Chao shan hua, the Chaoshan speech
Also called Chaozhou speech: eight tones, with the tones changing in connected speech, and a different sound in each of the nine counties of the old prefecture.
Pronunciation cháo shàn huà｜Dialect and emigration｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
What people here speak day to day, also called Chaozhou speech. Eight tones, and the tones shift when words run together: a character has one tone alone and another inside a sentence, and this is the layer outsiders find hardest.
The nine counties each sound different — the old prefectural city, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Huilai, Raoping, Chenghai, Nan’ao — with their own accents and their own words. Cross a river and the same sentence comes out another way.
How it is written down
This site uses a transcription scheme of its own, set out on a page of its own. The readings given in the glossary are the standard-Chinese pronunciations, which are not what the words sound like in the dialect; the two systems are not to be mixed.
Words easily confused
Chaoshan speech and Chaozhou speech are two names for one language. It has its roots in southern Min, but in ordinary use Chaoshan speech is enough; there is no need to go around by the name of the larger family.
Read next: The Chaoshan speech: tones, tone change and nine accents.
Same group: jia ji ren, zi niang, a woman, nao re, the bustle.
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Last revised: 3 November 2026