Differences in Chinese spoken in Taiwan

garfaldo
April 04, 2009, 02:02 PM posted in General Discussion

Hey all, I know most of you probably know the major vocabulary and grammatical differences in Mandarin between China and Taiwan, so I wanted to just start a running post of the little things that come up and maybe one day put them all together in a big list.

Here's one that I just learned last week.  Oh, and by now means am I saying these are fact... just offering up for discussion.

搞 gao3 - From what I understand this word can be used in China to describe a field that you do.  Such as 搞銷售 gao3xiao1shou4, to do sales.  I was told that in Taiwan this word is almost never used in that context and you should be careful if using it because it actually sounds a bit rude.

BBQ - in China it's 燒烤, Taiwan is 烤肉 is more common.

 

That's all for now, hope to have more to share soon.

 

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calkins
April 04, 2009, 03:33 PM

Nick, this is a brilliant idea!  Thanks. 

I've come across a few, but can only think of one right now..."subway":

China: 地铁 dìtiě

Taiwan:  捷運 jiéyùn

 

Maybe we can also add words with different pronunciations?  Here's one for "hair":

China:  头发 tóufa

Taiwan:   頭髮 tóufǎ


I'll add more as I think of them.  Hopefully others will add to the list.

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tarcy
June 07, 2009, 11:20 PM

普通话: 企业 qǐyè

國語: 企業 qìyè

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miantiao
April 04, 2009, 06:10 PM

出租车,计程车。

普通话。国语。

 

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tarcy
April 05, 2009, 03:29 AM

星期天

China:xīngtiān    Taiwan:xīngtiān

包括   

China:bāokuò        Taiwan:bāoguā

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miantiao
April 05, 2009, 06:09 AM

hey tarcy, 当我在台湾留学的时候我很少听到人说 ‘星期’, 反而他们台湾人常说 ‘礼拜’, 可能现在不一样了。你的中文写的很好哦,佩服你呀!

我也在这里常听人说 ‘现在多少点’。 虽然语法错,可是百姓常用。

 

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calkins
April 05, 2009, 02:30 PM

Came across another one tonight while eating dinner.  Since moving to Taiwan, I've learned that so many of the words I've learned are useless here!

Tomato

普通话 : 西红柿 xīhóngshì

國語 : 番茄 fānqié

Miantiao, most Taiwanese still say 禮拜, some use both.  If I had a kuai for everytime someone said 都可以都可以 to me...

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tarcy
April 06, 2009, 02:46 AM

Hi miantiao,

你知道很多地道(Taiwan“道地”)的口语表现啊。中国现在有 “现在多少点”这样的说法?! 吓死我了!

Hi calkins,

在香港、广州也说“番茄”。我以前在广州呆了半年,发现那里的菜单里写的都是“番茄炒蛋”。

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calkins
April 11, 2009, 05:04 AM

Internet

普通话 : 网上 wǎngshàng

國語 : 網路 wǎnglù

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garfaldo
April 04, 2009, 03:51 PM

Good ones Calkins.  Thanks for adding!  The pronunciation just reminded me of two more too.

China: 法国 fa3guo2 - France

Taiwan: 法國 fa4guo2 - France

China: 垃圾 la1ji1 - Trash

Taiwan: 垃圾 le4se4 - Trash

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calkins
May 15, 2009, 11:37 AM

Bike / Bicycle

普通话
自行车
zìxíngchē
literal:  self travel vehicle

國語
腳踏車
jiǎotàchē
literal:  foot step on vehicle

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mastiche
May 20, 2009, 03:26 AM

Nice to meet you.

普通话 : 请多关照。 qing3 duo1 guan1 zhao4

國語 : 請多指教。 qing3 duo1 zhi3 jiao4

But I've never verified if that is really true...

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krix
June 07, 2009, 09:29 AM

Here's some links on this topic:

General overview on Wikipedia:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_Mandarin#Differences_from_Standard_Mandarin

Specifically about differences in character pronunciation:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=8048

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sean_123456
June 07, 2009, 02:02 PM

qi shi dalu de mu yu geng hao xue~

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heroius
June 07, 2009, 02:18 PM

其实我感觉随着两岸关系的改善和两岸文化的深入影响,大陆与台湾的普通话有融合的趋势,比如上述同学们提到的发音问题,在大陆也有时候用(虽然往往用于轻松的气氛)。台湾口音比较喜欢将重音放在词末,早些日子看台湾翻译的discovery还有些不习惯,但现在看综艺节目时感觉好多了。

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calkins
June 07, 2009, 02:21 PM

Sean, 为什么?由于简体字还是发音?

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tarcy
June 07, 2009, 11:18 PM

普通话: 危险 wēixiǎn

國語: 危險 wéixiǎn

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calkins
April 11, 2009, 05:08 AM

Hi Tarcy,

That's interesting about Hong Kong and 番茄。Maybe it's only used in areas that use traditional characters.  I love 番茄炒蛋。I never would have thought 炒蛋 would be used so much (at least in Taiwan).