What are non-mandarin dialects called?

[Ferno]

I'm wondering how you would refer to non-mandarin dialects...like, if you wanted to ask a Chinese person if they spreak any other dialect than Mandarin... their "home language" or something like that. Anyone know?

Thanks

[HashiriKata]

Just a guess:

除了普通话（以外），你会（说）别的方言吗？

Chúle Pǔtōnghuà（yǐwài）， nǐ huì（shuō）bié de fāngyán ma？

Apart from Mandarin, do you speak other dialects?

[carlo]

Actually I don't think most people think of putonghua as 'just another 方言', so perhaps you'd saysomething like 除了普通话，你还会说中国的什么方言?

[Yuchi]

I don't know about you, but I'd feel more comfortable using 国语 in those sentences.

edit: and then modifiy coherence to fit ofcourse.

[ala]

Try this:

除了北方话，你会（说）别的方言吗？

HashiriKata got the gist, except he should've used 北方话 or 官话, and not 普通话, since there are tons of Mandarin dialects (Ferno wrote "non-mandarin dialects").

All Mandarin dialects == 官话 guanhua

Northern Mandarin dialects (which does not include Southwestern Mandarin) == 北方话 beifanghua

Non-Mandarin dialects plus Southwestern Mandarin == 南方话 nanfanghua, 南方方言 nanfang fangyan

Standard Mandarin/Chinese == 普通话 putonghua, 国语 guoyu

Beijing dialect == 北京话 beijinghua

Southwestern Mandarin == 西南官话 xinan guanhua, 四川话 sichuanhua, 广西话 guangxihua

Cantonese == 广东话 guangdonghua, 广州话 guangzhouhua, 粤语 yueyu

Shanghainese == 上海话 shanghaihua, 沪语 huyu

Wu dialects (including Shanghainese) == 江浙话 jiangzhehua, 江南话 jiangnanhua, 吴语 wuyu, etc

[Mugi]

Originally posted by Yuchi:

I don't know about you, but I'd feel more comfortable using 国语 in those sentences.

国语 isn't used very often in Mainland China (it even looks funny to see it written in simplified characters).

Originally posted by ala:

HashiriKata got the gist, except he should've used 北方话 or 官话, and not 普通话, since there are tons of Mandarin dialects (Ferno wrote "non-mandarin dialects").

Guess it would be best to ask Ferno what he actually meant. Although your interpretation of his sentence is technically correct ala, I suspect Ferno's use of "mandarin" was in reference to 普通话 (at least that's how I intepreted it as a native English speaker). It also probably depends on the actual context too - where the person you're talking to comes from, where you are at the time of your conversation, etc. As I'm sure you know, in colloquial speech you very seldom hear Chinese speakers referring to "Mandarin" as anything but 普通话 (or 国语, 华语) and perhaps 北方话. I think it's only us language nuts that get picky about usage.

Personally, I'd go with ala's suggestion (除了北方话，你会（说）别的方言吗？), but wouldn't have any qualms substituting 普通话 for 北方话. Although I agree that 普通话 isn't "just another 方言", would most native Chiense speakers really pick up on this?

As one of those language nuts, I beg to differ on a couple of other things here too.

Northern Mandarin dialects (which does not include Southwestern Mandarin) == 北方话 beifanghua

北方话, whether used in colloquial speech or by academics/dialectologists usually refers to all Mandarin dialects, regardless of their geographical location. Someone born in Australia whose mother tongue is Mandarin still speaks 北方话.

Non-Mandarin dialects plus Southwestern Mandarin == 南方话 nanfanghua, 南方方言 nanfang fangyan

Similarly, 南方话 usually (exclusively?) refers to non-Mandarin dialects. As for 南方方言, I've never seen it used where it includes 西南官话...

Southwestern Mandarin == 西南官话 xinan guanhua, 四川话 sichuanhua, 广西话 guangxihua

广西话 is usually used to refer to the form of 粤语 spoken in Guangxi. I've also seen it used to refer to 平话 and 客家话 in Guangxi too.

Originally posted by carlo:

除了普通话，你还会说中国的什么方言?

I think the 中国的 is a little redundant...

[Yuchi]

It should also be noted that you should work your way in a conversation to ask one of these questions; it'd be kinda random if you don't.

国语 isn't used very often in Mainland China (it even looks funny to see it written in simplified characters).

Orally as well?

Must be a family thing then

[HashiriKata]

Orally as well?

Must be a family thing then

I think you're probably aware, "国语" is widely used in Taiwan or by Taiwanese.

[Mugi]

Orally as well?

Must be a family thing then

Yuchi, I suspect your comment is intended to be tongue-in-cheek, but I'm still confident that 国语 is not a commonly used term in mainland China, either written or spoken. One exception would be its usage in the entertainment industry (songs, movies) when its usually being contrasted with Cantonese (粤语) or sometimes Taiwanese (闽(南)语).

Where does your family come from? One of the coastal provinces? 国语 is often used in Guangdong (particularly in Cantonese), but that's because of influence from Hong Kong. HK in turn probably took the word from Taiwan. Fujian also has it's fair share of Taiwanese influence, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's used there either. And with all the Taiwanese business people in Shanghai and its environs, friends tell me Taiwanese 国语isms are popular there and on the rise. The term was originally coined during the Republic era when significant efforts were first made in language reform. But the term took flight to Taiwan with the Kuomintang in 1949 (or more precisely the PRC government made a pointed effort to replace the term with 普通话).

I would also imagine that 国语 is the most common term used to refer to Mandarin by overseas Chinese communities outside Asia, again because of the overwhelming cultural dominance of Taiwan and Hong Kong within those communities, irrespective of where the immigrants may have come from.

[ala]

国语 is often used in Shanghainese, because 普通言话 is kind of wordy (and childish sounding) in the Shanghainese. Also the term 国语 is actually loaned from Japanese, and was widely used in Shanghai and Nanjing before 1949, before going to Taiwan. So that's probably where Yuchi got it (since she's Shanghainese).

Similarly, 南方话 usually (exclusively?) refers to non-Mandarin dialects. As for 南方方言, I've never seen it used where it includes 西南官话...

Not in academic text, of course not. But Southwestern Mandarin is commonly perceived as a southern dialect due to the number of loan words from Cantonese etc and its geographic location. A layman would very likely say 四川话 or 广西话 is a "southern dialect."