<Try> About Chinese language

More than 1.4 billion people are speaking Chinese now and most of them are in China, Taiwan, Hongkong, Malaysia, Macau, Singapore and some countries in southeastern Asia. Do you know that actually there are more than 7 dialects now spoken in Chinese speaking countries? Do you know that the Chinese that people are using now is very different from the ancient Chinese?

Why?

If you read the Chinese history, you will find it's all about the fight between the nomadic and agricultural people. You can imagine like this. The agricultural people developed the ancient Chinese language and the nomadic people came to make friends with them. The ancient Chinese language then mixed with the languages that nomadic people used. Also, there are some countries near China. The influence of other countries is also inevitable.

In Chinese history, there are two period of time the nomadic people were ruling the whole China, which are the Yuan (1271–1368A.D.) and Qing (1612-1912A.D.) dynasty. You can think some foreigners try to learn Chinese and they have awkward accents. For example, the "Mandarin" now most people speak was the Chinese that the nomadic people spoke with a strange accent in Qing dynasty. Because they were the ruling party, people had to learn how they spoke. Many people like farmers who had never received education would speak with their accent. These accents then became the dialects within different regions in China. As time passed, people traveled to other cities and also other countries. Therefore, there are lots of dialects now speaking in China, Taiwan, Hongkong and other Chinese speaking countries.

In Taiwan, many people started to move from southeastern China to Taiwan in 17th century. Most of them are from Fujian province so the dialects spoken in Taiwan are really similar to the Fujian dialects. About 70% of Taiwanese people speak "Hokkien" or you can also call it "Min Nan". Some people also speak Hakka which is also a dialect spoken in Fujian province but with less people. If you've never learned how to speak Hokkien and Hakka, there is no chance that you can understand them.

Why are there so many dialects in Fujuan province? It's because the hills and rivers that separate the people there. Even though they all speak Hokkien, they have quite different accents. The difference is even more than the difference between British and American English.

Because Hokkien is the dialect that used in southeastern China, the influence from the northern nomadic people is less than other dialects. Hokkien is really close to the ancient Chinese. Therefore, if you read old Chinese poem in Hokkien, you will find the rhymes are beautiful.

Some more interesting facts about Hokkien: Because Fujian province is close to the ocean, many businessmen sailed their boats with seasonal winds and traded with the countries in southeastern Asia. Many people stayed there for the rest of their life and had offspring there. Therefore, many overseas Chinese people in southeastern Asia also speak Hokkien.

If you are a Taiwanese, try to speak Hokkien to the overseas Chinese in southeastern Asia countries next time when you visit. You'll surprise that you can chat with them!

If you are not, learn some greetings in Hokkien. I promise you that Taiwanese will be shocked and give you some discounts!

#Chinese #try #Hokkien