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Wenzhou Dialect

  Tags: China | Dialect
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
27 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4  Next >>
standtorise
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5192 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 5524 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

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waiawy
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China
Joined 4972 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 6101 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
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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 5192 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 6101 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 5139 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.


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