What dialect is spoken in Shanghai?

Shanghainese also known as the Shanghai dialect, Hu language or Hu dialect, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the City of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family.

Is Shanghainese a dying language?

Shanghainese is a dying language, and despite the recent efforts to bring it back, I don’t think it will ever be the same again. Even in Shanghai, where the dialect originated, young people my age were never taught how to speak it. Starting in the 1990s, the government took initiative to standardize Mandarin.

Why are dialects disappearing?

In other cases, dialect loss is a result of a region engaging itself more with the outside world. As technology, economic growth, and the internet age continue to rise, the seclusion of many regions disappears in the face of widespread communication and travel.

Do people still speak Shanghainese?

Qiu Gui Su is a native Mandarin speaker who has taught Mandarin Chinese for over 20 years. However, the traditional language of the Shanghai region is Shanghainese, which is a dialect of Wu Chinese which is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin Chinese. Shanghainese is spoken by about 14 million people.

What kind of dialect is spoken in Shanghai?

Shanghai dialect is a dialect spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is largely not mutually intelligible with other Chinese dialects such as Standard Mandarin. The term “Shanghainese” in English sometimes refers to all Wu Chinese dialects.

Why is the Beijing dialect disappearing in China?

But the Beijing dialect is disappearing, a victim of language standardization in schools and offices, urban redevelopment, and migration. In 2013, officials and academics in the Chinese capital began a project to record the dialect’s remaining speakers before it fades away completely.

Why are there no dialects in Chinese schools?

Young people studying in the school are all taught by Mandarine, not dialect, so they can only know how to express themselves by official language. For example, a student uses only Mandarin to read books, talk with classmates, and write his article. He doesn’t even know the pronunciation of Taiyuan dialect.

Why do people not speak the Taiyuan dialect?

And almost young people and people in middle age both like speaking Mandarin. Although they can understand the Taiyuan dialect when elders talk with them, they don’t choose to speak Taiyuan dialect in most of their time. For this phenomenon, I think it is due to 2 reasons — the education and the hiding of their living area.