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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.
