[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-article-local-cantonese-language-or-dialect":3,"$fHZsWYl_LcdVZ5GxKwtR-ZqvCZbbUdo2_Fi6R_GQKiQM":1812,"blog-article-cms-cantonese-language-or-dialect":1814,"article-hreflang-cantonese-language-or-dialect":1815,"blog-article-related-cantonese-language-or-dialect":3082},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":1792,"extension":1793,"meta":1794,"navigation":1805,"path":1806,"rawbody":1807,"seo":1808,"stem":1809,"__hash__":1810,"timestampUnix":1795,"slug":1796,"h1":1797,"image":1798,"tags":1803,"timestamp":1811,"locale":-1},"content\u002Farticle\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fgeneral-cantonese-dialect.md","Is the Cantonese language a dialect of Mandarin Chinese?",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":1769},"minimark",[9,13,16,24,27,30,33,36,41,44,51,54,61,64,73,76,87,94,112,115,118,126,131,134,137,140,143,152,157,160,163,167,170,173,184,187,190,193,196,200,211,214,217,229,236,239,247,250,261,265,268,284,287,290,292,296,299,302,311,314,319,322,329,332,336,339,343,346,356,576,579,785,788,791,795,802,805,1005,1008,1039,1046,1229,1233,1236,1346,1352,1367,1384,1393,1422,1425,1455,1458,1479,1482,1512,1515,1542,1546,1549,1552,1572,1575,1580,1583,1586,1601,1604,1608,1611,1622,1629,1638,1657,1669,1678,1681,1683,1687,1690,1697,1706,1713,1716,1723,1728,1740,1745,1747,1755,1758,1761,1764],[10,11,12],"p",{},"One of the quickest ways to get into an argument is to accuse someone that what they're speaking is merely a dialect of another language, as opposed to a full-fledged language in and of itself. This is especially true when it comes to Cantonese and Mandarin. But why is that?",[10,14,15],{},"Can you say definitively whether Cantonese is a dialect or not?",[10,17,18,19,23],{},"What even ",[20,21,22],"em",{},"is"," a dialect in the first place?",[10,25,26],{},"We have some answers.",[10,28,29],{},"In this blog post, we're going to cover:",[31,32],"toc",{},[34,35],"hr",{},[37,38,40],"h2",{"id":39},"what-is-a-lect","What is a lect?",[10,42,43],{},"First, let's set some things straight.",[10,45,46,47,50],{},"Before we get too far along, I want to introduce the term ",[20,48,49],{},"lect",".",[10,52,53],{},"A lect is kind of a catch-all term that can refer to all spoken communications, whether a language or dialect or pidgin. It's a form of a language as spoken somewhere, which is a very broad classification. Throughout this article, you'll see me use the term lect to sidestep the words \"dialect\" and \"language\", rather than killing discussion by using the term that aligns with my personal beliefs.",[10,55,56,57,60],{},"You see, ",[20,58,59],{},"everything"," is a lect, even if it's also a language or dialect.",[10,62,63],{},"Anyway, back to the main question.",[37,65,67,68,72],{"id":66},"what-is-a-dialect","What is a ",[69,70,71],"strong",{},"dialect","?",[10,74,75],{},"Let's go to the source. If you boot up the good old Oxford Dictionary, you'll see this:",[77,78,79],"blockquote",{},[10,80,81],{},[20,82,83,86],{},[69,84,85],{},"Dialect",": a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group.",[10,88,89,90,93],{},"Alternatively, if we look at the etymology of the word, we can see that it comes from the ancient Greek ",[20,91,92],{},"dialektos",", which meant \"a way of speaking\".",[95,96,97,105],"ul",{},[98,99,100,101,104],"li",{},"\"Dia\" means \"across\" (as in ",[20,102,103],{},"diameter",", how long a straight line needs to be to go across a circle)",[98,106,107,108,111],{},"\"Lektos\" comes from the word \"legos\", meaning \"I say\u002Fspeak\" (and, so far as I know, has absolutely no relation to ",[20,109,110],{},"those"," legos)",[10,113,114],{},"Literally, then, a dialect might be understood to refer to the scope of things that are contained within how people in a particular area speak.",[10,116,117],{},"Alas, we immediately run into a problem: \"the language specific to a region\" is about as clear as a foggy mirror.",[95,119,120,123],{},[98,121,122],{},"We might see it as referring to separate languages—the language spoken in France (French) versus the language spoken in England (English)",[98,124,125],{},"We might use it to refer to shades of the same language—British people near Cornwall speak with a Cornish accent whereas those near Yorkshire speak with a Yorkshire accent",[127,128,130],"h3",{"id":129},"the-big-problem-with-the-term-dialect","The big problem with the term \"dialect\"",[10,132,133],{},"The term is ambiguous.",[10,135,136],{},"I'm not just splitting hairs, here, either.",[10,138,139],{},"There are literally no universally agreed-upon criteria that are used to draw a line and say \"A is a completely separate language from B\". None. In other words, different groups may be considering entirely different factors when trying to answer the \"dialect\" question.",[10,141,142],{},"Broadly speaking, though, you'll run into two different usages of the word:",[144,145,146,149],"ol",{},[98,147,148],{},"A broader, more colloquial usage",[98,150,151],{},"A narrower, more technical usage",[153,154,156],"h4",{"id":155},"dialects-colloquially-speaking","Dialects, colloquially speaking",[10,158,159],{},"Colloquially, people will use the term dialect to refer to any lect that shares many features with another. These shared features could be history, culture, geographic proximity, and\u002For linguistic commonalities.",[10,161,162],{},"You might generally just think of this as being \"how people from 'round here talk\".",[153,164,166],{"id":165},"dialects-more-technically-speaking","Dialects, more technically speaking",[10,168,169],{},"To get more technical, we might instead think about this in terms of language distance (how similar two lects are or aren't) and mutual intelligibility (if speakers of two lects can understand each other).",[10,171,172],{},"For example, if we talk about British vs American English:",[95,174,175,178,181],{},[98,176,177],{},"Sounds are pronounced differently (thus the recognizable \"accent\")",[98,179,180],{},"Different vocabulary words are used (band-aid vs plaster)",[98,182,183],{},"There are even differences in grammar (\"shall\" sounds very elevated in American English, but it's just a normal word used to summon the future tense in British English)",[10,185,186],{},"They're quite different!",[10,188,189],{},"Nevertheless, British people understand American people just fine, and vice versa. Words generally go in the same order, nouns and verbs have the same forms and work in the same way, and while the way we pronounce \"bottle\" isn't quite the same as the way they pronounce \"bottle\", we're still both saying \"bottle\" and see ourselves as uttering an O or T or L sound.",[10,191,192],{},"Clearly, we can't say that British English and American English are different languages. They're highly intelligible—indeed, they're both just different flavors of English.",[10,194,195],{},"As such, we call them dialects.",[37,197,199],{"id":198},"why-does-it-matter-if-something-is-a-language-or-dialect","Why does it matter if something is a language or dialect?",[10,201,202,203,206,207,210],{},"Simply put, there are political and sociocultural implications to saying that something is a dialect or a language—to saying that group A and B are ",[20,204,205],{},"different"," peoples, or saying that group A and B are different versions of the ",[20,208,209],{},"same"," group of people.",[10,212,213],{},"This matters (and gets complicated) because \"languages\" and \"dialects\" do not have equal footing in the world.",[10,215,216],{},"What do we mean by this?",[144,218,219,226],{},[98,220,221,222,225],{},"You wouldn't say that English speakers \"should\" speak Spanish—they're different languages, and many English speakers literally just ",[20,223,224],{},"can't"," speak Spanish",[98,227,228],{},"It's common for people with varying English accents to conform to General American English, which is what you hear from newscasters",[10,230,231,232,235],{},"You can (not necessarily ",[20,233,234],{},"should",") call someone uneducated for talking like a hillbilly, but it would be ridiculous to say that someone is uneducated because they speak Spanish or Finnish instead of English.",[10,237,238],{},"That second situation happens because governments broadly seek to create well-functioning societies. To this end, it's often seen as advantageous to build a sense of unity among the populace. Having everyone speak the same language (and see themselves as speaking the same language) is one way to do this.",[77,240,241,244],{},[10,242,243],{},"If there are many similar lects within your country, it could be politically advantageous to promote the idea of them being dialects—the same language, but different versions of it—regardless of whether they're actually mutually intelligible or not.",[10,245,246],{},"As a byproduct of this effort to enshrine one lect as being the standard language, other lects in the same space can end up being dismissed as just a \"worse\" or \"corrupted\" version of that standard language.",[10,248,249],{},"Some speakers may feel bitter about calling what they speak a dialect, as it seems to downplay the value of it—and, by extension, themselves.",[10,251,252,253,260],{},"(And there's ",[254,255,259],"a",{"href":256,"rel":257},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FDialect#Political_factors",[258],"nofollow","a lot more political and cultural stuff"," you can get into, if you've got a moment. This discussion could go in many directions.)",[37,262,264],{"id":263},"a-thought-experiment-for-you","A thought experiment for you",[10,266,267],{},"Consider these two situations:",[95,269,270,273],{},[98,271,272],{},"You're not allowed to speak English anymore, and will be punished if you're caught speaking a language other than Spanish in public, whether physically or via scorn. Forget English; from now on, you speak Spanish—even and especially if you don't actually know Spanish.",[98,274,275,276,279,280,283],{},"You sound uneducated when you say ",[20,277,278],{},"gonna",". Make an effort to say ",[20,281,282],{},"going to"," instead, especially