Nali and Nar

blizzarac
 February 21, 2008, 11:52 PM posted in General Discussion
What is the difference between Nali and Nar both seem to mean where. I`ve learned Nar in school and nali here.
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fudawei
 February 21, 2008, 11:57 PM

nar = beijinghua

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johnb
 February 22, 2008, 02:22 AM

More than just Beijing -- the entire northeast, and lots of the north (东北 and 华北). You'll hear it in the south, too, but much less frequently, where as 'nali' is at least reasonably frequent in the north.

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sushan
 February 22, 2008, 02:26 AM

Hear 'nar', 'zher', 'fer' all the time in southwest too.

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chitttywangwangwang
 February 22, 2008, 02:28 AM

what is "fer"?

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sushan
 March 06, 2008, 09:19 AM

Sorry for late reply. Anything that should be pronounced 'fen' such as like san mao fen, 1 fen (order) of fried rice, 5 yue fen for May, liang fen for cold noodles

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GreyPhoenix
 March 06, 2008, 03:49 PM

Yes, and be aware of "na ge" vs. "nei ge" and "zhe ge" vs. "zhei ge." I work with a lot of older Chinese from Northern China. The first few times I used the phrases "na ge" (that) and "zhe ge" (this), I was met with blank looks, followed by their own pronunciation, turning the "na" to "nei" (sounds like "neigh," as in what a horse says in English), and "zhe" to "zhei" (pronounced like the letter "j"). The meaning is the same, but the pronunciation is different. ;- )