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Best Place to study Shanghainese

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magnus1977

Lurker

Joined: Oct 12, 2008
Posts: 26
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Aug 26, 2009 - 10:16 PM
Post subject: Best Place to study Shanghainese

"Nong hao!" That's HELLO in Shanghainese!

Have you ever tried studying Shanghainese? It's hard. Harder than studying Mandarin. That's because Shanghainese is a spoken dialect mainly spoken in the bustling city of Shanghai which is home to almost 20 million. This is not a dialect you can open a book and study, this is a dialect that you MUST hear and learn. There are many sources on the web for those learning Shanghainese. Let's look at a few:

Sinosplice has a great couple posts about Shanghainese. The first one is a list of a bunch of books that teach the dialect but that was published back in 2005. But there is also a cool flash "click and hear" thing on his website. That's really fun and we totally recommend going there!

Danwei.org had an interesting post back in 2006 about learning Shanghainese but most of those links are not working anymore.

Language hat has an interesting post also from back in 2006 about learning Shanghainese and a few links and some quote about a dialect. Some of those links are also not working.

Shanghaining.com is a Chinese website that features music and rap from Shanghai. Go there if you can read Chinese. We downloaded a really cool 10 minute Shanghainese rap!

PrChinese.com is called Practice Chinese and they have a good description about what Shanghainese is.

California State University at Long Beach has an interesting page of links for Shanghainese. The site was last updated........

There's more. Click below to read more.
M and MX.com

Shanghainese at M and MX.com

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jasonnoguchi

PopStar

Joined: Mar 05, 2005
Posts: 1013
Location: From Singapore
Status: Offline

Posted: Aug 26, 2009 - 10:55 PM

Hardcore Shanghainese fan.... 2 threads with the same content... I am 5 years in Shanghai, can't speak, can't understand, can't be bothered to learn.

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cosunnybay

Seeker

Joined: July 23, 2009
Posts: 70

Status: Offline

Posted: Sep 08, 2009 - 05:03 PM

thanks magnus1977.
shanghai dialect is hard even for Chinese people. many of my friends can't understand it when they talk to the seller in wet market

SnappySammy

Board Buddha

Joined: Nov 01, 2007
Posts: 15071

Status: Offline

Posted: Oct 12, 2009 - 07:26 AM

I know twice as much Shanghainese than Mandarin..

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Shady_Slim

Raver

Joined: Dec 08, 2008
Posts: 447
Location: Out by the next hutong...
Status: Offline

Posted: Oct 12, 2009 - 08:23 AM

Might be 20 million people in shanghai, but not all can speak shanghainese? lots of migrant workers in that 20 million, want to really impress? learn how to speak Cantonese, been told thats the new in-language down south now..

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missjane

Barker

Joined: Nov 22, 2006
Posts: 131
Location: dreaming around
Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 23, 2009 - 08:35 PM

thx for the websites~

y study shanghainese?

trenchwire

Barker

Joined: June 28, 2008
Posts: 156

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 11, 2009 - 12:19 PM

There is no reason at all to learn Shanghainese. Unless you are one of the rare people who think it sounds at all cultured, pleasant-sounding, or of any redeeming value. Personally, I think it sounds a bit like Hutt language, ie. Jabba from Star Wars.

Seriously, does Shanghai have any culture aside from materialism and the relics of Western colonialism?

magnus1977

Lurker

Joined: Oct 12, 2008
Posts: 26
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 12, 2009 - 04:36 AM

Trenchwire, interesting questions. I guess I have to agree with the Hutt Language. Maybe that is where they got the inspiration... from Shanghainese!? Would Jabba be a shrewd Shanghainese boss? Like Big Eared Du??

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Chill_Sun

Newbie

Joined: Jan 06, 2010
Posts: 4
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 06, 2010 - 10:45 PM

trenchwire wrote:

Lots Chinese learning english now, i don't think all of them think english sounds good at all, language make people get closer, not for sounds or sth else...

if you're living in shanghai, if you can say "noon hall" to Shanghainess, people will know you get a deal to loving the place where you're living now, that's great i think.