when you're in formal situations like the office or the classroom.",[10,285,286],{},"If the first situation horrifies you, but you can see the second one as being reasonable in some lights, then you've sort of stumbled into the point.",[10,288,289],{},"Chew on this a bit as you work through the second half of this blog post.",[34,291],{},[37,293,295],{"id":294},"is-cantonese-a-language-or-dialect","Is Cantonese a language or dialect?",[10,297,298],{},"So, with all of that out of the way, let's start talking about Mandarin and Cantonese. We'll facilitate the discussion, but are going to avoid coming outright and calling it one way the another. This is ultimately a distinction you'll have to make yourself.",[10,300,301],{},"To get the easy one out of the way, though:",[10,303,304,305,310],{},"If you accept a broad interpretation of the word \"dialect\", then it's pretty reasonable to refer to Cantonese as a dialect of Mandarin—or that both are dialects of another language. Both lects come from the same language family (",[254,306,309],{"href":307,"rel":308},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSino-Tibetan_languages",[258],"the sinitic side of Sino-Tibetan",") and have many historical, cultural, and geographic similarities, plus a number of linguistic similarities.",[10,312,313],{},"To dig into the meat of the harder question:",[77,315,316],{},[10,317,318],{},"How well do two speakers need to understand each other in order for us to conclude that they're speaking the same language?",[10,320,321],{},"Language distance and mutual intelligibility is a spectrum, and it's hard to draw a line in the sand and say \"dialect on that side, language on this side\".",[10,323,324,325,328],{},"To answer this question, though, ",[20,326,327],{},"you"," need to draw that line in the sand.",[10,330,331],{},"To help you do that, let's take a closer look at Mandarin and Cantonese.",[37,333,335],{"id":334},"a-few-differences-between-mandarin-and-cantonese","A few differences between Mandarin and Cantonese",[10,337,338],{},"We're in the process of expanding this section into an indepdennt blog post, but for now, in brief:",[127,340,342],{"id":341},"mandarin-pronunciation-vs-cantonese-pronunciation","Mandarin pronunciation vs Cantonese pronunciation",[10,344,345],{},"Mandarin and Cantonese have pretty different sound systems.",[10,347,348,349,352,353],{},"For example, Cantonese has 6 tones, while Mandarin has 4 plus a neutral\u002Ftoneless tone. Each audio recording below is of a Cantonese or Mandarin speaker saying ",[20,350,351],{},"fu"," in a different tone. ",[20,354,355],{},"(Note that fu5 doesn't actually exist in Mandarin, but we've included it for the sake of reference. )",[357,358,359,360],"table",{},"\n        ",[361,362,363,359,378,359,404,359,434,359,463,359,491,359,520,359,549,575],"tbody",{},[364,365,366,367,366,374,359],"tr",{},"\n            ",[368,369,373],"th",{"colSpan":370,"className":371},"3",[372],"main-header","Cantonese",[368,375,377],{"colSpan":370,"className":376},[372],"Mandarin",[364,379,366,380,366,385,366,390,366,395,366,398,366,401,359],{},[368,381,384],{"className":382},[383],"tone-number","Tone #",[368,386,389],{"className":387},[388],"description","Description",[368,391,394],{"className":392},[393],"audio","Audio",[368,396,384],{"className":397},[383],[368,399,389],{"className":400},[388],[368,402,394],{"className":403},[393],[364,405,366,406,366,411,366,415,366,422,366,425,366,428,359],{},[407,408,410],"td",{"className":409},[383],"1",[407,412,414],{"className":413},[388],"High level tone",[407,416,418],{"className":417},[393],[419,420],"custom-audio",{"src":421,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-膚-high-level.mp3",[407,423,410],{"className":424},[383],[407,426,414],{"className":427},[388],[407,429,431],{"className":430},[393],[419,432],{"src":433,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu1.m4a",[364,435,366,436,366,440,366,444,366,450,366,453,366,457,359],{},[407,437,439],{"className":438},[383],"2",[407,441,443],{"className":442},[388],"Medium rising tone",[407,445,447],{"className":446},[393],[419,448],{"src":449,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-苦-medium-rising.mp3",[407,451,439],{"className":452},[383],[407,454,456],{"className":455},[388],"Rising tone",[407,458,460],{"className":459},[393],[419,461],{"src":462,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu2.m4a",[364,464,366,465,366,468,366,472,366,478,366,481,366,485,359],{},[407,466,370],{"className":467},[383],[407,469,471],{"className":470},[388],"Medium level tone",[407,473,475],{"className":474},[393],[419,476],{"src":477,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-庫-medium-level.mp3",[407,479,370],{"className":480},[383],[407,482,484],{"className":483},[388],"Low (falling-rising) tone",[407,486,488],{"className":487},[393],[419,489],{"src":490,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu3.mp3.m4a",[364,492,366,493,366,497,366,501,366,507,366,510,366,514,359],{},[407,494,496],{"className":495},[383],"4",[407,498,500],{"className":499},[388],"Low falling tone",[407,502,504],{"className":503},[393],[419,505],{"src":506,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-扶-low-falling.mp3",[407,508,496],{"className":509},[383],[407,511,513],{"className":512},[388],"Falling tone",[407,515,517],{"className":516},[393],[419,518],{"src":519,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu4.m4a",[364,521,366,522,366,526,366,530,366,536,366,539,366,543,359],{},[407,523,525],{"className":524},[383],"5",[407,527,529],{"className":528},[388],"Low rising tone",[407,531,533],{"className":532},[393],[419,534],{"src":535,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-婦-low-rising.mp3",[407,537,525],{"className":538},[383],[407,540,542],{"className":541},[388],"neutral\u002Ftoneless tone",[407,544,546],{"className":545},[393],[419,547],{"src":548,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu5.m4a",[364,550,366,551,366,555,366,559,366,565,366,569,366,572,359],{},[407,552,554],{"className":553},[383],"6",[407,556,558],{"className":557},[388],"Low level tone",[407,560,562],{"className":561},[393],[419,563],{"src":564,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-腐-low-level.mp3",[407,566,568],{"className":567},[383],"-",[407,570,568],{"className":571},[388],[407,573,568],{"className":574},[393],"\n    ",[10,577,578],{},"Viewed in the simplest way possible—pure sounds existing in isolation—Mandarin has 6 vowels to Cantonese's 11. (In reality, the quality of these vowels changes depending on what comes before and\u002For after them, making things more complicated in practice.)",[357,580,581,595],{},[582,583,584],"thead",{},[364,585,586,589,591,593],{},[368,587,588],{},"Vowel",[368,590,373],{},[368,592,377],{},[368,594,394],{},[361,596,597,612,627,641,655,669,683,697,715,729,743,757,771],{},[364,598,599,602,605,607],{},[407,600,601],{},"\u002Fi\u002F",[407,603,604],{},"✅",[407,606,604],{},[407,608,609],{},[419,610],{"src":611,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg",[364,613,614,617,619,622],{},[407,615,616],{},"\u002Fe\u002F",[407,618,604],{},[407,620,621],{},"❌",[407,623,624],{},[419,625],{"src":626,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose-mid_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg",[364,628,629,632,634,636],{},[407,630,631],{},"\u002Fɛ\u002F",[407,633,604],{},[407,635,621],{},[407,637,638],{},[419,639],{"src":640,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FOpen-mid_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg",[364,642,643,646,648,650],{},[407,644,645],{},"\u002Fə\u002F",[407,647,621],{},[407,649,604],{},[407,651,652],{},[419,653],{"src":654,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FMid-central_vowel.ogg",[364,656,657,660,662,664],{},[407,658,659],{},"\u002Fy\u002F",[407,661,604],{},[407,663,604],{},[407,665,666],{},[419,667],{"src":668,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose_front_rounded_vowel.ogg",[364,670,671,674,676,678],{},[407,672,673],{},"\u002Fɵ\u002F",[407,675,604],{},[407,677,621],{},[407,679,680],{},[419,681],{"src":682,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose-mid_central_rounded_vowel.ogg",[364,684,685,688,690,692],{},[407,686,687],{},"\u002Fœ\u002F",[407,689,604],{},[407,691,621],{},[407,693,694],{},[419,695],{"src":696,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FOpen-mid_front_rounded_vowel_(2).ogg",[364,698,699,706,708,710],{},[407,700,701],{},[702,703,705],"span",{"style":704},"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;","\u002Fa\u002F",[407,707,604],{},[407,709,604],{},[407,711,712],{},[419,713],{"src":714,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FOpen_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg",[364,716,717,720,722,724],{},[407,718,719],{},"\u002Fɐ\u002F",[407,721,604],{},[407,723,621],{},[407,725,726],{},[419,727],{"src":728,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FNear-open_central_unrounded_vowel.ogg",[364,730,731,734,736,738],{},[407,732,733],{},"\u002Fu\u002F",[407,735,604],{},[407,737,604],{},[407,739,740],{},[419,741],{"src":742,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose_back_rounded_vowel.ogg",[364,744,745,748,750,752],{},[407,746,747],{},"\u002Fɤ\u002F",[407,749,621],{},[407,751,604],{},[407,753,754],{},[419,755],{"src":756,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose-mid_back_unrounded_vowel.ogg",[364,758,759,762,764,766],{},[407,760,761],{},"\u002Fo\u002F",[407,763,604],{},[407,765,621],{},[407,767,768],{},[419,769],{"src":770,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FMid_back_rounded_vowel.ogg",[364,772,773,776,778,780],{},[407,774,775],{},"\u002Fɔ\u002F",[407,777,604],{},[407,779,621],{},[407,781,782],{},[419,783],{"src":784,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FPR-open-mid_back_rounded_vowel.ogg",[10,786,787],{},"A final important difference is that Mandarin syllables can only end in a vowel, N or NG sound, while Cantonese syllables can end with a vowel or N, NG, P, T, and K sounds. This means that many types of syllables are possible in Cantonese that do