User Comments - changye

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Hi catherinem

What I meant is "children" mainly at elementary and middle high schools. According to info on the Internet, they generally prefer speaking putonghua to speaking Shanghainese, probably due to public education.

I have a question. Can Shanghainese staff at Chinesepod write down Shanghainese conversation with Chinese characters (as seen in Shanghainese textbooks)?

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Hi go_manly

I don't think Shanghainese people are familiar with written Shanghainese, because local people have almost no need and opportunity to read and write the dialect, so let alone newly assigned characters. Furthermore, Shanghainese dialect is not popular amymore among young Shanghainese people, who are busy learning Chinese characters used in standard Mandarin. I believe that "outsiders" who learn Shanghainese with textbooks are much more "literate" in the dialect, hehe.

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Hi go_manly

Here are some Shanghainese phrases written with Chinese characters. I think Chinesepod should have shown the dialogue scripts this way, which can enable listeners to more easily learn (or understand)Shanghainese.

普通话 [上海话](pronunciations)

你早[儂早](n ng z o)

你好[儂好](n ng h o)

托您的福[托儂格福](tu n ng e f )

很好[蠻好](m i h o)

謝謝(xi xi )

謝謝你[謝謝儂](xi xi nong)

對不起[對勿起]( d i v qi )

不好意思[勿好意思]( v h o y si)

吃了嗎[契了](qi l va)

不客氣[勿客氣](v k qi)

歡迎(hu ning)

再見[再會](z i wei)

明天見[明朝會]（m ng z o wei）

晚上見面[夜里碰頭]（y li b ng d u）

請指教(q ng z jiao)

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Hi go_manly

Actually you can write Shanghainese using Chinese characters, which are mainly seen in Shanghainese textbooks. Please look at the following pages.

http://www.520hai.com/shanghai/shmp/26.htm

http://www.520hai.com/shanghai/shmp/

That being said, there are some Shanghainese words that don't have corresponding Chinese characters, but recently such "impossible to write" words have been assigned Chinese characters by scholars. Below is the article titled “上海话告别"无字史", "写不出"的字有了对应书面语 ”.

http://xwwb.eastday.com/x/20090107/u1a521731.html

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Hi go_manly

I think southern dialects also underwent (more or less) sound changes, and the sounds in northern dialects changed more greatly than those in southern ones, probably this is partly due to the influence of northern ethic groups and their languages. In other words, southern regions were relatively well separated from northern regions, which were often invaded by northern "barbarians" in the past. The latest major sound changes in Mandarin happened only in a few hundred years ago, when China was ruled by minority Manchu people.

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Hi go_manly

That's interesting. The same is true for Chinese languages. Northern dialects, one of which was chosen as a base for the standard Chinese, underwent more sound changes than southern dialects did. In this sense, putonghua is also "more dialectal" (or, "less original/more artificial") as you pointed out. The more people (from different regions) speak, the more chance of sound change?

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Who said Shanghainese is a dialect of Chinese?

Posted on: Shanghai Expo: Haibao

Hi frances and orangina

Thanks a lot for your replies. Looks like Gumby is not as universal as Mickey Mouse, hehe. In any case, thanks to Haibao, Gumby has become a little more popular even in China.

Posted on: Shanghai Expo: Haibao

Hi bababardwan

I didn't know Gumby before, and I guess only a few people know the character in Japan. Probably the same is true in most Asian countries. Frankly speaking, Japanese people generally don't like that type of characters. Is the guy VERY popular in the US?

Posted on: Shanghai Expo: Haibao

I agree that Haibao is not an attractive guy, but in my eyes it's not a copycat character of Gumby. I hear that Hiabao was created based on the shape of the character “人” （person, people）, which consequently ends up resemling Gumby, unfortunately.