaisyMaisy Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 115 posts - 178 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish Studies: Swedish, Finnish | Message 8 of 27 07 September 2010 at 5:03am | IP Logged |
|
According to the Wikipedia article, there are 5 million speakers of this dialect, although there seems to be a wide variety of variation within the dialect itself. 5 million sounds like a lot, although I suppose compared to China's population as a whole, it is most definitely a minority language! The article agrees that Wenzhou is notoriously difficult for anyone to learn but doesn't have a whole lot of detail on why exactly.
Is anyone familiar with some of the differences? The article does make mention of 8 tones (yikes!). I think the use of the language during the war is fascinating and reminds me of the Native American code talkers during World War II. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