not exist in Mandarin.",[10,789,790],{},"All in all, these differences lead to very distinct-sounding languages that are largely not mutually intelligible when heard spoken. (If you scroll down through the next few sections, there will be audio recordings of words and sentences so you can make this comparison for yourself.)",[127,792,794],{"id":793},"mandarin-vocabulary-vs-cantonese-vocabulary","Mandarin vocabulary vs Cantonese vocabulary",[10,796,797,798,801],{},"While Mandarin and Cantonese have a ",[20,799,800],{},"very"," significant overlap in vocabulary, the uber-common words that get the most airtime tend to be very different between the two languages.",[10,803,804],{},"Here's a handful of examples:",[357,806,807,818],{},[582,808,809],{},[364,810,811,814,816],{},[368,812,813],{},"English",[368,815,373],{},[368,817,377],{},[361,819,820,836,853,869,886,903,920,937,954,971,988],{},[364,821,822,824,830],{},[407,823,22],{},[407,825,826,827],{},"係 (hai6) ",[419,828],{"src":829,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-係.mp3",[407,831,832,833],{},"是 (shi4) ",[419,834],{"src":835,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-是.mp3",[364,837,838,841,847],{},[407,839,840],{},"not",[407,842,843,844],{},"唔 (m4) ",[419,845],{"src":846,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-唔.mp3",[407,848,849,850],{},"不 (bu4) ",[419,851],{"src":852,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-不.mp3",[364,854,855,857,863],{},[407,856,800],{},[407,858,859,860],{},"好 (hou2) ",[419,861],{"src":862,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-好.mp3",[407,864,865,866],{},"很 (hen3) ",[419,867],{"src":868,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-很.mp3",[364,870,871,874,880],{},[407,872,873],{},"he\u002Fshe\u002Fit",[407,875,876,877],{},"佢 (keoi5) ",[419,878],{"src":879,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-佢.mp3",[407,881,882,883],{},"他 (ta1) ",[419,884],{"src":885,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-他.mp3",[364,887,888,891,897],{},[407,889,890],{},"thing",[407,892,893,894],{},"嘢 (je5) ",[419,895],{"src":896,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-嘢.mp3",[407,898,899,900],{},"東西 (dong1 xi5) ",[419,901],{"src":902,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-東西.mp3",[364,904,905,908,914],{},[407,906,907],{},"pluralizing suffix",[407,909,910,911],{},"哋 (dei6) ",[419,912],{"src":913,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-哋.mp3",[407,915,916,917],{},"們 (men5) ",[419,918],{"src":919,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-們.mp3",[364,921,922,925,931],{},[407,923,924],{},"possessive particle",[407,926,927,928],{},"嘅 (ge3) ",[419,929],{"src":930,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-嘅.mp3",[407,932,933,934],{},"的 (de5) ",[419,935],{"src":936,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-的.mp3",[364,938,939,942,948],{},[407,940,941],{},"This",[407,943,944,945],{},"呢 (li1) ",[419,946],{"src":947,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-li1.m4a",[407,949,950,951],{},"這 (zhe4) ",[419,952],{"src":953,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-這.mp3",[364,955,956,959,965],{},[407,957,958],{},"that",[407,960,961,962],{},"嗰 (go2) ",[419,963],{"src":964,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-嗰.mp3",[407,966,967,968],{},"那 (na4) ",[419,969],{"src":970,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-那.mp3",[364,972,973,976,982],{},[407,974,975],{},"and",[407,977,978,979],{},"同 (tung4) ",[419,980],{"src":981,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-同.mp3",[407,983,984,985],{},"和 (he2) ",[419,986],{"src":987,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-和.mp3",[364,989,990,993,999],{},[407,991,992],{},"still",[407,994,995,996],{},"仲 (zung6) ",[419,997],{"src":998,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-仲.mp3",[407,1000,1001,1002],{},"還 (hai2) ",[419,1003],{"src":1004,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-還.mp3",[10,1006,1007],{},"And this is really only scratching the surface! There are totally different question words (who, what, when, etc.), different sentence final particles, different adjectives, nouns, adverbs, time expressions, curse words, slang, idioms, and on and on.",[1009,1010,1012,1015,1025,1028,1036],"accordion",{"heading":1011},"A fun bit of statistics",[10,1013,1014],{},"A college educated speaker of English knows about 30,000 words.",[10,1016,1017,1018,1021,1022,1024],{},"If you pick any English word out of a text or conversation at random, there's a 50% chance it'll be one of 100 uber-common words. (Stuff like ",[20,1019,1020],{},"the"," and ",[20,1023,975],{},".)",[10,1026,1027],{},"Say that we have two languages that are totally the same, except these 100 uber-common words.",[95,1029,1030,1033],{},[98,1031,1032],{},"In theory, they are virtually identical—they have 99.67% (29,900\u002F30,000) overlap!",[98,1034,1035],{},"In practice, they sound super different—every other word that comes out of a speaker of language A's mouth is incomprehensible to a speaker of language B",[10,1037,1038],{},"There's some nuance here, basically.",[10,1040,1041,1042,1045],{},"Anyway—those super common words aside, here's the pronunciation of a handful of words that ",[20,1043,1044],{},"are"," shared between the two languages. Even if you don't speak either language, you can probably hear the similarities between some word pairs.",[357,1047,1048,1067],{},[582,1049,1050],{},[364,1051,1052,1054,1061,1064],{},[368,1053,813],{},[368,1055,1056,1057,1060],{},"Chinese Characters ",[1058,1059],"br",{}," (Traditional)",[368,1062,1063],{},"Cantonese (Jyutping)",[368,1065,1066],{},"Mandarin (Pinyin)",[361,1068,1069,1089,1109,1129,1149,1169,1189,1209],{},[364,1070,1071,1074,1077,1083],{},[407,1072,1073],{},"Hello",[407,1075,1076],{},"你好",[407,1078,1079,1080],{},"nei5 hou2 ",[419,1081],{"src":1082,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-你好.mp3",[407,1084,1085,1086],{},"ni3 hao3 ",[419,1087],{"src":1088,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-你好.mp3",[364,1090,1091,1094,1097,1103],{},[407,1092,1093],{},"Goodbye",[407,1095,1096],{},"再見",[407,1098,1099,1100],{},"zoi3 gin3 ",[419,1101],{"src":1102,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-再見.mp3",[407,1104,1105,1106],{},"zai4 jian4 ",[419,1107],{"src":1108,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-再見.mp3",[364,1110,1111,1114,1117,1123],{},[407,1112,1113],{},"Cat",[407,1115,1116],{},"貓",[407,1118,1119,1120],{},"maau1 ",[419,1121],{"src":1122,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-貓.mp3",[407,1124,1125,1126],{},"mao1 ",[419,1127],{"src":1128,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-貓.mp3",[364,1130,1131,1134,1137,1143],{},[407,1132,1133],{},"Love",[407,1135,1136],{},"愛",[407,1138,1139,1140],{},"oi3 ",[419,1141],{"src":1142,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-愛.mp3",[407,1144,1145,1146],{},"ai4 ",[419,1147],{"src":1148,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-愛.mp3",[364,1150,1151,1154,1157,1163],{},[407,1152,1153],{},"Reason",[407,1155,1156],{},"理由",[407,1158,1159,1160],{},"lei5 jau4 ",[419,1161],{"src":1162,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-理由.mp3",[407,1164,1165,1166],{},"li3 you2 ",[419,1167],{"src":1168,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-理由.mp3",[364,1170,1171,1174,1177,1183],{},[407,1172,1173],{},"Spaceship",[407,1175,1176],{},"太空船",[407,1178,1179,1180],{},"taai3 hung1 syun4 ",[419,1181],{"src":1182,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-太空船.mp3",[407,1184,1185,1186],{},"tai4 kong1 chuan2 ",[419,1187],{"src":1188,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-太空船.mp3",[364,1190,1191,1194,1197,1203],{},[407,1192,1193],{},"Northside",[407,1195,1196],{},"北邊",[407,1198,1199,1200],{},"bak1 bin1 ",[419,1201],{"src":1202,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-北邊.mp3",[407,1204,1205,1206],{},"bei3 bian1 ",[419,1207],{"src":1208,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-北邊.mp3",[364,1210,1211,1214,1217,1223],{},[407,1212,1213],{},"Suffering",[407,1215,1216],{},"痛苦",[407,1218,1219,1220],{},"tung3 fu2 ",[419,1221],{"src":1222,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-痛苦.mp3",[407,1224,1225,1226],{},"tong4 ku3 ",[419,1227],{"src":1228,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-痛苦.mp3",[127,1230,1232],{"id":1231},"mandarin-grammar-vs-cantonese-grammar","Mandarin grammar vs Cantonese grammar",[10,1234,1235],{},"Mandarin and Cantonese grammar is pretty similar—there's often a one-to-one correlation between Cantonese and Mandarin sentences in terms of word order, syntax, grammatical features, and so forth. You can see this below:",[357,1237,1239,1240],{"style":1238},"width:100%; text-align:center; table-layout:fixed; border-collapse:collapse;","\n  ",[361,1241,1242,1239,1275,1239,1311],{},[364,1243,575,1244,575,1246,575,1249,575,1252,575,1255,575,1258,575,1261,575,1264,575,1267,575,1270,1239],{},[368,1245,373],{},[407,1247,1248],{},"我哋",[407,1250,1251],{},"好",[407,1253,1254],{},"想",[407,1256,1257],{},"返",[407,1259,1260],{},"屋企",[407,1262,1263],{},"嚟",[407,1265,1266],{},"唞",[407,1268,1269],{},"下",[407,1271,1272],{},[419,1273],{"src":1274,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-我哋好想返屋企嚟唞下。.mp3",[364,1276,575,1277,575,1283,575,1286,575,1289,575,1291,575,1294,575,1297,575,1300,575,1303,575,1306,1239],{},[368,1278,1279,1280,1282],{},"Mandarin ",[1058,1281],{}," (simplified) ",[407,1284,1285],{},"我们",[407,1287,1288],{},"很",[407,1290,1254],{},[407,1292,1293],{},"回",[407,1295,1296],{},"家",[407,1298,1299],{},"来",[407,1301,1302],{},"休息",[407,1304,1305],{},"一下",[407,1307,1308],{},[419,1309],{"src":1310,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-我们很想回家来休息一下。.mp3",[364,1312,575,1313,575,1315,575,1318,575,1320,575,1323,575,1326,575,1329,575,1337,575,1340,575,1343,1239],{},[368,1314,813],{},[407,1316,1317],{},"we",[407,1319,800],{},[407,1321,1322],{},"want",[407,1324,1325],{},"return",[407,1327,1328],{},"home",[407,1330,1331,1332,1336],{},"to (lit: ",[1333,1334,1335],"i",{},"come",")",[407,1338,1339],{},"rest",[407,1341,1342],{},"a