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Websites for Shanghainese?


JoH

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Does anyone know of any good websites for learing some basic Shanghainese? I found one or two but none with sound files, which I could really do with as I've never even heard anyone speak it before...

I'm only going to be there for a couple of days, but it would be nice to learn a few phrases before I go.

thanks, Jo

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Would you be able to share the Shanghainese websites you found? I haven't been able to find any.

I use a book that I bought in Shanghai called something like LET'S LEARN A LITTLE BIT OF SHANGHAI DIALECT it has cassette tapes that I used to play ALL the time.

If you find any other books with tapes, or more preferably CDs please let me know.

Thanks

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  • 3 months later...

As stated in the TXIE's website, http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/shanghaihua.html

Textbooks

《简明当代上海话教程(1):基础上海话》汤志祥著,香港中华书局2001年出版[Fundamental Shanghainese Vernacular by Tang Zhixiang, Chung Hwa Book Co., (HK)Ltd, 2001](Price,Order Online)

《简明当代上海话教程(2):上海话生活通》汤志祥袁仲昇著,中华书局(香港)有限公司2002年出版[Living Shanghainese by Tang Zhixiang and Yuan Zhongsheng, Chung Hwa Book Co.,(HK) Ltd, 2001](Order Online) (Comments)

《简明当代上海话教程(3):上海话商务通》汤志祥、李厚敦著,中华书局(香港)有限公司2002年出版 [business Shanghainese by Tang Zhixiang and Li Houdun, Hong Kong: Chung Hwa BookCo., (HK) Ltd., 2002]. (Order Online)

The 3 books above are probably the best source to learn SHanghainese to date, the course has the following advantages:

1. with an accurate "pinyin" of Shanghainese (the Tang's Pinyin, probably a pinyin scheme made by the author)

2. with the Chinese script of Shanghinese. I found some other Shanghainese textbook using the closest approximate (pronounciation) Chinese characters to write Shanghainese, which is really strange. When I learnt Shanghainese, I not only wanted to learn the pronounciation but also the special writing scheme of it. e.g.

"從搿笪去飛機場要勿要一個鐘頭?"

(from here to the airport, need or not need an hour?)

That from the context I found it fun that I could still understand most of the meaning, just the pronounciation is different.

3. They have some funny and interesting "cultural box" about Shanghainese slangs/life/style. That's something I found interesting enough even if you're not going to learn Shanghainese.

But the 3 text books use Chinese (Mandarin Chinese) as the medium of instruction, so it's only good for you if you know enough Chinese.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

hehe, Im native Shanghainese. every message here seems so intesting/funny to me... actually in my thoughts, Shanghai dialect is not difficult to understand however hard to pronounce. The same is true with Cantonese. There are some basic grammas however usually there will be some exceptions due to the natrual custom. For people who want to learn Shanghai Dialect, I suggest u better learn Madarin or at least one type of Chinese first then change to Shanghainese, that will be better:P

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Confucius to the rescue!

I am bold enough to display my Shanghaihua talent here! Stand back everybody!

"Xia ya nong" (Thank you)

"Xia chi kei xin nin de nong" (Pleased to meet you)

"Allah si hunin!" (I'm eating little shrimps)

"Dankei" (Burp)

"Lata!" (Dirty!)

"Zeiwei!" (Goodbye!)

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Thank you: shashja non. (2nd syllable of 谢 is voiced, although sometimes sounds like ya due to slur of the voiced syllable, but it is not pronounced ya intentionally). Shja sounds like the Ja in French Jacques.

Ala = Us/We, not I/me. I/me is pronounced ngu 我, wu 无, or eu 俺.

吃 or 喫 (to eat/drink/smoke) is not si, but in pinyin would be spelled: qik, with k=glottal stop, do not pronounce k. It sounds exactly like the chi in chicken. Also, that sentence is grammatically incorrect / awkward in expressing "I'm eating little shrimps." Should be something like "wu chich hwunin lahei", Or simply "wu leira chich hwunin" Or "wu lei chich hwunin lahei."

