all 2 comments

[–]tribekat 0 points1 point ago


I can't imagine there being too many resources in English, but Xi'an dialect sounds reasonably similar to Mandarin from what I just heard on Youtube et. al.

If you're just looking to throw some words around, there are many lists of swear words/phrases around (the Baidu Baike article has a few with Mandarin translation, and claims to be a collection of swear words). Of course this is all in Mandarin characters so at this point you will want to get a friend to demonstrate pronunciation and explain meanings. Tape them, then you can follow along and practice (gasp).

Our local channel in Hangzhou has some programming in dialect with subtitles in the form of phonetic Chinese characters. There may be a similar program in the Xian/Shaanxi TV, and when you get better at reading Chinese it should be a good way of figuring out the pronunciation shifts from Chinese -> Dialect, learning new vocab, training your ear etc. and you can start trying to speak "Chinese with a dialect accent" in informal situations then gradually replacing the Chinese with more authentic terms.

[–]Mob_King 0 points1 point ago


First clock it on Easy, padawan -- then move up to Medium / Hard / Nightmare. Most dialect resources are in Mandarin and will be codified phonetically in Chinese characters, which is frankly rubbish. I recommend grabbing a friend to study with, taping them on dicta-/smart-phone and making up your own study system. Listen, listen, listen.

The only Xi'an dialect I know is 'Liao za le' 聊咋了 ('awesome') and 'Die le me?' 爹了么 (Eaten yet?). This gets one surprisingly far.