bit",[407,1344,1345],{}," ↑↑ ",[10,1347,1348,1349,1351],{},"There ",[20,1350,1044],{}," some differences, though, if you look.",[10,1353,1354,1355,1358,1359,1362,1363,1366],{},"For example, Cantonese can express possesion with counters, using the format ",[20,1356,1357],{},"pronoun + counter + noun",". (A counter is a word used to count an object, such as ",[20,1360,1361],{},"pieces"," of paper or ",[20,1364,1365],{},"loaves"," of bread.)",[95,1368,1369],{},[98,1370,1371,1372,1375,1376,1375,1378,1375,1381,1383],{},"Cantonese: 佢本書 ",[419,1373],{"src":1374,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-佢本書.mp3"," ",[1058,1377],{},[20,1379,1380],{},"keoi5 bun2 syu1",[1058,1382],{},"his\u002Fher book",[10,1385,1386,1387,1389,1390,50],{},"Conversely, whereas 本 is also the counter used for books in Mandarin, you can ",[20,1388,840],{}," express possession with it. Instead, you have to use the possessive particle ",[20,1391,1392],{},"de",[95,1394,1395,1408],{},[98,1396,1397,1398,1375,1400,1375,1403,1375,1405],{},"❌ Mandarin: 他\u002F她本書 ",[1058,1399],{},[20,1401,1402],{},"ta1 ben3 shu1",[1058,1404],{},[20,1406,1407],{},"(this is nonsense in Mandarin)",[98,1409,1410,1411,1375,1414,1375,1416,1375,1419,1421],{},"✅ Mandarin: 他\u002F她的書 ",[419,1412],{"src":1413,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-他的書.mp3",[1058,1415],{},[20,1417,1418],{},"ta1 de5 shu1",[1058,1420],{}," his\u002Fher book",[10,1423,1424],{},"Then, in Cantonese, the {indirect object} goes directly after the \u003Cdirect object>, whereas in Mandarin the {indirect object} comes before the \u003Cdirect object> by default. (Nevermind the fancy grammar words; this will make sense when you see the examples.)",[95,1426,1427,1441],{},[98,1428,1429,1430,1375,1433,1375,1435,1375,1438,1440],{},"Cantonese: 我畀\u003C本>書{你} ",[419,1431],{"src":1432,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-我给你一本书.mp3",[1058,1434],{},[20,1436,1437],{},"ngo5 bei2 bun2 syu1 nei5",[1058,1439],{}," Literally: I give book you",[98,1442,1443,1444,1375,1447,1375,1449,1375,1452,1454],{},"Mandarin: 我给{你}一本\u003C书> ",[419,1445],{"src":1446,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-我给你一本书.mp3",[1058,1448],{},[20,1450,1451],{},"Wo3 gei3 ni3 yi1 ben3 shu1",[1058,1453],{}," Literally: I give you book",[10,1456,1457],{},"As a final example, the passive voice works differently in Mandarin and Cantonese. First, let's look at a couple English sentences to explain some terminology:",[95,1459,1460,1471],{},[98,1461,1462,1463,1467,1468,50],{},"English passive voice ",[1464,1465,1466],"u",{},"without"," agent: ",[20,1469,1470],{},"It was stolen",[98,1472,1462,1473,1467,1476,50],{},[1464,1474,1475],{},"with",[20,1477,1478],{},"It was stolen by someone",[10,1480,1481],{},"Mandarin, like English, can choose to whether or not to include an agent in its passive sentences:",[95,1483,1484,1498],{},[98,1485,1486,1487,1375,1490,1375,1492,1375,1495,1497],{},"✅ Mandarin: 它被偷了 ",[419,1488],{"src":1489,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-它被偷了.mp3",[1058,1491],{},[20,1493,1494],{},"ta1 bei4 tou1 le5",[1058,1496],{}," It was stolen.",[98,1499,1500,1501,1375,1504,1375,1506,1375,1509,1511],{},"✅ Mandarin: 它被某個人偷了 ",[419,1502],{"src":1503,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-它被某個人偷了.mp3",[1058,1505],{},[20,1507,1508],{},"ta1 bei4 mou3 ge5 ren2 tou1 le5",[1058,1510],{}," It was stolen by someone.",[10,1513,1514],{},"By contrast, Cantonese requires that you include 人 (jan4, \"person\") in the sentence as a passive agent:",[95,1516,1517,1528],{},[98,1518,1519,1520,1375,1522,1375,1525,1527],{},"❌ Cantonese: 佢畀偷咗。",[1058,1521],{},[20,1523,1524],{},"keoi5 bei2 tau1 zo2",[1058,1526],{}," {not proper Cantonese}",[98,1529,1530,1531,1375,1534,1375,1536,1375,1539,1541],{},"✅ Cantonese: 佢畀人偷咗。 ",[419,1532],{"src":1533,":type":370},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-佢畀人偷咗。.mp3",[1058,1535],{},[20,1537,1538],{},"keoi5 bei2 jan4 tau1 zo2",[1058,1540],{}," Literally: \"It by someone stole was\"",[127,1543,1545],{"id":1544},"mandarin-writing-vs-cantonese-writing","Mandarin writing vs Cantonese writing",[10,1547,1548],{},"This one, again, requires some nuance.",[10,1550,1551],{},"Many Cantonese speakers are bilingual in Cantonese and Mandarin, and they're taught to write Standard Written Cantonese in school—which is basically (but not quite) Mandarin. The result is that formal pieces of writing, such as the Cantonese you see in newspapers, government articles, and academic papers, will be largely intelligible to Mandarin speakers.",[95,1553,1554,1563],{},[98,1555,1556,1557,1559,1560,1562],{},"Standard Written Cantonese: 我和他一起來 ",[1058,1558],{}," \"Normal\" Cantonese: 我同佢一齊嚟 ",[1058,1561],{}," English: I come with him",[98,1564,1565,1566,1568,1569,1571],{},"Standard Written Cantonese: 那個是什麼？ ",[1058,1567],{},"\"Normal\" Cantonese: 嗰個係乜？ ",[1058,1570],{},"English: What is this?",[10,1573,1574],{},"It's OK if you can't make any sense of the Chinese examples. Just notice how different Standard Written Cantonese is from the Cantonese that people use in everyday life.",[10,1576,1577],{},[20,1578,1579],{},"(As an aside, a Taiwanese friend confirmed that the above \"Standard Written Cantonese\" is not only perfectly understandable to her, but exactly how she would write the sentences herself—though she'd say 跟 instead of 和.)",[10,1581,1582],{},"The thing is, ordinary people don't use Standard Written Cantonese in their normal everyday life.",[10,1584,1585],{},"If we take a more colloquial sentence and write it out as it would be spoken by Cantonese speakers, the result is something that's pretty much unintelligible to Mandarin speakers:",[95,1587,1588,1593,1598],{},[98,1589,1590,1591],{},"Cantonese: 我哋好想返屋企嚟唞下。",[419,1592],{"src":1274,":type":370},[98,1594,1595,1596],{},"Mandarin: 我们很想回家来休息一下。",[419,1597],{"src":1310,":type":370},[98,1599,1600],{},"English: We really want to go back home to rest.",[10,1602,1603],{},"As you can see, then, \"normal\" written Cantonese differs very much from written Mandarin. In fact, the characters 哋, 嚟, and 唞 flat-out don't exist in Mandarin!",[37,1605,1607],{"id":1606},"if-mandarin-and-cantonese-are-so-different-why-do-some-people-say-cantonese-is-just-a-dialect","If Mandarin and Cantonese are so different, why do some people say Cantonese is just a dialect?",[10,1609,1610],{},"Well, I think you can boil this down to 3 main things:",[144,1612,1613,1616,1619],{},[98,1614,1615],{},"The lects both come from the same language family",[98,1617,1618],{},"The lects both use Chinese characters",[98,1620,1621],{},"Political reasons we won't get into",[10,1623,1624,1625,1628],{},"Number one is a big one. Mandarin and Cantonese are both ",[20,1626,1627],{},"Chinese"," languages. The result is that it's easy to lump all Chinese lects into the same basket of one Chinese language with many dialects.",[10,1630,1631,1632,1637],{},"Here's a relevant comment from ",[254,1633,1636],{"href":1634,"rel":1635},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FAlessandro_Valignano",[258],"a 16th century missionary",":",[77,1639,1640],{},[10,1641,1642,1643,1646,1647,1649,1651,1653,1654],{},"\"The Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent that they cannot understand each other.... ",[702,1644,1645],{},"They"," also have another language which is like a universal and common language; this is the official language of the mandarins and of the court; it is among them like Latin among ourselves....\"\"",[1058,1648],{},[1058,1650],{},[1058,1652],{}," —Alessandro Valignano, ",[20,1655,1656],{},"Historia del Principio y Progresso de la Compañia de Jesus en las Indias Orientales (1542–1564)",[10,1658,1659,1660,1662,1663,1021,1666,50],{},"Unfortunately, in modern times, Chinese is often conflated with Mandarin. Just go look at Google Translate—there's no option to translate into ",[20,1661,377],{},", just ",[20,1664,1665],{},"Chinese (simplified)",[20,1667,1668],{},"Chinese (traditional)",[10,1670,1671,1672,1677],{},"Another compounding factor is that most Chinese lects have no written form. Instead, they're spoken one way, but written in ",[254,1673,1676],{"href":1674,"rel":1675},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FStandard_Chinese",[258],"Standard Chinese",". The result is that, to an outsider—and even to speakers of Chinese languages—Mandarin and Cantonese look very similar on paper.",[10,1679,1680],{},"Lastly, as we touched on earlier, there is political benefit to promoting unity and the idea of a shared language—not just within China but in general. As the saying goes: \"A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.