Quote:
Originally posted by warrrreagl
Don't the Chinese have essentially the same situation with Mandarin? Although they may speak with different dialects, they all learn to read and write Mandarin.
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Chinese writing is all the same, no matter what dialect is spoken (besides the fact that there is now a Simplified character set and Traditional character set). At least this is true for Mandarin and Cantonese. I'd assume it would be true for all the other dialects. My dad can even read some Japanese but only knows the Cantonese pronounciation.
I learned a lot when we went on a family trip to Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. My parents are both from Hong Kong, where everyone speaks Cantonese. They both know minimal Mandarin, and the dialect in Shanghai went over all of our heads.
Sorry for straying from the topic.
Bill Cosby is awesome.