*Before we begin...a big Happy Birthday shout out to Lo Gung!!!! I'm not going to say how old he is today, because he's a little sensitive about that number today, but...I'll just say that, as of today, he is 5 years older than ME. I'll leave it at that. If you get a chance, head over to his blog and leave a little birthday love!*
A few weeks ago, I put out a call for questions about all things Chinese. Here is the first one I got. This question is from Myrnie, and she asks, "How many languages ARE there, and why can't I find a book for BBJ?? :P "
Myrnie, your question has two parts. Here's the simple answer to the first part: I had been told that there were officially 27 dialects of Chinese, but COUNTLESS other regional versions. (Just by sheer NUMBERS, Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world! Folks, there are a LOT of people in China. A LOT.)
After some exhaustive research (read: a quick look on Wikipedia), it looks like my initial answer is both close...and not quite detailed enough.
According to my research, the languages break down into 7 main families. They are as follows:
1) Sino-Tibetan (28 nationalities, including the Han, Tibetans, Miao and Yao)
2) Altaic (17 nationalities, including the Uyghurs, Mongols and Manchu)
3) Austroasiatic (4 nationalities - De'ang, Blang, Gin (Vietnamese) and Wa)
4) Kradai (several languages spoken by the Zhuang, Buyei, Dai, Dong and Hlai)
5) Indo-European (2 languages - the Russians and the Tajiks)
6) Austronesian (1 official nationality - the Gaoshan and one unofficial nationality - the Utsuls)
7) One "language isolate" (the Koreans)
If that is all too confusing for you, I'll simplify it - there are as many languages as there are ethnicities in China...and there are a lot of ethnicities. However, the official language of the Chinese people is Mandarin, except in Hong Kong and Macau where they speak Cantonese. (I've never been to Macau, but I believe they speak Macanese there. However, I had friends who worked there who had no trouble communicating in a mix of English and Cantonese.)
Now, for the second part of your question - why can't you find any books for BBJ?
Written Chinese is interesting. There is no alphabet, and no way to "sound it out." If you don't know a character, you simply don't know how to say the word. The characters evolved from pictograms, which is a whole 'nother interesting post right there! There are two "main" forms of written Chinese - Traditional and Simplified. Simplified is the written language used in Mainland China, and Traditional is used in Hong Kong. The reason you cannot find any books for BBJ (in Traditional Chinese) is simply popular demand - there are so many MORE kids who need books in China than there are in Hong Kong...there just aren't as many books out there for Hong Kong kids!!
First, thanks for the birthday wish! About the Chinese language, I am confused. I think each province (or state) of China would probably have its own dialect of Chinese (e.g. Shanghainese, Cantonese). But some people in China do not speak Chinese, like you exammple of those 7 main families (Vietnamnese who lives in China would be speaking in Vietnamnese, and Mongols would be speaking Mong). Only places that speaks Cantonese would be areas closes to Canton (e.g. Hong Kong, Macau, GuongXi). And Mandarin didn't exist until the Ching Dynasty (because the Manchu who rules China in that period did know Chinese, so the simplify and nationalize the Mandarin language). Also, traditional (written) Chinese is used in Taiwan also. And there is no Macaunese. They speak Cantonese (mostly). Hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Lo Gung! Hope it's a great one :)
ReplyDeleteAmazing there are so many languages...but I STILL want to find a story book for BBJ!! :)
That was fun! Before we went to China, we practiced with a Mandarin podcast in the car, and remembered exactly none of it (which we were probably mispronouncing anyway.) And then, of course, a good third half of our trip as spent where they speak Cantonese. ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Lo Gung as well.
ReplyDeleteIn my own family, it's all over the place in terms of dialect. My mother's dialect is Hakka, my dad's Fujien, I watch Cantonese tv, and got tutored in Mandarin. Heh.... color me confused.
No wonder every one else is confused too.
The people who live in the Tongginator's first home speak the Gan dialect of Mandarin Chinese, with a smattering of Hakka (also known as Kejiahua). The Gan dialect is mostly spoken in central and northern Jiangxi Province, eastern Hunan Province and parts of Fujian, Anhui and Hubei Provinces.
ReplyDeleteMy father in law speaks Hakka, and my mother in law speaks Taiwanese. They raised their kids speaking Mandarin. As for chinese books, I know you are not out here. But I found a few board books using traditional characters at a small bookstore in the mall in Kent-99 supermarket. Also there is a bookstore attached to Uwajimaya in downtown Seattle. I found the Very Hungry Caterpiller there in traditional characters. They also had some good cookbooks that Zeke loves. It was cool, the recipe was on two pages' one in chinese and the opposite page would be the english. Anyways, din't give up hope finding traditional, it can be found, just hard to find.
ReplyDelete