The language is very different in pronunciation from Mandarin and Cantonese, there are several sounds that are not found in any other Chinese dialect. The bulk of the vocabulary is the same, but there's lots of variations and unique words and phrases. Like any dialect rooted in one place, it has more colour and richness than an official compromise language such as Mandarin.


Over the next couple weeks, we'll be giving you a crash course in the survival basics of Shanghai dialect, and a selection of those words particularly rich in Shanghai flavour: just click on the words below to hear a recording of the real McCoy. For each word we have given the English, the Mandarin, and lastly a representation of the sound of the Shanghainese word using characters (this is for all you native Chinese speakers out there).