"Chinese" is not an actual language...

[~.Kaarii.~]

The most annoying thing I hear frequently is "how do you say this in Chinese?" "Do you speak Chinese?" stare "Chinese" is not an actual language. There are many different dialects of this like Cantonese, Mandarin, Chew-Jow etc. Does anyone else get this or is it just me?  

[[Queen of Spades]]

Since the official dialect is Mandarin, I just assume they mean Mandarin when they say Chinese.

I'm not going to get all up in other people's face about it, because there isn't a point to.

I just don't really care.
Go get mad at the people who don't know rather than just enlighten them.
lol

Usually, if you're going to Chinese school to learn Chinese, you're learning Mandarin.  

[SDES]

I know this.

But since I'm around so many ignorant people who don't know, I just refer to them all as "Chinese".  

[kyoslove74]

I hate it when people group chinese into one when there are lots of dialects in china. Just like in the states there are many places in china all of us have different names from hans to such.  

[[pain]TING]

I personally don't see a problem with people referring to the language as "Chinese". I refer to it as "Chinese" myself and I know very well that there is a difference between Mandarin and Cantonese. You can't expect everyone you meet to be able distinguish between all the different dialects we have or to know about them nor can you think of everyone who call it "Chinese" as ignorant since its not their culture and they really aren't obliged to know anything about it. Chinese has just become a general term that a good amount of people use when referring to the language. But that's just my opinion.  

[Shining Silhouette]

When I first saw the thread title I was thinking "HAH?!" But I consider those dialects to be separate languages. Enough that different dialect speakers can't understand each other well.
My grandfather was trying to speak Cantonese to a Mandarin speaker in Vietnam once but they both had to switch to Vietnamese to understand each other.

Calling Cantonese, Mandarin, Fukien, and all that other ones "dialects" is just for the sake of Chinese national unity I think. They are rather separate like English from German or Spanish from Italian.
3nodding  

[xXTsubasaNoHikariXx]

I get so pissed off when someone asks me " What's my name in chnese?"
And I get really pissed off when some asks " Speak China." I'm like OMG how stupid could you possiblely be??  

[[purple banana]]

"how do you say ___ is chinese?"
"do you speak chinese?"
"are you from china?!?!?!"

>.>  

[~.Kaarii.~]

I know that some people are ignorant but it gets annoying when you hear 'can you speak chinese?' or 'can you say this in chinese?'. I know that there's no language called 'Mexican' or 'Indian' (unless there is. then whoops). Actually, in my chinese school they teach Cantonese. It's pretty similar to Mandarin except there's more... I'm not really sure, I suppsoe ennunciation and exaggeration on the accents, but it's quite similar. I can't say that I speak either very well though. >.>

This is off topic, but I hate that when you're in a class with another Asian guy (I'm a girl obviously), they assume that you know each other. My friends are sometimes all like, "Oh my god, you two should date! You'd be so cute together". It gets quite annoying, but they've stopped doing it so often. lol  

[[Queen of Spades]]

Just like you get pissed at other people for just assuming that Chinese is all one language, you assume like I don't know more than one dialect, or the difference.
I kinda lol at the ironic thing you're trying to get across now.

I've learned Cantonese before, and I was able to pick it up easier than Mandarin.
Now that i listen to it since I've lost my speaking ability and only able to understand it, Cantonese kinda sounds like Korean to a certain extent.

The part where they say, "Do you speak China?".
I just laugh hard.  

[o-re-sa-ma_Elegance]

[Queen of Spades]

Since the official dialect is Mandarin, I just assume they mean Mandarin when they say Chinese.

I'm not going to get all up in other people's face about it, because there isn't a point to.

I just don't really care.
Go get mad at the people who don't know rather than just enlighten them.
lol

Usually, if you're going to Chinese school to learn Chinese, you're learning Mandarin.

I really agree with this person.

But that rarely happens in IB, because all the Chinese kids do speak Mandarin, there's no need for correction. Nor do they ever ask, how do you say this, since they are already going to Chinese school.

I don't get asked this (because I'm Viet), nor do I get mad when it is asked.  

[~.Kaarii.~]

The only reason I get angry at hearing it and decided to put a thread up is because I hear it asked so often, though I can't say I've ever heard "Do you speak China?". That's pretty... just wow. lol. It's kinda like saying "Do you speak American?" rofl

@ Queen of Spades: Yeah, I kinda have many different aspects of my opinions on the same thing... I don't really understand how my brain works confused  

[Laughing Platypus]

Thank you.
--claps--  

[Animaznboy]

I wish I could be love,
Then I could be
All over the world.

When I ask, I ask if they can speak chinese first, if they say yes, I ask them to specify gonk

I'll remember to love,
You taught me how.

 

[[purple banana]]

~.Kaarii.~

I know that some people are ignorant but it gets annoying when you hear 'can you speak chinese?' or 'can you say this in chinese?'. I know that there's no language called 'Mexican' or 'Indian' (unless there is. then whoops). Actually, in my chinese school they teach Cantonese. It's pretty similar to Mandarin except there's more... I'm not really sure, I suppsoe ennunciation and exaggeration on the accents, but it's quite similar. I can't say that I speak either very well though. >.>

This is off topic, but I hate that when you're in a class with another Asian guy (I'm a girl obviously), they assume that you know each other. My friends are sometimes all like, "Oh my god, you two should date! You'd be so cute together". It gets quite annoying, but they've stopped doing it so often. lol

^^^
that just about sums up my middle school years x.x