\" This doesn't really tell the whole story, but it underscores how important official institutional backing can be in shaping the perception of what people consider to be a language or not.",[34,1682],{},[37,1684,1686],{"id":1685},"on-the-off-chance-youre-just-trying-to-figure-out-how-to-learn-cantonese","On the off chance you're just trying to figure out how to learn Cantonese...",[10,1688,1689],{},"This question is much easier to answer!",[10,1691,1692,1693,1696],{},"Migaku is an app for learning Cantonese—but rather than ",[20,1694,1695],{},"teach"," you Cantonese with some outdated textbook, we instead help you learn naturally by capitalizing on learning opportunities you come across in the wild.",[10,1698,1699,1700,1705],{},"For example, you can just boot up any Cantonese YouTube video on your phone—such as this one from ",[254,1701,1704],{"href":1702,"rel":1703},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=9xmCZIO8qdU&list=PLhLwhcA8IAmk0O8VrU9rbfR6eOXVOm4k8",[258],"Comprehensible Cantonese","—and then click on words to see explanations of what they mean.",[1707,1708],"img",{"src":1709,"width":1710,"height":1711,"alt":1712},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-mobile-cantonese-yt.jpeg",1222,862,"A screenshot showing how Migaku makes Cantonese YouTube subtitles interactive",[10,1714,1715],{},"If you come across a useful word, you can turn it into a flashcard by clicking on that orange button in the top-right corner there. Doing so will automatically take a screenshot of the video, a a snippet of its audio, plus the word you've selected and the sentence it came from.",[10,1717,1718,1719,1024],{},"The result is a flashcard like this—the whole process takes about two seconds. Once you've made a flashcard, we'll periodically nudge you to review it, ensuring that you eventually remember it. (This is called ",[254,1720,1722],{"href":1721},"\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fspaced-repetition-language-learning","spaced repetition",[1707,1724],{"src":1725,"width":1710,"height":1726,"alt":1727},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-cantonese-mobile-mining.jpeg",852,"A screenshot showing how Migaku lets you make Cantonese flashcards out of YouTube videos",[77,1729,1730],{},[10,1731,1732,1733,1736,1737],{},"The best way to learn Cantonese is by ",[20,1734,1735],{},"interacting"," with it. If you consume Cantonese media, and you understand at least part of it, you'll make progress. ",[20,1738,1739],{},"Period.",[1741,1742],"prose-button",{"href":1743,"text":1744},"\u002F","Try Migaku for free",[34,1746],{},[37,1748,1750,1751,1754],{"id":1749},"conclusion-mandarin-vs-cantonese-language-vs-dialect-x-vs-y","Conclusion: ",[69,1752,1753],{},"Mandarin vs Cantonese",", Language vs Dialect, X vs Y",[10,1756,1757],{},"Ultimately, whether you consider Cantonese—or any language for that matter—to be a dialect comes down to your own definition of \"dialect\" and your own perception of the similarities and differences between the two lects in question.",[10,1759,1760],{},"If you're approaching this question from a linguistic perspective, then be aware of the limitations of mutual intelligibilty as a criterion. It's a subjective measure that can be hard to quantify. It's also susceptible to the influence of prior linguistic knowledge. Moreover, it's worth considering how Cantonese and Mandarin compare in distance to other lects like Spanish and Portuguese, or Swedish and Norwegian. If you find these latter pairs to be different enough to warrant the label of language, I think there is strong argument to be had that Cantonese meets that same threshold.",[10,1762,1763],{},"Wherever you happen to land on this matter, it's always good to be clear in your terms and strive for consistency.",[10,1765,1766],{},[20,1767,1768],{},"(P.S.—Phew; this article impressed upon me just how much baggage their is wrapped up in the word \"dialect\")",{"title":1770,"searchDepth":1771,"depth":1771,"links":1772},"",2,[1773,1774,1779,1780,1781,1782,1788,1789,1790],{"id":39,"depth":1771,"text":40},{"id":66,"depth":1771,"text":1775,"children":1776},"What is a dialect?",[1777],{"id":129,"depth":1778,"text":130},3,{"id":198,"depth":1771,"text":199},{"id":263,"depth":1771,"text":264},{"id":294,"depth":1771,"text":295},{"id":334,"depth":1771,"text":335,"children":1783},[1784,1785,1786,1787],{"id":341,"depth":1778,"text":342},{"id":793,"depth":1778,"text":794},{"id":1231,"depth":1778,"text":1232},{"id":1544,"depth":1778,"text":1545},{"id":1606,"depth":1771,"text":1607},{"id":1685,"depth":1771,"text":1686},{"id":1749,"depth":1771,"text":1791},"Conclusion: Mandarin vs Cantonese, Language vs Dialect, X vs Y","Cantonese is the language spoken in Hong Kong. You might know that it's a Chinese language, like Mandarin... but is it a language, or is it a dialect? Let's talk.","md",{"timestampUnix":1795,"slug":1796,"h1":1797,"image":1798,"tags":1803},1745585916000,"cantonese-language-or-dialect","Mandarin vs Cantonese | Is Cantonese a language or a dialect? ",{"src":1799,"width":1800,"height":1801,"alt":1802},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-cantonese-language-dialect.jpeg",1600,998,"Meme man sweating serious bullets trying to decide whether Cantonese is a language or a dialect",[1804],"discussion",true,"\u002Farticle\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fgeneral-cantonese-dialect","---\ntitle: 'Is the Cantonese language a dialect of Mandarin Chinese?'\ndescription: \"Cantonese is the language spoken in Hong Kong. You might know that it's a Chinese language, like Mandarin... but is it a language, or is it a dialect? Let's talk.\"\ntimestampUnix: 1745585916000\nslug: 'cantonese-language-or-dialect'\nh1: 'Mandarin vs Cantonese | Is Cantonese a language or a dialect? '\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-cantonese-language-dialect.jpeg'\n  width: 1600\n  height: 998\n  alt: 'Meme man sweating serious bullets trying to decide whether Cantonese is a language or a dialect'\ntags:\n  - discussion\n---\n\nOne of the quickest ways to get into an argument is to accuse someone that what they're speaking is merely a dialect of another language, as opposed to a full-fledged language in and of itself. This is especially true when it comes to Cantonese and Mandarin. But why is that?\n\nCan you say definitively whether Cantonese is a dialect or not?\n\nWhat even _is_ a dialect in the first place?\n\nWe have some answers.\n\nIn this blog post, we're going to cover:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n---\n\n## What is a lect?\n\nFirst, let's set some things straight.\n\nBefore we get too far along, I want to introduce the term _lect_.\n\nA lect is kind of a catch-all term that can refer to all spoken communications, whether a language or dialect or pidgin. It's a form of a language as spoken somewhere, which is a very broad classification. Throughout this article, you'll see me use the term lect to sidestep the words \"dialect\" and \"language\", rather than killing discussion by using the term that aligns with my personal beliefs.\n\nYou see, _everything_ is a lect, even if it's also a language or dialect.\n\nAnyway, back to the main question.\n\n## What is a **dialect**?\n\nLet's go to the source. If you boot up the good old Oxford Dictionary, you'll see this:\n\n> _**Dialect**: a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group._\n\nAlternatively, if we look at the etymology of the word, we can see that it comes from the ancient Greek _dialektos_, which meant \"a way of speaking\".\n\n- \"Dia\" means \"across\" (as in _diameter_, how long a straight line needs to be to go across a circle)\n- \"Lektos\" comes from the word \"legos\", meaning \"I say\u002Fspeak\" (and, so far as I know, has absolutely no relation to _those_ legos)\n\nLiterally, then, a dialect might be understood to refer to the scope of things that are contained within how people in a particular area speak.\n\nAlas, we immediately run into a problem: \"the language specific to a region\" is about as clear as a foggy mirror.\n\n- We might see it as referring to separate languages—the language spoken in France (French) versus the language spoken in England (English)\n- We might use it to refer to shades of the same language—British people near Cornwall speak with a Cornish accent whereas those near Yorkshire speak with a Yorkshire accent\n\n### The big problem with the term \"dialect\"\n\nThe term is ambiguous.\n\nI'm not just splitting hairs, here, either.\n\nThere are literally no universally agreed-upon criteria that are used to draw a line and say \"A is a completely separate language from B\". None. In other words, different groups may be considering entirely different factors when trying to answer the \"dialect\" question.\n\nBroadly speaking, though, you'll run into two different usages of the word:\n\n1. A broader, more colloquial usage\n2. A narrower, more technical usage\n\n#### Dialects, colloquially speaking\n\nColloquially, people will use the term dialect to refer to any lect that shares many features with another. These shared features could be history, culture, geographic proximity, and\u002For linguistic commonalities.\n\nYou might generally just think of this as being \"how people from 'round here talk\".\n\n#### Dialects, more technically speaking\n\nTo get more technical, we might instead think about this in terms of language distance (how similar two lects are or aren't) and mutual intelligibility (if speakers of two lects can understand each other).\n\nFor example, if we talk about British vs American English:\n\n- Sounds are pronounced differently (thus the recognizable \"accent\")\n- Different vocabulary words are used (band-aid vs plaster)\n- There are even differences in grammar (\"shall\" sounds very elevated in American English, but it's just a normal word used to summon the future tense in British English)\n\nThey're quite different!\n\nNevertheless, British people understand American people just fine, and vice versa. Words generally go in the same order, nouns and verbs have the same forms and work in the same way, and while the way we pronounce \"bottle\" isn't quite the same as the way they pronounce \"bottle\", we're still both saying \"bottle\" and see ourselves as uttering an O or T or L sound.\n\nClearly, we can't say that British English and American English are different languages. They're highly intelligible—indeed, they're both just different flavors of English.\n\nAs such, we call them dialects.\n\n## Why does it matter if something is a language or dialect?\n\nSimply put, there are political and sociocultural implications to saying that something is a dialect or a language—to saying that group A and B are _different_ peoples, or saying that group A and B are different versions of the _same_ group of people.\n\nThis matters (and gets complicated) because \"languages\" and \"dialects\" do not have equal footing in the world.\n\nWhat do we mean by this?\n\n1. You wouldn't say that English speakers \"should\" speak Spanish—they're different languages, and many English speakers literally just _can't_ speak Spanish\n2. It's common for people with varying English accents to conform to General American English, which is what you hear from newscasters\n\nYou can (not necessarily _should_) call someone uneducated for talking like a hillbilly, but it would be ridiculous to say that someone is uneducated because they speak Spanish or Finnish instead of English.