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Tell Asians apart quiz

In movies and television it's not too bad, but when people are talking on the streets of Wanchai for instance, it can get pretty loud.

Also, Hong Kong Cantonese is full of very "coloquial/slang" expressions that are often quite rude. Check out ham ga tsan, diu lei lo mo, etc. :P

In mainland cities like Guangzhou though, their Cantonese is much closer to the written form. Which is another reason I like Mandarin so much, because it corresponds much better with the written Chinese.

This is all about "谈吐和修养", it has nothing to do with the dialect itself.

Learning the Mandarin it is just to make everyone easier to communicate with each other, since it is the standard Chinese dialect.

BTW, i think the Cantonese is better in regard of "书面语" than the Shanghainese.

At least you guys talked about "饮" when it comes anything to drink, but Shanghainese uses "吃" all the time whether it comes to eat or to drink or to smoke.
 
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In Hollywood & in general in America, these are the common stereotypes; blacks are crack smokin' drug dealers, latinos (especially mexicans) are illegal immigrants, russians are mafia leaders, Middle Easterners (Arabs are thought synonymously as Muslims, which is wrong) are terrorists, Chinese are communists or Kung Fu masters, Indians (they don't think of them as Asians, just Indians) work at call centers. Only white Americans are considered 'normal' in Hollywood. It is quite pathetic in my opinion.

Note sure about that. Certainly Hollywood goes out of its way to portray blacks and latinos in a positive light.

As for Asians (Chinese), they generally have an excellent stereotype as smart, hardworking, superachievers. They are usually portrayed even better than typical whites.
 
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Few months ago I visited Islamabad with some of my friends..we grabbed snacks from market...just as we were about to sit in the car a Korean lady was passing by and one of my friends shouted "CHINESE"... she stopped and stared at us.We quickly hurried in.she then came knocked on the passenger windows when we rolled down the window she said not chinese korean korean. u make mistake.I got restaurant u come pakistani and korean food and remember not chinese korean.She gave us the restaurant card and left ..she said a lot of other stuff but i cant clearly remember.It was really embarrassing.
 
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In movies and television it's not too bad, but when people are talking on the streets of Wanchai for instance, it can get pretty loud.

Also, Hong Kong Cantonese is full of very "coloquial/slang" expressions that are often either very informal or even rude. Check out ham gaa caan, diu lei lo mo, etc. :P

In mainland cities like Guangzhou though, their Cantonese is much closer to the written form. Which is another reason I like Mandarin so much, because it corresponds much better with the written Chinese.

BTW, the rude slang words are not exclusively Cantonese, Northerners also use a lot of it.

"狗日的" is now famous among the Chinese slang word because it was infamously used so much time in the Sino-Japanese war movies by the Eighth Route Army. :P
 
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Note sure about that. Certainly Hollywood goes out of its way to portray blacks and latinos in a positive light.

As for Asians (Chinese), they generally have an excellent stereotype as smart, hardworking, superachievers. They are usually portrayed even better than typical whites.

But bad when it comes to dealing with the ladies.

The stereotype is Asians have it worse when it comes to the ladies. Blacks and Whites have it best. In some way, it's a subtle form of racism.

Maybe an American can give more insight on this. I stayed there for 3 years in the late 90's, had a blast.. but I heard it's a very different place from the one I grew up in.
 
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BTW, i think the Cantonese is better in regard of "书面语" than the Shanghainese.

At least you guys talked about "饮" when it comes anything to drink, but Shanghainese uses "吃" all the time whether it comes to eat or to drink or to smoke.

Instead of "吃" we usually use "食". Which is why "chi fan" becomes "sik fan".

Also, have you seen how Cantonese "slang" is written down? It's really horrific.

Written Cantonese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"狗日的" among the Chinese slang word because it was infamously used so much time in the Sino-Japanese war movies by the Eighth Route Army. :P

Hahaha "gou ri de" that one is hilarious... :D
 
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Instead of "吃" we usually use "食". Which is why "chi fan" becomes "sik fan".

Also, have you seen how Cantonese "slang" is written down? It's really horrific.

Written Cantonese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeah, "饮" and "食" are the classic Chinese verbal words, it is good to see that Cantonese is few of the dialects that actually preserves it.

BTW, the slang from the Northerners is also no better.
 
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But bad when it comes to dealing with the ladies.

The stereotype is Asians have it worse when it comes to the ladies. Blacks and Whites have it best. In some way, it's a subtle form of racism.

Maybe an American can give more insight on this. I stayed there for 3 years in the late 90's, had a blast.. but I heard it's a very different place from the one I grew up in.

It's got nothing to do with race.

The American stereotype is that chicks perfer bad boys to nerds, and Asians do well in school so they have a stereotype of being studious (i.e. nerdy). Also, it doesn't help that Asian teens tend to be much more into video games than, say, latino or black teens.

Look at the Big Bang Theory -- none of them are Asian, but they are all bad with girls.
 
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Hahaha "gou ri de" that one is hilarious... :D

Yeah, go to watch the Mainland drama "亮剑", those soldiers from the Eighth Route Army with their thick Nothern accent and screaming "gou ri de" when they fought against the Imperial Japanese army, this is so freaking funny. :D
 
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Cantonese also seems to be a more colorful, 'spontaneous/wild' language than Mandarin. In general, Mandarin sounds more proper, more refined than Cantonese. From what I have heard from my Hong Kong friend, I believe Cantonese poetry can sound more beautiful than Mandarin as it is more expressive, but it can sound a lot 'uglier & crazier' than Mandarin as well by the same token, depends on the context it is being used in. I don't know if this is generally true, but I've seen Cantonese speakers speak Cantonese a lot quicker than many Mandarin speakers speaking Mandarin.
 
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9/18... This quiz would be like showing 18 Northern Europeans and asking "Danish, Swedish, or Norwegian?" One must rely on cultural cues, like hair style.

I'm interested in hearing actual scores from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean members.
 
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