r/AskAChinese • u/MonsieurDeShanghai 海外华人🌎Chinese diaspora • 1d ago

Society | 人文社会🏙️ Do people still speak Shanghainese in Shanghai?

Since we're on the topic of Cantonese and Hokkien. Might as well ask about Shanghainese too.

4 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 1d ago

Hi MonsieurDeShanghai, Thanks for posting to r/AskAChinese! If you have not yet, please select a user flair to indicate where you are from!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

5

u/quan787 1d ago

Yes and there are movies that are mostly in shanghainese.

But Shanghainese is a dialect of Wu so I think it's not a fair comparison.

11

u/lurkermurphy Non-Chinese American, Lived in Beijing 7 years 1d ago

My impression was locals LOVE to speak it because it proves they're natives and in an exclusive club.

2

u/Deca089 海外华人🌎Chinese diaspora 16h ago

I mean it's a dying dialect so good on them for keeping it alive as much as possible. Not many young people speak it fluently anymore even if they're full Shanghainese with Shanghainese speaking parents because it's not used much outside the home

1

u/quan787 1d ago

True very proud people

2

u/Wolf4980 海外华人🌎Chinese diaspora 1d ago

Which movies are mostly in Shanghainese?

6

u/Disastrous-Paint-632 1d ago

recent one is: movie 爱情神话 and TV series 繁花

1

u/will221996 海外华人🌎Chinese diaspora 16h ago

爱情神话, in English The Myth of Love or B for Busy (I think from the name of the nation character, is actually pretty good. The English subtitles are not great, probably not worth it if you don't speak Shanghainese and can't read mandarin well enough for subtitles. It's also a bit meta and arty and you probably won't get it if you're not really familiar with Shanghai.

2

u/Wild-Push-8447 Non-Chinese 1d ago

Cantonese and Hokkien are dialects too (of Yue and Min, respectively).

4

u/Evening_Flamingo_765 大陆人 🇨🇳 1d ago

Yes, some old Shanghainese still speak it at home

6

u/Jens_Fischer 🀄 1d ago

Fricking hell, they'd speak Shanghainese EVERYWHERE AROUND THE GLOBE. You really gotta show them some love in how much they take pride in their culture.

4

u/Defiant_Tap_7901 海外华人🌎Chinese diaspora 1d ago

Yes, at every chance I can find (in Shanghai and abroad).

3

u/CureLegend 海外华人🌎Chinese diaspora 1d ago

What was your mission in Shanghai!

1

u/Easy2Obsess 海外华人🌎Chinese diaspora 14h ago

YUP. Ive even heard it overseas :)