The type of Chinese in the "Good News For People Of All Nations Book"

[Cool Cat]

So I used this book for the first time today and got a return visit where I said I would return with some literature.   The person understood the type of Chinese in the "Good News For People Of All Nations Book" but I am unsure which type of Chinese it is. I think it is Mandarin but not sure. I don't want to get some literature in Mandarin when it was actually Cantonese. Anybody out there that can confirm what type of Chinese is in that book. This would be much appreciated.

[carlos]

Congratulations for that visit!

 

Mandarin or Cantonese is only important if you are going to show him a video, but not with printed publications. Both dialects sound differently but are written the same. And both dialects can be printed in traditional or simplified characters.

 

The Good News for People of All Nations brochure varies from country to country. The Spanish edition contains both Chinese (used in Taiwan and Hong Kong) and Simplified Chinese (used in mainland China). I suppose it's the same in the UK edition. Anyway, if you can post a picture of the page you showed him I can tell you which variant it is.

 

EDIT: Re-reading my post I'm afraid I was not very clear. You don't care which dialect he speaks. You only need to know if he can read traditional or simplified characters. In case of doubt, go for simplified Chinese, since most Chinese speakers can understand it.

Edited July 11, 2017 by carlos

[Raven]

Take one of each, one simplified and one traditional. You can show them both and ask which one is better for them, and then make a note of it for next time. The majority of Chinese speakers can read simplified, but a lot do prefer the traditional ~ it depends where they are from...

 

[kejedo]

I learned a little Cantonese when working in a Chinese restaurant and had some  more interaction with persons from various parts of China when teaching ESL. MOst all people from China read Mandarin (which my students  said should be spoken of as Mandarinese.) Congrats to you, Brother, for reaching out to all people. 

[Cool Cat]

Thank you all for your replies. I showed him the traditional Chinese (CH) so I will take him some literature in that but I will also take  a simplified one and I will ask him in the future which he prefers.

 

Thank you once again for your help.

[Raven]

On 7/12/2017 at 3:57 PM, MentalProject said:

Thank you all for your replies. I showed him the traditional Chinese (CH) so I will take him some literature in that but I will also take  a simplified one and I will ask him in the future which he prefers.

 

Thank you once again for your help.

Is there a Chinese congregation or group nearby?

[Cool Cat]

3 hours ago, Bjern said:

Is there a Chinese congregation or group nearby?

In Bristol their is a Chinese language group. 30 miles away.

[Raven]

Just now, MentalProject said:

In Bristol their is a Chinese language group. 30 miles away.

Might pay to contact them about him too then, even tho they are 30 miles away. If you do, they'll want to know if he speaks Mandarin or Cantonese, and if he prefers simplified or traditional characters. If it's a Mandarin group but he speaks Cantonese, don't worry as a lot of Cantonese speakers can speak Mandarin as well (tho it's not as common for native Mandarin speakers to also speak Cantonese), plus there's sometimes someone who can speak Cantonese within a Mandarin group.