Chinese language confusion
Created Sunday, 22nd May 2011, 14:50 by Whykay
Interesting read about difference in Mandarin between Mainland China and Taiwan in this article from the BBC. I know of my own personal experience where I'm talking to someone from China with some knowledge of spoken Cantonese but certain words like "jook" (rice porridge/congee) is known as "Hey Faan" for them. If you say you are going to work, "Faan gung", they would look at you funny as they would say "Sheung baan". So aside from difference in meanings between spoken Mandarin in difference countries, it happens to other Chinese dialects as well.
I do hope Traditional Chinese won't go away, as hard as it is to learn to write it, it's gives a little context on what the word maybe when reading it. Like 馬 (horse) and 媽 (mom), in Cantonese, it sounds similar but with addition of 女 to 馬 creates 媽 (woman with power or strengh). There are more rude misinterpretations in Cantonese pronunciations, and same goes for Mandarin pronunciations as well. It would be entertaining for people to gather all the misinterpretation of local lingo. It's not Chinglish, it's Chinese'ish. /lol