"Chinese" is not an actual language...

[spiraru]

It's also super annoying when people ask "say something in Indian"! There is no language called "Indian"! Eh.... but I wouldn't expect them to know that.  

[Chocolate marshmallow gum]

well i definetly get SO annoyed when some people ask me "how do you say my name in chinese?"

and then i have to say "well your last name isn't one syllable short, it's not a chinese character, and CHINESE ISN'T A LANGUAGE!!"

okay, yup. it happens

 

[nomimono]

~.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?

most people know that but even if they dont its not that big of a deal

alot of times I just say Chinese (usually referring to Mandrin) because that is wat most people know it as  

[~.Kaarii.~]

@ Chocolate: I got that alot too. The "what's my name in chinese?" Firstly, you can only have a name in chinese if your parents gave you one because my Chinese name does not translate into English.  

[DancingCherryBerry]

[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

I AGREE! ITS SO ANNOYING!! But.. I do speak both mandarin + cantonese but my main dialect is cantonese and I LOVE IT! I get to curse in cantonese at school and my teachers are like "What?" and im like "Nothing..." xd But It's fun because you can actually diss someone in it too! xd

@ Chocolate: I feel your pain, it gets annoying i just go "I DONT KNOW! WHY DONT YOU GO ASK YOUR MOM!" .... It gets very annoying! Its like how am i supposed to know?!?  

[Rabid Bagel Cow Thing]

o_o

I get tired of people asking me how to say things in "Chinese".
Like, god. Hahaha.  

[SarahO57]

Mandarin Chinese is the official language that the rest of China speak, Hong Kong speaks mostly Cantonese a dialect. Hong Kong had it's independence due to this language gap and had been using traditional form but are now slowly enveloping Hong Kong to be a part of China so they must convert to Mandarin. China is also trying to change to simplified chinese writing system because it helps the assimulation process go smoothly.

The only reason why it can not be seen as a language is due to the fact that the characters are made of seperate components called radicals rather than 26 letters and there are, like english, limitless words and meanings which makes it the most complex and confusing. The writing goes from top to bottom, anyone can read this way but it seems difficult because one would waste space to print vertically than horizonal-chinese does not look good horizontally printed because the size of all characters would be odd so it is clear that each character must be seperated to have it's own significance to the reader. It says a lot about their culture and what's been going on up until now.  

[Azn Fcuk]

Russell Peters addressed this issue. rofl  

[x__iiHA]

[purple banana]

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

>.>

To be honest, thatz very annoying.
Sometime's i want to punch someone in the face when they ask me that.
Lol. ><"  

[imeka]

I thought that chinese was a generalization. I knew there was mandarin and cantonese, but if I ask someone that, I mean any type of chinese. For japanese, there are a lot of dialects, tokyo-dialect, osaka-dialect etc. But japanese typically means standard japanese. just saying... ninja  

[Pretty Leaf]

When you think about it, the people who ask for translations are actually showing interest in your culture. So instead of getting angry or frustrated at them for not knowing there are different forms of Chinese, why not just explain it to them? Or explain some things can't be translted?  

[RANC!D_UN!CORNS]

[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.

Agreed ^^

 

[Angmar01]

educate them first then ask them how dumb they feel asking you it.  

[KairiYukine]

I never thought that it would be me
How could I be such a fool, oh?
And here I am saying girl I'm sorry
For something I didn't do, this is my point of view

True. I got really sick of people asking me everything in Chinese. Even people in my school ask me how to use swear word in Chinese and I got ended up being accused by a Chinese teacher, because it was the guy who's in my French class fault. >__<

Baby I never meant to fall for her
Lately it's been driving me crazy
Baby, baby, you still and always will be my baby
Oh yeah..

 

[MixedUp92]

I always referred to any Chinese dialect as Chinese. I know people know that there are different dialects but I speak Chew-Jow and hardly anyone knows that as a Chinese dialect unless they are Chinese.


Ps. I always wondered how my dialect was spelled, thanks for showing me. (Family born in Vietnam but Chinese Heritage and I'm just an Asian-American)