\n\nThat second situation happens because governments broadly seek to create well-functioning societies. To this end, it's often seen as advantageous to build a sense of unity among the populace. Having everyone speak the same language (and see themselves as speaking the same language) is one way to do this.\n\n> If there are many similar lects within your country, it could be politically advantageous to promote the idea of them being dialects—the same language, but different versions of it—regardless of whether they're actually mutually intelligible or not.\n>\n> As a byproduct of this effort to enshrine one lect as being the standard language, other lects in the same space can end up being dismissed as just a \"worse\" or \"corrupted\" version of that standard language.\n\nSome speakers may feel bitter about calling what they speak a dialect, as it seems to downplay the value of it—and, by extension, themselves.\n\n(And there's [a lot more political and cultural stuff](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FDialect#Political_factors) you can get into, if you've got a moment. This discussion could go in many directions.)\n\n## A thought experiment for you\n\nConsider these two situations:\n\n- You're not allowed to speak English anymore, and will be punished if you're caught speaking a language other than Spanish in public, whether physically or via scorn. Forget English; from now on, you speak Spanish—even and especially if you don't actually know Spanish.\n- You sound uneducated when you say _gonna_. Make an effort to say _going to_ instead, especially when you're in formal situations like the office or the classroom.\n\nIf the first situation horrifies you, but you can see the second one as being reasonable in some lights, then you've sort of stumbled into the point.\n\nChew on this a bit as you work through the second half of this blog post.\n\n---\n\n## Is Cantonese a language or dialect?\n\nSo, with all of that out of the way, let's start talking about Mandarin and Cantonese. We'll facilitate the discussion, but are going to avoid coming outright and calling it one way the another. This is ultimately a distinction you'll have to make yourself.\n\nTo get the easy one out of the way, though:\n\nIf you accept a broad interpretation of the word \"dialect\", then it's pretty reasonable to refer to Cantonese as a dialect of Mandarin—or that both are dialects of another language. Both lects come from the same language family ([the sinitic side of Sino-Tibetan](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSino-Tibetan_languages)) and have many historical, cultural, and geographic similarities, plus a number of linguistic similarities.\n\nTo dig into the meat of the harder question:\n\n> How well do two speakers need to understand each other in order for us to conclude that they're speaking the same language?\n\nLanguage distance and mutual intelligibility is a spectrum, and it's hard to draw a line in the sand and say \"dialect on that side, language on this side\".\n\nTo answer this question, though, _you_ need to draw that line in the sand.\n\nTo help you do that, let's take a closer look at Mandarin and Cantonese.\n\n## A few differences between Mandarin and Cantonese\n\nWe're in the process of expanding this section into an indepdennt blog post, but for now, in brief:\n\n### Mandarin pronunciation vs Cantonese pronunciation\n\nMandarin and Cantonese have pretty different sound systems.\n\nFor example, Cantonese has 6 tones, while Mandarin has 4 plus a neutral\u002Ftoneless tone. Each audio recording below is of a Cantonese or Mandarin speaker saying _fu_ in a different tone. _(Note that fu5 doesn't actually exist in Mandarin, but we've included it for the sake of reference. )_\n\n\u003Chtml>\n\u003Cbody>\n    \u003Ctable>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Cth colspan=\"3\" class=\"main-header\">Cantonese\u003C\u002Fth>\n            \u003Cth colspan=\"3\" class=\"main-header\">Mandarin\u003C\u002Fth>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Cth class=\"tone-number\">Tone #\u003C\u002Fth>\n            \u003Cth class=\"description\">Description\u003C\u002Fth>\n            \u003Cth class=\"audio\">Audio\u003C\u002Fth>\n            \u003Cth class=\"tone-number\">Tone #\u003C\u002Fth>\n            \u003Cth class=\"description\">Description\u003C\u002Fth>\n            \u003Cth class=\"audio\">Audio\u003C\u002Fth>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">1\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">High level tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-膚-high-level.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">1\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">High level tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu1.m4a\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">2\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Medium rising tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-苦-medium-rising.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">2\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Rising tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu2.m4a\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">3\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Medium level tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-庫-medium-level.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">3\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Low (falling-rising) tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu3.mp3.m4a\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">4\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Low falling tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-扶-low-falling.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">4\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Falling tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu4.m4a\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">5\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Low rising tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-婦-low-rising.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">5\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">neutral\u002Ftoneless tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-fu5.m4a\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n        \u003Ctr>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">6\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">Low level tone\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-腐-low-level.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"tone-number\">-\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"description\">-\u003C\u002Ftd>\n            \u003Ctd class=\"audio\">-\u003C\u002Ftd>\n        \u003C\u002Ftr>\n    \u003C\u002Ftable>\n\u003C\u002Fbody>\n\u003C\u002Fhtml>\n\nViewed in the simplest way possible—pure sounds existing in isolation—Mandarin has 6 vowels to Cantonese's 11. (In reality, the quality of these vowels changes depending on what comes before and\u002For after them, making things more complicated in practice.)\n\n| Vowel                                                       | Cantonese | Mandarin | Audio                                                                                            |\n| ----------------------------------------------------------- | --------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |\n| \u002Fi\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ✅       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>       |\n| \u002Fe\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ❌       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose-mid_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   |\n| \u002Fɛ\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ❌       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FOpen-mid_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| \u002Fə\u002F                                                         | ❌        | ✅       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FMid-central_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>                 |\n| \u002Fy\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ✅       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose_front_rounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>         |\n| \u002Fɵ\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ❌       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose-mid_central_rounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   |\n| \u002Fœ\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ❌       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FOpen-mid_front_rounded_vowel_(2).ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  |\n| \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">\u002Fa\u002F\u003C\u002Fspan> | ✅        | ✅       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FOpen_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>        |\n| \u002Fɐ\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ❌       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FNear-open_central_unrounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| \u002Fu\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ✅       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose_back_rounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n| \u002Fɤ\u002F                                                         | ❌        | ✅       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FClose-mid_back_unrounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| \u002Fo\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ❌       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FMid_back_rounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>            |\n| \u002Fɔ\u002F                                                         | ✅        | ❌       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FPR-open-mid_back_rounded_vowel.ogg\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n\nA final important difference is that Mandarin syllables can only end in a vowel, N or NG sound, while Cantonese syllables can end with a vowel or N, NG, P, T, and K sounds. This means that many types of syllables are possible in Cantonese that do not exist in Mandarin.