Kunming Chinese

[Ailisi]

Hello!

Might someone be able to tell me about the kind of Chinese spoken in Yunnan, especially Kunming. Is there a strong regional dialect? I'm looking for a greener, warmer places to live and work. I had been considering Sichuan, until I heard some Sichuan-hua and I realized my ability to interact / comprehend would drop considerably there (in contrast to Beijing).

So what about in Yunnan? When you are out on the streets in town, how much Putonghua do you hear in contrast to local dialects and accents? I'm talking about conversing with Han-Chinese, not people from minority groups. Could any kind folk from that part of the world help me out?

Many thanks : )

[lilongyue]

You're going to encounter this problem anywhere you go in China. I wouldn't let this be a deciding factor in where you live unless you're a serious student of Chinese language. However, I live and study Chinese in Hangzhou, which has it's own local dialect, like pretty much every other city, and I'm OK. The only time you run into real problems is dealing with Chinese people who lack proper education, meaning that they can't actually speak Putonghua. Every major city has plenty of people who can speak Putonghua. Every major city also has people flooding in from the countryside, mostly doing menial labor jobs (or driving taxis). So, no matter where you are you're always going to bump into someone who can't speak Putonghua, or at least not well.

[onebir]

Kunminghua is a dialect of putonghua, so not as distant as some guangdonghua, & other 'chinese dialects'.

Having said that, I've been here 6 months & generally don't understand much of it, & my friends tend to use it when talking amongst themselves even when I'm around. This has certainly slowed down the (already v slow due to sheer laziness) improvement of my putonghua.

On the other hand, for getting around, doing stuff etc, putongua's fine. Only downside is you get charged the non-local prices sometimes - maybe 50% more than locals. (But I'm still not sure a European speaking perfect kunminghua would get the local prices anyway. I mean, s/he'd obviously not be that local... :s)

[muyongshi]

Kunminghua is a dialect of putonghua,

Hate to break it to you but no dialect is a dialect of putonghua as putonghua is a "created" language based on 北京话 and other 北方言 (northern dialects).

[Josh2007]

Yes. Mandarin is used in English with 2 meanings: 1) standard Chinese =putonghua; and 2) the whole northern dialect supposedly intelligible with putonghua.

But in Chinese, putonghua only refers to 1). The idea that all northern dialects are mutually intelligible is a stretch too...

[Josh2007]

Let me add this: I recently met 2 Chinese travellers from Xinjiang passing through Chengdu on their way home to Urumqi. They spoke good Mandarin - Xinjiang dialect is closer to the standard than is Yunnan or Sichuan Chinese - but what shocked me was that they said they hired a translator in their travels in Yunnan because they can't understand Yunnan dialect. Take the "great northern dialect" with a pinch of salt.

[muyongshi]

I agree with you on your second point of taking it with a grain of salt but I have never heard the Northern Dialectal group referred to as putonghua- EVER! I don't think that is a correct statement...

[LaVandez]

I would say that for your future travels in China that you learn some of the local dialect while studying Chinese. I think for the most part if you're writing is okay and your tones are pretty good then you won't have that much of a problem in anywhere in China; particularly if your written Chinese is good.

[hunxueer]

sichuan dialect is also in the same family as putonghua/beijinghua/whatever you want to call it. so actually the changes are more tone changes that stay consistent as well as a few consistent vowel changes as well. so once you get used to it and figure it out it's not that great of a leap to understand. i don't know many foreigners here who speak it very fluently (although there's apparently some guy on the tv) but compared to groups of foreigners i've seen in other cities i think the average chinese-speaking ability of foreigners in general in chengdu is quite high. there are several reasons for this, one being i think people on the street generally don't expect you to not speak chinese when they see your foreign face (as i've experienced in other cities); and with other chinese-speaking foreigners around it puts the pressure on. anyway i haven't run into anyone here who can't understand putonghua even if they can't speak it, and i think if anything being exposed to sichuanhua all the time makes it even easier when somebody speaks putonghua.

[muyongshi]

So true so true, however you live in Chengdu I see and that makes it relatively easier. Up here in small mianyang I have found a good number of people that do not understand putonghua only Sichuanhua.

Unfortunately for basic Sichuanhua what you said is true but there is a lot more to it than that and there are grammar differences and some large word and pronunciation variations.