I used to not so fluent now and I agree mandarin is more pleasing to the ears generally
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blegh
I grew up speaking Mandarin as my first language, and if you think the vowel sound of ɻ̩ is pleasing to the ear, you have very odd taste…
Mandarin is better sounding in general than Taiwanese
Take a sweet sounding Taiwanese girl speaking mando versus the same girl speaking Taiwanese
You can find all Taigi vowels, i, e, a, ə, ɔ, u in English. The same goes with most of the consonants, p, pʰ, m, b, t, tʰ, s n, l, k, kʰ, ŋ, g, h.
The only thing missing in English is nasalization of the vowels, and ts, tsʰ, dz, and dʑ. English has many similar sounding consonants, such as tʃ, ʃ and dʒ, ʒ. The only thing really different is syllabic consonant m̩, and ŋ̍. You can pronounce one of them by sounding out hmm. The rest, tɕ, tɕʰ, ɕ are present in Mandarin as well.
So from the phonology perspective, if you don’t have an issue with English, you shouldn’t have an issue with Taigi.
It then comes down to tones, which includes syllable length. Again, English has words that end with a stop.
Taigi is also phonologically more similar to Middle Chinese, which people used to write classic Chinese poems in.
So… not sure what exactly is so special about Taigi that you would thing it sounds less sweet, or harsh.
Therefore, I think it really comes down to social inequality between Mandarin speaking and Taigi speaking people. Such disparities result in people who can only speak Taigi tend to have lower education level and social standing, which forms the stereotype that Taigi sounds uneducated and harsh because most people, at least portrayed by media, who speak Taigi sound harsh and abrasive.
There are plenty of examples of Taigi being spoken in a polite manner, which was the norm before the KMT dictatorship.
See the old man from 2:44 of this video. In that movie, him saying what a dish on his wedding meant for him and his wife was truly beautiful.
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and Mandarin is?
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I’d say the Taiwan version is pretty OK sounding. Not really a fan of the Beijing accent.
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Aside from butchering the actual Chinese language, I still have trouble with ɻ̩ and ɚ… Those two sound terrible.
Which both sound a bit softer with a Taiwan Mandarin accent. With a Beijing accent, yes, those sounds can grate a bit.
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By the way, my definition of if a sound sounds pretty, for vowels at least, is that if you hum a song, say God Bless America, with just that one sound, and doing so annoys yourself, then it’s a terrible sound.
Try hum that song with just a or i, now try it with ɻ̩ or ɚ.
ɻ̩, ɻ̩ ɻ̩ ɻ̩ ɻ̩ ɻ̩, ɻ̩ ɻ̩ ɻ̩ ɻ̩ɻ̩ɻ̩ɻ̩!
I like it
ɚ
No to this though.
Bollocks. Big bollocks.
When I try it, it sounds like someone being strangled.
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Morons killing their own language. You should confront them about that and demand some respect .
I’ve always thought so
Vietnamese is my favourite language to listen to, though. Not that it is pretty, it gives me the feeling of skipping happily down a forest path
What’s odd is that Taiwanese is considered loud while Taiwan Mandarin is considered more gentle than non-Taiwan Mandarin.
Well I speak English and mando and Taiwanese
I think English is the prettiest sounding of the three
Followed by mando followed by Taiwanese
Not to say I dislike Taiwanese because Taiwanese is my cherished first language ( I started learning English in kindergarten and I couldn’t speak a word of mandarin until I was I think 20 years old.
But since then I became very fluent in mandarin because I was using it daily in my life in Taiwan at work and at home with my then wife who likes to speak only mandarin and with my mom I spoke half Taiwanese and half English and with my friends almost solely in mandarin so my Taiwanese suffered
After 20 years in the USA my mando I have to work to put together sentences again and to have a whole conversation is a slight struggle I’m not comfortable if I have to use it entirely
And Taiwanese even worse now
You can become less fluent with out constant use
Listening to songs fir example I don’t think taiwamese songs sounds as
Nice as mandarin songs
Nor does it sound as good spoken vs mando
Just my opinion
Just like I think French sounds better spoken than Spanish but when sung Spanish is so much better than French. Again my opinion
And Italian sounds as nice spoken as sung again my opinion
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If you were to confront them in your limited Taiwanese you will be met with more laughter
Taiwanese is highly region specific
People from the north south central and east Taiwan have their little
Differences we used to listen and pick out where someone was from
My first gf spoke with a central
Taiwan accent accent while mine is Taipei Taiwanese
Taiwanese is perhaps even more of a tonal language than mandarin
In that you have to get it just right or you come across as amusing to the listeners hence the laughter
Mandarin native speakers trying to speak Taiwanese for example is a source of mirth for Taiwanese speaking listeners
The language is dying because mandarin is taught in schools not Taiwanese and the young especially in the north don’t speak it in daily life
That’s why Taipei is called Chinatown by many Taiwanese