Qingdao dialect
Encyclopedia
Qingdao dialect is the local dialect of the city of Qingdao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...

, in China's Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...

 Province.

Often characterized as requiring a "fat tongue", the Qingdao dialect often adds a "th" sound to Mandarin's "sh", "x", and "s". It also obliterates many Mandarin tones.

The basic, though not at all universal rule for converting Putonghua to the Qingdao dialect in the pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

 system is that a Mandarin 1 tone will become a Qingdao 3, 2 becomes a 4, 3 becomes 1 and 4 remains four. Qingdao dialect's 1 tone (Mandarin's 3) also has a drawl to it. (the pinyin tones are: 1ˉ 2ˊ 3ˇ 4ˋ)

There are other, somewhat random phonetic changes from Mandarin to the Qingdao dialect. It is probably most helpful for foreigners to know these:
  • "gá •la" (蛤蜊), the excellent local spicy clam
    Clam
    The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...

     dish, known in Mandarin as "gé •li"

  • "hā pì jiū" (喝啤酒), drink beer
    Beer
    Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...


  • "bài dào •dao" (别叨叨), meaning "no need to say more", but better understood to mean "shut up". Literally translated as "don't blather on".


Nearly all Qingdao natives can understand Mandarin, but they will often respond in the Qingdao dialect without realizing they are doing so. The Qingdao dialect is not necessarily standardized throughout Qingdao. Different neighbourhoods, from Zhanshan to Xinjiazhuang to Maidao, will have their own variations.

External links

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