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Vocabulary
Character |
Pinyin |
English |
粤话 |
Yuèhuà |
Cantonese language (PN) |
普通话 |
Pǔtōnghuà |
Mandarin language (PN) |
广州 |
Guǎngzhōu |
Guangzhou (PN) |
广东 |
Guǎngdōng |
Guangdong Province (PN) |
香港 |
Xiānggǎng |
Hong Kong (PN) |
澳门 |
Àomén |
Macao (PN) |
广西壮族自治区 |
Guǎngxī Zhuàngzú Zìzhìqū |
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (PN) |
语言 |
yǔyán |
language (N) |
方言 |
fāngyán |
dialect (N) |
唐人街 |
Tángrén Jiē |
China Town (PN) |
汉藏语系 |
Hàn Zàng yǔxì |
Sino-Tibetan language family (PN) |
声调 |
shēngdiào |
tone (N) |
语法 |
yǔfǎ |
grammar (N) |
汉字 |
hànzì |
Chinese characters (N) |
Study Questions
- Why might some people refer to Cantonese as a dialect when it is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin? Compare this with Spanish and Italian which are somewhat mutually intelligible, but always referred to as separate languages.
- Why do Cantonese speaking people refer to themselves as Tángrén rather than Hànrén? What does this indicate about the historical differences between southern and northern Chinese people.