So Mandarin, Japanese and Russian coming before Spanish? Mandarin is the most widely spoken language but Spanish is second, and Russian and Japanese come in at number 8 and 9, respectively, for native speakers.
Yup... The "Greater China" region and the ethnic-Chinese diaspora means Mandarin Siri is huge. HUGE.
Don't get me started on Malaysia though. The Cantonese-only speakers are a new underclass. They don't go to Mandarin language schools, so they can't read, write and speak Mandarin fluently. They go to national-type (Malay as first language) schools, so their English is pretty atrocious. Someone in their 40s speaks much better English than someone in their 20s.
Anyway one of the effects of the above is the Cantonese-only-speaking Chinese underclass in Malaysia prefers mostly quick, verbal, cash-based transactions in most aspects of life. Anything written particularly relating to business scares the heck out of them... (In Malaysia generally only Malay and English is accepted widely as legal documentation, Chinese documents have to be translated for legal purposes... Of course Chinese writing (mainly "Simplified") is used for things like newspapers and online, TV etc.) ~ but again, Cantonese-only-speakers tend not to know how to read Chinese characters properly. Of the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, I think it's 50-50 those that are Mandarin/written Chinese fluent and those that are mainly dialect (Cantonese, Hokkien) speakers and not readers. My impression anyways.
Singapore... Different case. Mandarin is a near-first language jostling with English, although English is the official medium of all K-12 education with Chinese (Mandarin) as a compulsory first or second language subject for ethnic Chinese.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nishibaichima
If you don't know anything about a topic, please don't comment on it, otherwise it makes you look like a fool...
If you go by Wikipedia, yes, only 850 million out of roughly 1.4 billion (more like 1.6 now) people in China speak Mandarin natively. But this is very a misleading number because 1.) it's based on census back in 2000, which is now 12 years out of date. 2.) just because a person may not be categorized as a "native" speaker of Mandarin doesn't mean he or she doesn't speak it fluently. The point is, in reality, the number of Mandarin speaker is much much higher and this is just mainland China alone (as in not including Mandarin speakers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia... etc.)
Mandarin has been the official language of Taiwan for many decades and just about everyone speak it. Some may also speak another dialect such as Minnan or Hakka but it doesn't mean they speak them exclusively and aren't fluent in Mandarin.
Even though Cantonese is the official spoken Chinese in Hong Kong, more and more people are learning Mandarin due to one simple reason, money, the very same reason why Singapore and Malaysia (at least within the Chinese community there, which is quite large) also speak Mandarin.
What is the point? Apple deciding to support Mandarin in Siri is a HUGE deal that affects almost 2 billion people across multiple countries and regions.
Actually thinking a little more about how Siri works ... Siri speaks and has her reply displayed on the iPhone.
When Siri replies in Mandarin, will her reply display in Simplified and Traditional Chinese? Is it solely dependent on the language settings on the iPhone?
I know most people who read Traditional Chinese prefer to read solely Traditional Chinese and not Simplified unless they have too.
Actually thinking a little more about how Siri works ... Siri speaks and has her reply displayed on the iPhone.
When Siri replies in Mandarin, will her reply display in Simplified and Traditional Chinese? Is it solely dependent on the language settings on the iPhone?
I know most people who read Traditional Chinese prefer to read solely Traditional Chinese and not Simplified unless they have too.
I don't see how that could be a problem seeing as Apple supports both Simplified & Traditional Chinese, so it would be just a matter of choice by the user.
I wonder how many of you remember or are aware that Apple's first speech recognition software for dictation was Cantonese, even before English. Well before.
I wonder how many of you remember or are aware that Apple's first speech recognition software for dictation was Cantonese, even before English. Well before.
Comments
Aiiyah!
Dew nay lo mo!!!
I wonder how you say, "Where is the nearest English Take Away?" in Mandarin?
鬼 Lo something something 是那里？
Gawd, my horrible Mandarin.
So Mandarin, Japanese and Russian coming before Spanish? Mandarin is the most widely spoken language but Spanish is second, and Russian and Japanese come in at number 8 and 9, respectively, for native speakers.
Si! Puta es gringo!
Gawd, my horrible Spanish.
Don't get me started on Malaysia though. The Cantonese-only speakers are a new underclass. They don't go to Mandarin language schools, so they can't read, write and speak Mandarin fluently. They go to national-type (Malay as first language) schools, so their English is pretty atrocious. Someone in their 40s speaks much better English than someone in their 20s.
Anyway one of the effects of the above is the Cantonese-only-speaking Chinese underclass in Malaysia prefers mostly quick, verbal, cash-based transactions in most aspects of life. Anything written particularly relating to business scares the heck out of them... (In Malaysia generally only Malay and English is accepted widely as legal documentation, Chinese documents have to be translated for legal purposes... Of course Chinese writing (mainly "Simplified") is used for things like newspapers and online, TV etc.) ~ but again, Cantonese-only-speakers tend not to know how to read Chinese characters properly. Of the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, I think it's 50-50 those that are Mandarin/written Chinese fluent and those that are mainly dialect (Cantonese, Hokkien) speakers and not readers. My impression anyways.
Singapore... Different case. Mandarin is a near-first language jostling with English, although English is the official medium of all K-12 education with Chinese (Mandarin) as a compulsory first or second language subject for ethnic Chinese.
If you don't know anything about a topic, please don't comment on it, otherwise it makes you look like a fool...
If you go by Wikipedia, yes, only 850 million out of roughly 1.4 billion (more like 1.6 now) people in China speak Mandarin natively. But this is very a misleading number because 1.) it's based on census back in 2000, which is now 12 years out of date. 2.) just because a person may not be categorized as a "native" speaker of Mandarin doesn't mean he or she doesn't speak it fluently. The point is, in reality, the number of Mandarin speaker is much much higher and this is just mainland China alone (as in not including Mandarin speakers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia... etc.)
Mandarin has been the official language of Taiwan for many decades and just about everyone speak it. Some may also speak another dialect such as Minnan or Hakka but it doesn't mean they speak them exclusively and aren't fluent in Mandarin.
Even though Cantonese is the official spoken Chinese in Hong Kong, more and more people are learning Mandarin due to one simple reason, money, the very same reason why Singapore and Malaysia (at least within the Chinese community there, which is quite large) also speak Mandarin.
What is the point? Apple deciding to support Mandarin in Siri is a HUGE deal that affects almost 2 billion people across multiple countries and regions.
When Siri replies in Mandarin, will her reply display in Simplified and Traditional Chinese? Is it solely dependent on the language settings on the iPhone?
I know most people who read Traditional Chinese prefer to read solely Traditional Chinese and not Simplified unless they have too.
Actually thinking a little more about how Siri works ... Siri speaks and has her reply displayed on the iPhone.
When Siri replies in Mandarin, will her reply display in Simplified and Traditional Chinese? Is it solely dependent on the language settings on the iPhone?
I know most people who read Traditional Chinese prefer to read solely Traditional Chinese and not Simplified unless they have too.
I don't see how that could be a problem seeing as Apple supports both Simplified & Traditional Chinese, so it would be just a matter of choice by the user.
I wonder how many of you remember or are aware that Apple's first speech recognition software for dictation was Cantonese, even before English. Well before.
<keanu>Whoaaa</keanu>