china-10-language_v1_m56577569830510989.pdfVIP

© Lonely Planet Publications 985 Language THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE Dialects CONTENTS Discounting its ethnic minority languages, China has eight major dialect groups: Pu- Chinese 985 tonghua (Mandarin), Yue (Cantonese), Wu The Spoken Language 985 (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan The Written Language 985 (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan and Grammar 986 Hak ka. These dialects also divide into many Mandarin 986 more sub-dialects. Pinyin 986 With the exception of the western and Pronunciation 986 southernmost provinces, most of the popu- Gestures 987 lation speaks Mandarin, although regional Phrasebooks 988 accents can make comprehension difficult. Accommodation 988 Conversation Essentials 989 THE WRIT TEN LANGUAGE Directions 990 Chinese is often referred to as a language of Health 990 pictographs. Many of the basic Chinese Emergencies 991 characters are in fact highly stylised pic- Language Difficulties