Don't know why, but I particularly resent the comment made by certain people who seemed to have an underlying superiority complex in their subconscious mind. It seems to them that they are better than some others just because they are more used to what they have been thinking, and registers whatever they are not familiar with the word "weird". First of all, I particularly resent those who made such comments: "Oh, so you are Malaysian. No wonder. Your Mandarin has a particular 'slang'." "哦，你是联邦人啊！难怪你讲的华语有‘腔调'...." Now, I am not opposing the notion of having a 'slang' or '腔调' (they mean the same thing actually, one in English one in Chinese). What I resent is - such sentences are usually spoken with the underlying meaning that the Mandarin that is spoken by Malaysians (sometimes with particular reference to Peninsular Malaysians) is not the 'standard' one, AND the Mandarin that whoever-made-the-comment speaks is the 'standard' version. I would like to say that such a comment not only showed a superiority complex in such a person, but also blatant ignorance. (To my Singaporean friends, I wrote this meaning no offence to you all. I am only referring to those who said those comments with ignorance and expressing my opinion. I apologize if I offended you in anyway.) True, Mandarin spoken by Malaysians contain a certain slang, which is different from the standard Mandarin set by Beijing. However this does not mean that the Mandarin spoken by Singaporeans are very close to the standard as well. How so? Before I present my argument, please turn on the TV now and find a Taiwanese show, or drama, and watch. Realize something? The Singaporean Mandarin actually sounds similar to the Taiwanese Mandarin. Don't agree? Watch again. Believe it or not, that's my opinion. This issue, if you ever try to see it at a different perspective, is a matter of dialect influence. So, compare and contrast Malaysian Mandarin, Singaporean Mandarin, and Taiwanese Mandarin. (lol reminds me of my O Level Geography questions) Let's talk about similarities first. All these 3 forms of Mandarin are most of the time influenced mainly by a dialect. For Malaysians - Cantonese (The Klang Valley and the Kinta Valley) , Hokkien (Penang, Northern Malaysia, Melaka, Klang) or Foochow (Sarawak), among which Cantonese is slightly more predominant I think. Of course, regional languages such as Malay and English exert to a certain degree of influence too. For Singaporeans it is mainly Hokkien and to some degree of English, and a minor influence from Malay. For Taiwanese, naturally it will be mainly Hokkien. Or maybe other indigenous languages or dialects. Pardon my ignorance. So my point is? Whether you want to accept it or not, both Malaysians and Singaporeans speak Mandarin with 'a slang'. Not convinced? Well first of all, almost every single word in Singaporean Mandarin is accented. Is this what is stipulated in a standard Mandarin grammar? If it is so, then I guess Chinese Language learners worldwide will be very tired learning the language. In fact, no one actually speaks the 'perfect standard Mandarin'. The standardized version is although based mainly on Beijing dialect, it is not identical. For example, you don't actually end words with 'r' as in the Beijing dialect, rite? And I don't know how many people actually will understand this. Actually a similar analogy can be drawn from the 'standard English'. When the Speak Good English Movement is being promoted, it has been emphasized that speaking good English is not about copying the way the British or American speak, but speaking in grammatically correct English, right? Although English is widely used across the globe, in every country different regional dialects exert a certain kind of influence. Thus in time the form of English would tend to distort from the standard form. Of course, by then you can't say who speaks a more 'standard' English rite? It's about variety and what makes that form more unique. Commonness is boring. And being different from one another does not need to mean which is superior and which is inferior. Can you see the parallel drawn from this analogy? Have been living here for almost 7 years. And almost every now and then I will receive such comments. Please, it's enough! And stop comparing. It makes me sick. |
standard mandarin? for goodness's sake, many of them cant even READ a whole novel or dont even know how to write simple mandarin characters.
as for comparison, make a table will give a clearer view. if u ever make one i will add in a chair for u k? :p