jeudi 30 mars 2017

March 29th, 2017

The many dialects of the Chinese Language are all quite challenging, but amongst them Wenzhounese is perhaps the hardest. The province of Wenzhou (温州, meaning 'Warm state') was geographically isolated throughout much of its history. On account of this, the Wenzhounese language diverged, becoming mutually unintelligible with all other varieties of modern Chinese. It also preserves aspects of ancient Chinese, making it somewhat of a living fossil. The complexity and nuances of the language have earned it the nickname 'The Devil's Language', and inspired the Chinese phrase '天不怕,地不怕,就怕温州人说温州话' (Don't fear the sky, don't fear the earth, fear the man from Wenzhou speaking Wenzhounese).

Bonus:
Because of its difficulty, Wenzhounese was purportedly used to transmit secret codes during the Sino-Vietnamese War. This employment of obscure languages in wartime has been used all over the world, most notably in the case of the Navajo language during the 2nd World War.

-E

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