Shanghainese guides

How Shanghainese works, how it differs from Mandarin, and whether it has a future.

Shanghainese is the language of Shanghai: a variety of Wu Chinese that shares Mandarin’s characters but not its sounds, its commonest words or the way its tones behave. Very little has been written about it in English, and much of that treats it as Mandarin with an accent.

These guides were written alongside Verbavia’s Shanghainese course. Each one lists the research it relies on.

• Shanghainese vs Mandarin: what’s actually differentShanghainese and Mandarin share a writing system but not a spoken language. The words, sounds, tones and grammar that separate them.
• Is Shanghainese a language or a dialect?By the test linguists usually apply, Shanghainese is a separate language from Mandarin. Why it is still called a dialect, and what that word means in Chinese.
• Shanghainese tones and tone sandhi, explained properlyShanghainese has five tones, but inside a word only the first syllable keeps its own. How the tones work, the sandhi patterns, and how to learn them.
• How Shanghainese is written, and why there’s no standardShanghainese is written in Chinese characters, with rival spellings for some of its commonest words and several romanisations. Why no official standard exists.
• Is Shanghainese dying?Millions still speak Shanghainese, but fewer young people in Shanghai grow up using it. What the surveys show, why it declined, and what is being done.
• Shanghainese phrases for visitorsThe Shanghainese phrases worth knowing on a trip to Shanghai, with characters, pronunciation and recordings, and the one phrase to avoid.