\n\nAll in all, these differences lead to very distinct-sounding languages that are largely not mutually intelligible when heard spoken. (If you scroll down through the next few sections, there will be audio recordings of words and sentences so you can make this comparison for yourself.)\n\n### Mandarin vocabulary vs Cantonese vocabulary\n\nWhile Mandarin and Cantonese have a _very_ significant overlap in vocabulary, the uber-common words that get the most airtime tend to be very different between the two languages.\n\nHere's a handful of examples:\n\n| English             | Cantonese                                                                        | Mandarin                                                                                |\n| ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| is                  | 係 (hai6) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-係.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | 是 (shi4) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-是.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n| not                 | 唔 (m4) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-唔.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    | 不 (bu4) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-不.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           |\n| very                | 好 (hou2) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-好.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | 很 (hen3) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-很.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n| he\u002Fshe\u002Fit           | 佢 (keoi5) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-佢.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 他 (ta1) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-他.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           |\n| thing               | 嘢 (je5) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-嘢.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | 東西 (dong1 xi5) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-東西.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| pluralizing suffix  | 哋 (dei6) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-哋.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | 們 (men5) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-們.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n| possessive particle | 嘅 (ge3) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-嘅.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | 的 (de5) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-的.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           |\n| This                | 呢 (li1) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-li1.m4a\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | 這 (zhe4) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-這.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n| that                | 嗰 (go2) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-嗰.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | 那 (na4) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-那.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           |\n| and                 | 同 (tung4) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-同.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 和 (he2) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-和.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           |\n| still               | 仲 (zung6) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-仲.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 還 (hai2) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-還.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n\nAnd this is really only scratching the surface! There are totally different question words (who, what, when, etc.), different sentence final particles, different adjectives, nouns, adverbs, time expressions, curse words, slang, idioms, and on and on.\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"A fun bit of statistics\">\n\nA college educated speaker of English knows about 30,000 words.\n\nIf you pick any English word out of a text or conversation at random, there's a 50% chance it'll be one of 100 uber-common words. (Stuff like _the_ and _and_.)\n\nSay that we have two languages that are totally the same, except these 100 uber-common words.\n\n- In theory, they are virtually identical—they have 99.67% (29,900\u002F30,000) overlap!\n- In practice, they sound super different—every other word that comes out of a speaker of language A's mouth is incomprehensible to a speaker of language B\n\nThere's some nuance here, basically.\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\nAnyway—those super common words aside, here's the pronunciation of a handful of words that _are_ shared between the two languages. Even if you don't speak either language, you can probably hear the similarities between some word pairs.\n\n| English   | Chinese Characters \u003Cbr> (Traditional) | Cantonese (Jyutping)                                                                        | Mandarin (Pinyin)                                                                          |\n| --------- | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |\n| Hello     | 你好                                  | nei5 hou2 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-你好.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           | ni3 hao3 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-你好.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>            |\n| Goodbye   | 再見                                  | zoi3 gin3 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-再見.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           | zai4 jian4 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-再見.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n| Cat       | 貓                                    | maau1 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-貓.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>                 | mao1 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-貓.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>                  |\n| Love      | 愛                                    | oi3 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-愛.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>                   | ai4 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-愛.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>                   |\n| Reason    | 理由                                  | lei5 jau4 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-理由.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           | li3 you2 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-理由.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>            |\n| Spaceship | 太空船                                | taai3 hung1 syun4 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-太空船.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | tai4 kong1 chuan2 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-太空船.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| Northside | 北邊                                  | bak1 bin1 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-北邊.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           | bei3 bian1 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-北邊.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>          |\n| Suffering | 痛苦                                  | tung3 fu2 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-痛苦.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           | tong4 ku3 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-痛苦.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>           |\n\n### Mandarin grammar vs Cantonese grammar\n\nMandarin and Cantonese grammar is pretty similar—there's often a one-to-one correlation between Cantonese and Mandarin sentences in terms of word order, syntax, grammatical features, and so forth. You can see this below:\n\n\u003Ctable style=\"width:100%; text-align:center; table-layout:fixed; border-collapse:collapse;\">\n  \u003Ctr>\n    \u003Cth>Cantonese\u003C\u002Fth>\n    \u003Ctd>我哋\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>好\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>想\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>返\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>屋企\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>嚟\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>唞\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>下\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-我哋好想返屋企嚟唞下。.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n  \u003C\u002Ftr>\n  \u003Ctr>\n    \u003Cth>Mandarin \u003Cbr> (simplified) \u003C\u002Fth>\n    \u003Ctd>我们\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>很\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>想\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>回\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>家\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>来\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>休息\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>一下\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-我们很想回家来休息一下。.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003C\u002Ftd>\n  \u003C\u002Ftr>\n  \u003Ctr>\n    \u003Cth>English\u003C\u002Fth>\n    \u003Ctd>we\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>very\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>want\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>return\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>home\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>to (lit: \u003Ci>come\u003C\u002Fi>)\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>rest\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd>a bit\u003C\u002Ftd>\n    \u003Ctd> ↑↑ \u003C\u002Ftd>\n  \u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003C\u002Ftable>\n\nThere _are_ some differences, though, if you look.