to wish that MN had done a Cantonese guide...

[ummingandahhing]

instead of a Mandarin one?

Seeing as a large majority of Chinese speakers in this country are Cantonese speakers and not Mandarin ones?

Probably a litttle U if I'm going to be honest. I haven't seen the guide though.

And if I had seen the guide I'd be none the wiser as I don't speak either!

Guide?

Do you mean the slogan pun?

I read the title and thought this thread was going to be about a takeaway review

Cantonese and mandarin are the same language as written characters, only the pronounciation changes. Any Cantonese speakers can read mandarin

Hey, its Lunar New Year today in Korea!

?? ? ?? ????!!!

The guide is here: www.mumsnet.com/special-events/chinese-new-year-mumsnet-guide-to-mandarin

I don't understand your objection. Surely the guide is aimed at English-speaking people? Cantonese-speakers would be able to translate the English phrases into Cantonese themselves (assuming they can speak/read English, otherwise why would they be on this site in the first place).

I'm going to China in two months. Why is bloody 'gin' so long and difficult to say?

Ha Ha Mrs P
Don't worry gin is only available in vair posh hotels and they'll speak english.
If your budget doesn't stretch to international hotel gin prices, try Bai Jou the local rice wine - its a true cultural experience!

Thanks Dandy. I must make sure to earn that word. And toilet.

Dandy pretty much just passed on your chips with that post op.

But the guide is teaching non-Chinese people to speak Mandarin as opposed to Cantonese which is the main spoken dialect of Chinese people in this country.

I don't think Cantonese is the main spoken dialect of Chinese people in the UK anymore.

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback and apologies to the Cantonese speakers.

We thought it would be a bit of fun and a nice nod to the Chinese New Year and one MNHQer's DF speaks Mandarin .

Maybe next year we will look at extending it to include Cantonese.

Yay! RebeccaMumsnet

JacqueslePeacock, yes it still is! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Chinese#Languages

I read the title and thought it was a variation of a Brazilian that I was too old to have heard of