{"id":164,"date":"2009-11-25T20:25:54","date_gmt":"2009-11-26T00:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=164"},"modified":"2009-11-25T20:25:54","modified_gmt":"2009-11-26T00:25:54","slug":"phrasings-between-the-north-and-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/phrasings-between-the-north-and-south\/","title":{"rendered":"Phrasings between the north and south"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between northern and southern China, there are many linguistic differences.\u00a0 Differing dialects aside, there are also general lexical differences- similar to the “soda” and “pop” phenomenon in the US.\u00a0 If someone says they’ll give you something \u665a\u4e00\u70b9<\/strong> (a bit later) in the north, they’d say \u8fdf\u4e00\u70b9<\/strong> (a bit later) in the south.\u00a0 What people down south refer to as \u96ea\u7cd5<\/strong> (ice cream) is more commonly referred to as \u51b0\u6dc7\u6dcb<\/strong> (ice cream) up north.\u00a0 One of the most interesting misunderstandings that I had down south was when I was first picked up from the airport, people were saying how that area always \u585e\u8f66<\/strong> (had traffic).\u00a0 I misheard this as \u8d5b\u8f66<\/strong> (car racing) and couldn’t imagine how there could possibly be car-racing with so much traffic.\u00a0 It wasn’t until later that I realized that \u5835\u8f66<\/strong> (traffic) isn’t a common phrasing in the far south.\u00a0 Phrases that I have seemingly left behind in Beijing include \u500d\u513f<\/strong> (really) and \u77a7\u4f60<\/strong> (look at you!).\u00a0 Alas, I will have to work more on my \u767d\u8bdd <\/strong>(common speech, used here to mean Cantonese).<\/p>\n

\u665a wan3 – late
\n\u8fdf chi2 – late (usually used for \u8fdf\u5230 – to be late)
\n\u96ea\u7cd5 xue3gao1 – ice cream (lit. snow cake)
\n\u51b0\u6dc7\u6dcb bing1qi2lin2 – ice cream
\n\u585e\u8f66 sai1che1 – to have bad traffic
\n\u8d5b\u8f66 sai4che1 – to race cars
\n\u5835\u8f66 du3che1 – to have bad traffic
\n\u500d\u513f bei4er (sounds like “burr”) – really, very
\n\u77a7\u4f60 qiao2ni3 – (lit. “look you”) look at you!
\n\u767d\u8bdd bai2hua4 – common speech, here meaning Cantonese<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between northern and southern China, there are many linguistic differences.\u00a0 Differing dialects aside, there are also general lexical differences- similar to the “soda” and “pop” phenomenon in the US.\u00a0 If someone says they’ll give you something \u665a\u4e00\u70b9 (a bit later) in the north, they’d say \u8fdf\u4e00\u70b9 (a bit later) in the south.\u00a0 What people down…<\/p>\n

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