[Aritaurus]

I never knew this until I actually went to Shen Zhen. Does anyone know why it's referred to as " bak wa " ?

[Mercedes288]

Originally Posted by Aritaurus

I never knew this until I actually went to Shen Zhen. Does anyone know why it's referred to as " bak wa " ?

You mean the Cantonese dialect? I think "bak wa" just means plain language, ie, colloquial, as opposed to the literal/written form, which is standard Mandarin...

I could be wrong.

[littleblom]

"bak wa" normally really means the morden written language, esp. vs the classical Chinese language ("man yin"). But Aritaurus got it right, they also call Cantonese "bak wa".. don't know why yet, couldn't find any relevant info online..

Cheers
Blom

[daisy_lam]

for "Bak Wa"(白話), usually spoke by Guang Dong people( esp near Guang Zhou). It's a bit different from HK Cantonese(廣東話)...
Actually , the one Cantonese now is esp. pointing to HK language. but the most traditional Cantonese should be Guang Dong "Bak Wa".
The differences between them are like the different accent of different states.

[Aritaurus]

Interesting how it's not called Cantonese in Guang Zhou. I don't really feel that there's that much of a distinction between the Cantonese spoken by people from Guang Zhou and Hong Kong.

[Quest]

Originally Posted by Aritaurus

I never knew this until I actually went to Shen Zhen. Does anyone know why it's referred to as " bak wa " ?

Everywhere in mainland China has a "bak wa", or "bai hua" in Mandarin. It refers to the local langauge, as opposed to the national language.