#76 Cantonese and the uniqueness of Chinese dialects
You Can Learn Chinese
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We All Speak Joen on and It's Fang Yin
National boundaries sometimes make the distinction between language and dialect an issue of political importance. A group speaking a separate language may be seen as having a greater claim to being a separate people, and thus to be more deserving of its own independent state. The Chinese government likes to say, you know, we all speak joen and we have different but they don't use the term dialect. They use the term fang yen, which is kind of like a special chinese word, which is sometimes translated as top elect.
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