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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   3981 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 14, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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My Chinese coworker says that this image is a reasonable representation of the controversy over whether Mandarin and Cantonese are dialects or languages. What is your opinion on the topic?

He's wrong. The distance between spoken Mandarin and Cantonese is greater than the distance between French and Italian. It's more like the difference between English and Greek.

Here's what ChatGPT suggests for translating your post into various Chinese languages:

  • spoken Mandarin: Wǒ nàge Zhōngguó tóngshì shuō, zhè zhāng túpiàn dàgài néng dàibiǎo dàjiā zài zhēnglùn Pǔtōnghuà hé Guǎngdōnghuà dàodǐ shì fāngyán háishi yǔyán. Nǐ zěnme kàn?
  • spoken Cantonese: Ngo5 go3 Zung1gwok3 tung4si6 waa6, ni1 zoeng1 soeng2 caa1 m4 do1 doi6biu2 zo2 gwaan1jyu1 Pou2tung1waa6 tung4 Gwong2dung1waa2 hai6 fong1jin4 ding6hai6 jyu5jin4 ge3 zang1leon6. Nei5 dim2 tai2 aa3?
  • formal Mandarin: Wǒ de Zhōngguó tóngshì shuō, zhè zhāng túpiàn shì duìyú Pǔtōnghuà hé Yuèyǔ shì fāngyán háishi yǔyán de zhēngyì de hélǐ miáoxiě. Nǐ duì zhège huàtí yǒu shénme kànfǎ?
  • written Mandarin voiced like Cantonese: Ngo5 dik1 Zung1gwok3 tung4si6 syut3, ze5 zoeng1 tou4pin3 si6 deoi3 jyu1 Pou2tung1waa6 waa6 Jyut6jyu5 si6 fong1jin4 waan6si6 jyu5jin4 dik1 zang1ji3 dik1 hap6lei5 miu6haai2. Nei5 deoi3 ze5 go3 waa6tai4 jau5 sam6mo1 hon3faat3?

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