^JB^ wrote:yes educated
But I have to clarify that I don't think Mandarin and Cantonese are two languages. They are just two different dialects of the Chinese. Because they share the same characters and grammar.(well, similar)
Mandarin envolved from the languages around the areas around Beijing. You know Beijing has been the capital of our country for almost 700 years from the Monglian-ruled Yuan Dynasty until now!
And it became the official and "educated" language of both Mainland and Taiwan.
I live in Nanijng, I found the dialect of Nanjing is really....rude and ugly.
You know Nanjing is right at the crossroad connecting the east to the west, the south to the north. It just has lost its own characteristics.
That not only represents on dialect but also on many aspects of the culture. For instance, Nanjing folks are famous for eating all styles of food
For those who are from the western side of the world (oh, and apologies for my rudely butting in to this thread!!
) I might be able to provide a clearer analogy for you. English is like the Chinese mandarin - the original pure language, the one that started it off. Then you have your different countries that the UK had infleunce over (eg- Australia and the USA) which took the UK english and changed it according to time and culture. So now you would say we have the Australian accent, the UK accent and the US accent, but its still english - still the one language. That can apply to HK cantonese and Taiwan's method of speaking mandarin, as well as the other million dialects that exist in China, to date.