JesseK147

Lurker

Joined: Apr 13, 2009
Posts: 35

Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 06, 2010 - 10:54 PM

I'm still waiting for someone to post reasons to study Shanghainese.

shanghailuv

Reacher

Joined: Feb 23, 2009
Posts: 324

Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 06, 2010 - 11:14 PM

^ Shanghainese parents will introduce their daughters to you ..and will say you guys go outside and enjoy on your own..be good friends

YOu should be knowing the intention behind it.....

nonghagang
Talker
Talker

Joined: May 02, 2009
Posts: 90

Posted: Jan 12, 2010 - 11:17 AM

SnappySammy wrote:

I know twice as much Shanghainese than Mandarin..

really?真额假额侬会的讲上海言话啊，伐要好伐。。。

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nonghagang
Talker
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Joined: May 02, 2009
Posts: 90

Posted: Jan 12, 2010 - 11:49 AM

magnus1977 wrote:

and english sounds like wookie language to me.

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Clue

Talker

Joined: Aug 16, 2005
Posts: 94

Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 12, 2010 - 12:07 PM

I know. Wookie as a mo'fo, but it's an english language website. Best way to study Shanghainese? Find an officially licensed NATIVE SP straight out of the Zhabei, and after she's invested her precious time, inform her you're broke so you need a better gimmick to impress her friends.

I like Shanghainese when spoken by an SP. Wouldn't study it though

News_by_KKO

Barker

Joined: Jan 11, 2009
Posts: 140
Location: China right next to an apartment building
Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 12, 2010 - 02:12 PM

Is this is a scam post....

F*** simple, Find some old Shanghainese 70+ (not a problem in Shanghai) and start talking to them in Mandarin and they will inevitably respond in 60/40 Shanghainese/Mandarin and as they get more excited it will be more like 90/10 Shanghainese/Mandarin.

And if OP cant already speak Mandarin he or she is a true idiot....

Its like studying Lebanese Arabic you just got to talk to people to learn it. No one is going to teach it.

mikeq

Newbie

Joined: Feb 01, 2010
Posts: 5

Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 08, 2010 - 10:19 PM

Shanghaiese is only spoken in Shanghai. Cantonese and variants are spoken all over south China, South East Asia and the US. If you've really got Mandarin down (few non-native non- Chinese college grads do), Cantonese would give you more utility for your time.

News_by_KKO

Barker

Joined: Jan 11, 2009
Posts: 140
Location: China right next to an apartment building
Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 09, 2010 - 09:37 AM

mikeq wrote:

And you could order better food and meet hotter Cantonese girls. And that my friends is a win win situation. Wink

missjane

Barker

Joined: Nov 22, 2006
Posts: 131
Location: dreaming around
Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 10, 2010 - 12:14 AM

just thought of a good reason to pick up Shanghainese: coz everybody else is studying it!

lol, personally speaking, i just like myself being able to understand what others are talking about ~~ my quiet enjoyment of eavesdropping!

LuHua

Squeeker

Joined: Feb 03, 2010
Posts: 17
Location: Vancouver
Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 10, 2010 - 03:45 PM

Hey, Shanghainese is nice, I'd be screwed every time I visit if I didn't understand. Mostly everyone understands it, speaks it, or speaks a mixture of the 2 which is apparently another dialect on its own. I agree that Cantonese is more useful overall in most cases, but since you're in Shanghai, learn the local dialect.

News_by_KKO

Barker

Joined: Jan 11, 2009
Posts: 140
Location: China right next to an apartment building
Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 12, 2010 - 08:34 PM

Yeah, but can you order Dim-sum, pick up a hit Guangdong girl and take a afternoon 2 hour power nap everyday with Shanghainese?

leidelaohu

Board Royalty

Joined: June 11, 2007
Posts: 7161

Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 12, 2010 - 10:28 PM

LuHua wrote:

... since you're in Shanghai, learn the local dialect.

Why in hell would you want to do that ? If you don't understand then you can pretend they are making intelligent conversation. Otherwise you have to talk to a bunch of mentally retarded third-graders.

And it's 'no ho', not nong hao, anyway.

dr3x320

LoopKicker

Joined: Nov 21, 2006
Posts: 976
Location: Boston/NYC/Zhang Hai/Goteborg
Status: Offline

Posted: Feb 13, 2010 - 09:23 AM

A few simple shanghainese words/phrases to learn:

Since there isn't any pinyin for shanghainese dialect nor is it even possible to write it in Simplified/Tradtional, the simplest way is to do type it as you hear it.

Pih Sah
Gan Doo
Lah She Pih Sah
Lou
Tsaga Nyanga Pee
Shaw Bah Lah Tsi
Law Gwee Zha
She Vah Tah
Tsa Law

Will give 100rmb to anyone who can translate into english.

Try using it during this CNY to the locals who stay in town, they'll be amazed and shocked at the same time, trust me.

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ruud_niklas

Barker