Ironlady, I agree with u 100%. Moving from either “side” will require adjustment, my opinion was simply that in my personal experience and the experience of numerous friends moving from Beijing to Taiwan took less time to adjust than moving from Taiwan to Beijing. It’s not a big difference but a difference none the less. That was my point the whole time, but I guess some people took it as a slight against studying in Taiwan or as support for Beijing’s form of Mandarin, which it wasn’t. After all, my Taiwanese family here are all avid supporters of DPP and 陳水扁, need I say more lol.
I think the difficulty of getting used to some accent is directly related to the amount of exposure to that accent. Learning in Beijing may be easier simply because more people speak standard mandarin, which isn’t that different from Taiwanese Mandarin. So, for people who don’t watch a lot of Qing dynasty drama, understanding Beijinger would have a huge learning curve.
It is similar to people from most English speaking nations would have no trouble understanding standard American accent because mainstream entertainment media is dominated by it.
Hansioux, Yeah, I totally agree with u, when learning languages exposure has a big relation to it and the length of that learning curve is definitely connected to exposure, but it’s also connected to how the language sounds.
If we take your English example further, all my non-native English speaking friends said that, aside from exposure to US English, the other thing which made it easier to learn US English was the way it sounded compared to British English. They said it sounded more fluid and less choppy (I’m not talking about the extreme accents from either side).
Now these obviously aren’t my opinions because I’m a native English speaker from UK but I can understand their logic and in my opinion similar logic can apply to Beijing Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin. Taiwanese Mandarin is much more fluid and less choppy, whereas Beijing Mandarin is very harsh and rough (not talking about Beijinghua, I’m talking generally). That together with exposure will determine the length of your learning curve.
[quote=“antchang”]Hansioux, Yeah, I totally agree with u, when learning languages exposure has a big relation to it and the length of that learning curve is definitely connected to exposure, but it’s also connected to how the language sounds.
If we take your English example further, all my non-native English speaking friends said that, aside from exposure to US English, the other thing which made it easier to learn US English was the way it sounded compared to British English. They said it sounded more fluid and less choppy (I’m not talking about the extreme accents from either side).
Now these obviously aren’t my opinions because I’m a native English speaker from UK but I can understand their logic and in my opinion similar logic can apply to Beijing Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin. Taiwanese Mandarin is much more fluid and less choppy, whereas Beijing Mandarin is very harsh and rough (not talking about Beijinghua, I’m talking generally). That together with exposure will determine the length of your learning curve.[/quote]
Another difference that makes a difference to me is speed. People in the north tend to talk fast, and people in Taiwan talk (and walk) sloooooowww, which makes them much easier to understand. And they don’t swallow their words like the Beijingers. I’m always worried they’re going to choke on their tongues. But in either case, fluency is fluency, and you can adapt to any local Mandarin accent in a couple months with minimal effort.
[quote=“hansioux”]whoever told you Hebei is where standard Mandarin comes from is lying to your face:
A bunch a Hebei farmers protesting against the government and seeking help from foreign media. They were all severely punished by the party. The point is, this is what actual Hebei people sound like, it corresponds well with my childhood memory of interacting with late immigrants from Hebei. I’ve also had a lot of interactions during my childhood with people from Henan (my care taker was from Henan), they also had to “pick up” standard Mandarin.[/quote]
As you might guess from my namesake, part of my family is from Henan. Would definitely agree that the normal day to day speech in the North Henan, Southern Hebei,Western Shandong area is not standard Mandarin to my ears. But my sense was that most young people could very easily switch between speaking the local “dialect” of Mandarin, and standard Mandarin (as opposed to many older folk who would always insist that their local dialect was in fact standard Mandarin).
I have neighbors here in the US from Jilin/Changchun and find that they had a generally pleasant sounding accent that is easy to comprehend, although they perhaps over-emphasize the “sh” sounds as compared to a typical CCTV accent.
[quote=“Zhengzhou2010”] But my sense was that most young people could very easily switch between speaking the local “dialect” of Mandarin, and standard Mandarin (as opposed to many older folk who would always insist that their local dialect was in fact standard Mandarin).
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soon the actual Henan languages would die out much like how Taigi is dying out right in front of our eyes.
On the topic of “Mainland Mandarin” v. “Taiwan Mandarin”. Can anyone recommend an online course that is oriented towards “Taiwanese Mandarin”? I have used several widely available online services for Mandarin but apparently there are some fundamental differences (mainly in terminology). Since my extended family is Taiwanese, I would prefer to learn Mandarin that is oriented in that direction. Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.