What does "allah si hunin!" mean instead?

ala chich hwunin! = Let's eat little shrimps!

ala chich hwunin e. = We have of habit/tradition/custom of eating little shrimps, OR we can eat little shrimps (saying: ala weidach chich hwunin e clarifies the ambiguitiy to mean only 'we can eat little shrimps').

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When I visited Shanghai I heard those Shanghai folks saying "allah" all the time as if they were praising the Muslim god' date=' thus the quirky spelling.

I'll take better notes next time I'm in that town.[/quote']

Actually, I've seen Romanizations that spell the "ala" in we/us as "alla" or "allah". The "a" is short glottal stop, and so I guess the "ll" is double consonant (although that is confusing for English speakers). Some add the the -h because la is a short (though not glottal stop) sound.

-la suffix on pronouns in Wu dialects is plural. "a" is probably derived from nga (older Wu pronounciation of 我; now ngu). Shanghainese has a tendency to pronounce most original -a endings now as -wu/-u:可 (ka --> ku)、科 (ka --> ku)、化 (hwa --> hwu)、下 (ha --> wu)、虾 (ha --> hwu)、夏 (nga --> ngwu)、马 (ma --> mwu)、、 But, it retains a lot of -a endings that Mandarin no longer retains as well (mostly pinyin -ie): 写 (sha)、谢 (shja)、蟹 (ha)、解 (kai --> ja)、界 (kai --> ka)、、

Mandarin's 我们 cannot quite compare to the possessiveness and sharpness of Shanghai and Ningbo's "ala".

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  • 4 weeks later...

大 in Shanghainese has two readings: du and da (both voiced "d", like in English; not like in pinyin d).

大 da usually refers to "great" or something of importance, grandeur, or signifying "a vast majority".

大 du typically just means "big/large" or "grown" (as in person's age).

Basically da is used as a root (meaning "great") for words, and du is an adjective for big or old.

da:

大桥 = dajO = bridge (great bridge)

大学 = da'ngoch = college (the great learning)

大熊猫 = dashjoNmo = giant panda (the great bear-cat)

大象 = dashjaN = elephant

大英 = da'iN = Great Britain

大清 = dachiN = Qing Dynasty (Great Qing)

大使馆 = dasikeu = embassy

大概 = dakei = probably

大部分 = dabuven = mostly

大巴士 = dabasi = tour bus

大平原 = dabin'ngyu = the Great Plains

代表大会 = deipyo dawei = representative assembly

大都市 = datuzi = metropolis

du:

大城市 = du zeNzi = a big city (notice it's not 大都市 which is da-)

大人 = du-niN = adult (big, grown man)

小人 = shO-niN = child (small man)

老大 = LOdu (single word) = eldest (among siblings). LO and du experience tone sandhi as one word.

老・大额 = LO du e = really big. LO and du are pronounced separately.

没大没小 = mach du mach shO (person acting not his age and treating others without regard to their age.)

大小 = dushO = size (large-small)

架大额大象! = kà du e dashjaN! = such a large elephant!

搿本书老大额。 = guppen si LO du e = this book is really big.

送拔伊了一张大生日卡片。 = soNpach yi le ittzaN du saNnich k'aap'i. = I gave him a large birthday card.

interesting, huh? Are there other dialects that do that? In no way is da considered more formal than du. Da is only used as roots to words, it's never used as a separate adjective. You wouldn't be able to appear more learned or formal by pronouncing du as da; it would just be incorrect. There is no such thing as 大da城市.

d-, b-, g-, ng-, z-, j-, shj- are voiced initials (which Mandarin doesn't have).

k-, t-, p-, tz- = pinyin g, d, b, and z respectively.

k'-, p'- = pinyin k and p, respectively

sh-, ch- = somewhat like English sh-, ch-; different from pinyin x or q

-N = either -n or -ng, depends on the vowels and initials

-O = open O, not pinyin's -ao, nor the -o in "no" or "hot". close to the -o in "shorts"

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