\n\nFor example, Cantonese can express possesion with counters, using the format _pronoun + counter + noun_. (A counter is a word used to count an object, such as _pieces_ of paper or _loaves_ of bread.)\n\n- Cantonese: 佢本書 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-佢本書.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> _keoi5 bun2 syu1_ \u003Cbr>his\u002Fher book\n\nConversely, whereas 本 is also the counter used for books in Mandarin, you can _not_ express possession with it. Instead, you have to use the possessive particle _de_.\n\n- ❌ Mandarin: 他\u002F她本書 \u003Cbr> _ta1 ben3 shu1_ \u003Cbr> _(this is nonsense in Mandarin)_\n- ✅ Mandarin: 他\u002F她的書 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-他的書.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> _ta1 de5 shu1_ \u003Cbr> his\u002Fher book\n\nThen, in Cantonese, the {indirect object} goes directly after the \\\u003Cdirect object>, whereas in Mandarin the {indirect object} comes before the \\\u003Cdirect object> by default. (Nevermind the fancy grammar words; this will make sense when you see the examples.)\n\n- Cantonese: 我畀\\\u003C本>書{你} \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-我给你一本书.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> _ngo5 bei2 bun2 syu1 nei5_ \u003Cbr> Literally: I give book you\n- Mandarin: 我给{你}一本\\\u003C书> \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-我给你一本书.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> _Wo3 gei3 ni3 yi1 ben3 shu1_ \u003Cbr> Literally: I give you book\n\nAs a final example, the passive voice works differently in Mandarin and Cantonese. First, let's look at a couple English sentences to explain some terminology:\n\n- English passive voice \u003Cu>without\u003C\u002Fu> agent: _It was stolen_.\n- English passive voice \u003Cu>with\u003C\u002Fu> agent: _It was stolen by someone_.\n\nMandarin, like English, can choose to whether or not to include an agent in its passive sentences:\n\n- ✅ Mandarin: 它被偷了 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-它被偷了.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> _ta1 bei4 tou1 le5_ \u003Cbr> It was stolen.\n- ✅ Mandarin: 它被某個人偷了 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-它被某個人偷了.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> _ta1 bei4 mou3 ge5 ren2 tou1 le5_ \u003Cbr> It was stolen by someone.\n\nBy contrast, Cantonese requires that you include 人 (jan4, \"person\") in the sentence as a passive agent:\n\n- ❌ Cantonese: 佢畀偷咗。\u003Cbr> _keoi5 bei2 tau1 zo2_ \u003Cbr> {not proper Cantonese}\n- ✅ Cantonese: 佢畀人偷咗。 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-佢畀人偷咗。.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> _keoi5 bei2 jan4 tau1 zo2_ \u003Cbr> Literally: \"It by someone stole was\"\n\n### Mandarin writing vs Cantonese writing\n\nThis one, again, requires some nuance.\n\nMany Cantonese speakers are bilingual in Cantonese and Mandarin, and they're taught to write Standard Written Cantonese in school—which is basically (but not quite) Mandarin. The result is that formal pieces of writing, such as the Cantonese you see in newspapers, government articles, and academic papers, will be largely intelligible to Mandarin speakers.\n\n- Standard Written Cantonese: 我和他一起來 \u003Cbr> \"Normal\" Cantonese: 我同佢一齊嚟 \u003Cbr> English: I come with him\n\n- Standard Written Cantonese: 那個是什麼？ \u003Cbr>\"Normal\" Cantonese: 嗰個係乜？ \u003Cbr>English: What is this?\n\nIt's OK if you can't make any sense of the Chinese examples. Just notice how different Standard Written Cantonese is from the Cantonese that people use in everyday life.\n\n_(As an aside, a Taiwanese friend confirmed that the above \"Standard Written Cantonese\" is not only perfectly understandable to her, but exactly how she would write the sentences herself—though she'd say 跟 instead of 和.)_\n\nThe thing is, ordinary people don't use Standard Written Cantonese in their normal everyday life.\n\nIf we take a more colloquial sentence and write it out as it would be spoken by Cantonese speakers, the result is something that's pretty much unintelligible to Mandarin speakers:\n\n- Cantonese: 我哋好想返屋企嚟唞下。\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fyue-我哋好想返屋企嚟唞下。.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n- Mandarin: 我们很想回家来休息一下。\u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fzh-我们很想回家来休息一下。.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n- English: We really want to go back home to rest.\n\nAs you can see, then, \"normal\" written Cantonese differs very much from written Mandarin. In fact, the characters 哋, 嚟, and 唞 flat-out don't exist in Mandarin!\n\n## If Mandarin and Cantonese are so different, why do some people say Cantonese is just a dialect?\n\nWell, I think you can boil this down to 3 main things:\n\n1. The lects both come from the same language family\n2. The lects both use Chinese characters\n3. Political reasons we won't get into\n\nNumber one is a big one. Mandarin and Cantonese are both _Chinese_ languages. The result is that it's easy to lump all Chinese lects into the same basket of one Chinese language with many dialects.\n\nHere's a relevant comment from [a 16th century missionary](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FAlessandro_Valignano):\n\n> \"The Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent that they cannot understand each other.... [They] also have another language which is like a universal and common language; this is the official language of the mandarins and of the court; it is among them like Latin among ourselves....\"\"\n> \u003Cbr>\u003Cbr> —Alessandro Valignano, _Historia del Principio y Progresso de la Compañia de Jesus en las Indias Orientales (1542–1564)_\n\nUnfortunately, in modern times, Chinese is often conflated with Mandarin. Just go look at Google Translate—there's no option to translate into _Mandarin_, just _Chinese (simplified)_ and _Chinese (traditional)_.\n\nAnother compounding factor is that most Chinese lects have no written form. Instead, they're spoken one way, but written in [Standard Chinese](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FStandard_Chinese). The result is that, to an outsider—and even to speakers of Chinese languages—Mandarin and Cantonese look very similar on paper.\n\nLastly, as we touched on earlier, there is political benefit to promoting unity and the idea of a shared language—not just within China but in general. As the saying goes: \"A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.\" This doesn't really tell the whole story, but it underscores how important official institutional backing can be in shaping the perception of what people consider to be a language or not.\n\n---\n\n## On the off chance you're just trying to figure out how to learn Cantonese...\n\nThis question is much easier to answer!\n\nMigaku is an app for learning Cantonese—but rather than _teach_ you Cantonese with some outdated textbook, we instead help you learn naturally by capitalizing on learning opportunities you come across in the wild.\n\nFor example, you can just boot up any Cantonese YouTube video on your phone—such as this one from [Comprehensible Cantonese](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=9xmCZIO8qdU&list=PLhLwhcA8IAmk0O8VrU9rbfR6eOXVOm4k8)—and then click on words to see explanations of what they mean.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-mobile-cantonese-yt.jpeg\" width=\"1222\" height=\"862\" alt=\"A screenshot showing how Migaku makes Cantonese YouTube subtitles interactive\" \u002F>\n\nIf you come across a useful word, you can turn it into a flashcard by clicking on that orange button in the top-right corner there. Doing so will automatically take a screenshot of the video, a a snippet of its audio, plus the word you've selected and the sentence it came from.\n\nThe result is a flashcard like this—the whole process takes about two seconds. Once you've made a flashcard, we'll periodically nudge you to review it, ensuring that you eventually remember it. (This is called [spaced repetition](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fspaced-repetition-language-learning).)\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-cantonese-mobile-mining.jpeg\" width=\"1222\" height=\"852\" alt=\"A screenshot showing how Migaku lets you make Cantonese flashcards out of YouTube videos\" \u002F>\n\n> The best way to learn Cantonese is by _interacting_ with it. If you consume Cantonese media, and you understand at least part of it, you'll make progress. _Period._\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002F\" text=\"Try Migaku for free\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n---\n\n## Conclusion: **Mandarin vs Cantonese**, Language vs Dialect, X vs Y\n\nUltimately, whether you consider Cantonese—or any language for that matter—to be a dialect comes down to your own definition of \"dialect\" and your own perception of the similarities and differences between the two lects in question.\n\nIf you're approaching this question from a linguistic perspective, then be aware of the limitations of mutual intelligibilty as a criterion. It's a subjective measure that can be hard to quantify. It's also susceptible to the influence of prior linguistic knowledge. Moreover, it's worth considering how Cantonese and Mandarin compare in distance to other lects like Spanish and Portuguese, or Swedish and Norwegian. If you find these latter pairs to be different enough to warrant the label of language, I think there is strong argument to be had that Cantonese meets that same threshold.\n\nWherever you happen to land on this matter, it's always good to be clear in your terms and strive for consistency.\n\n_(P.S.—Phew; this article impressed upon me just how much baggage their is wrapped up in the word \"dialect\")_\n",{"title":5,"description":1792},"article\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fgeneral-cantonese-dialect","QD8NeFgLnwduMUttENfOjzzA8deHpKObmDrRU_xfyl0","April 25, 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