Was Jin Yong mandarin or cantonese?

[LuNaR]

were Jin Yong's novel meant to be read with madarin or cantonese? becuz there are sum difference in dialect and phrazes

[”~‹á�á]

Originally posted by LuNaR
were Jin Yong's novel meant to be read with madarin or cantonese? becuz there are sum difference in dialect and phrazes

read with chinese, speak in madarin...

[PJ]

I would think IF it were written with Mandarin in mind, HK would still have Cantonese versions of the books (which would rephrase or footnote the differences). I read a Taiwanese wuxia novel that had some regional slangs, and they were footnoted with corresponding Mandarin equivalents.

[superboy]

Is Jin Yong cantonese or mandarin?

[immakiku]

The words are the same either way... HK Cantonese has some slang phrases and even slang characters, but none of those are used in the books. So regardless of how the books are read, the readers should all be able to enjoy them the same way.

Originally posted by superboy
Is Jin Yong cantonese or mandarin?

I was under the impression that Cantonese and Mandarin were dialects used to describe language, not people.

[superboy]

Originally posted by immakiku



I was under the impression that Cantonese and Mandarin were dialects used to describe language, not people.

Ummmm....., but doesn't the way that it's written kind of different? Or are they the same? Like are there words that are used often in Cantonese, but not much in Mandarin? Of course you won't see any slang since the novels' settings are during ancient times.

[philip]

Jin YOng was born in hai ning...some southern area in mainland china, but then he worked in hong kong for ming bao around the time he wrote the novels. so i think hes most likely a master of both languages, but i'm not sure which one he meant to write with.

but yea...i think therez only one standard form of chinese in writing

[Suet Seung]

Originally posted by superboy
Ummmm....., but doesn't the way that it's written kind of different? Or are they the same? Like are there words that are used often in Cantonese, but not much in Mandarin? Of course you won't see any slang since the novels' settings are during ancient times.

Yes, Like Philip said. Written Chinese has only one standard form of writing.

There's traditional and simplified. Most people know simplified. It's only in spoken that there are different dialects and such. I don't know about pinyin...I guess it has to do with spoken chinese too. But overall the chinese characters (written) are standard to all.

[CC]

There are certain Cantonese slang characters not found in Mandarin. But JY did not use those in his books.

[superboy]

Yeah, but I'm just not sure, cause I'm Cantonese. Heard from someone that they think Cantonese magazines seems odd somehow. So I thought there might be differences in the way they write it, even if there's only one form of Chinese.

[immakiku]

Originally posted by superboy
Yeah, but I'm just not sure, cause I'm Cantonese. Heard from someone that they think Cantonese magazines seems odd somehow. So I thought there might be differences in the way they write it, even if there's only one form of Chinese.

Hong Kong (place where Cantonese is mass-used) magazines, books, and TV captions are all written in traditional Chinese (same as Taiwan). The standard for the rest of China, however, is simplified.

[LuNaR]

o dat brings up another question, does he write in traditional or simplified characters?

[immakiku]

It shouldn't matter, as there's a word-for-word translation for non-slang simplified and traditional. It would probably depend on your publisher (maybe).

[immakiku]

New thought: in Book and Sword, the oar-wielding guy was constantly described as a Cantonese speaker. Perhaps JY's dialogues were meant to be read in Mandarin, then (not that there's only two dialects, but Mandarin is indeed the standard).

[superboy]

Yeah, that's a good point. Cause China is mandarin dominant. But it is not clear whether the charaters speak cantonese of mandarin in JY's own mind when he created it. Both language would make sense when you right it out. Depends on the language JY normal speak I guess.