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[Ignore What I]

What city in the mainland has the closest dialect to that of Taiwan?

[dangerousapple]

Are you talking about Mandarin or Taiwanese?

[Ignore What I]

Mandarin.

[dangerousapple]

should be Beijing then, I guess.

[clark.w.griswald]

Actually I think that you will find that the closest correct answer would be Fujian province as this is where many Taiwanese of mainland origin have come from.

Throughout China and Taiwan every area speaks Mandarin Chinese somewhat differently but you will be understood and should be able to understand them no matter where you learn Mandarin.

There are three broad divisions though as far as pronunciation:

1. North China including Beijing - lots of tonal 'er' sounds.
2. South China - pretty much standard Mandarin with some subtle differences.
3. Taiwan - the 'sh sound often becomes a 'ss'

Same language, just differences in pronunciation.

[Horizontal Hero]

[clark.w.griswald]

[Horizontal Hero]

I am not complicating anything - just informing about the reality on the ground in the mainland. I have also lived and worked in Taiwan for several years, so I know what taiyu is. I was responding to your point, not the OP - as you may note by the direct quote. You provided some false information, so for the benefit of the OP and others here I am simply pointing it out. I repeat, you will definitely NOT be understood everywhere you go if your speak putonghua, as you stated in both your previous posts. As I stated, many Chinese people cannot speak putonghua. A survey done two years ago involving nearly half a million Chinese people from across the nation found that only 53% of mainland Chinese can communicate effectively using putonghua (see below). But regardless of that, I have lived and worked in both urban and rural China, and travelled around widely. Even my wife, who is from Beijing, often could not be understood speaking standard Chinese. In Sichuan I could not care to recall how many times I heard people say "Sorry, I don't speak putonghua." Once you get out of the big cities, education levels drop, and so does the prevalence of putonghua.


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/28/content_403899.htm

[clark.w.griswald]

I have no idea why you are pursuing this line of reasoning but your post does not make mine incorrect. I did not say that every single person in Mainland China speaks putonghua fluently and that every one of them would understand the OP. What I said is that the OP should be understood wherever he goes in China as the putonghua spoken in China is the same as the putonghua spoken in Taiwan with slight usage and pronunciation differences. That was essentially his question and hence my answer.

As to the figures you have produced well they are horribly misleading if you ask me. Sure there would be older people, uneducated people in rural areas, and people from minority groups that may not speak putonghua but that does not mean that someone who speaks putonghua cannot be understood by someone in that area. I believe the essence of the question is whether putonghua is useful throughout China and Taiwan and quite clearly the answer is yes.

Considering that most foreigners don't tend to have much contact with minority groups, uneducated farmers, villagers in isolated areas and the elderly, I think that it becomes clear that for all intents and purposes putonghua is the language of choice for foreigners in China and that no matter where they go they will find that they are able to communicate in putonghua effectively.

PS: I note that this question was posted over on the China forum and that Fujian is the province of choice for all over there as far as similarities with Taiwanese.

[Mr D Improbably]