Shanghainese (Wu)
上海话
Sino-Tibetan · China
Endangerment: Safe — Spoken by all generations and learned naturally by children.
侬好，认得侬老开心个。
The North Wind and the Sun
北风搭太阳辣辣争论，到底啥人个力道大。 迭个辰光，有个着仔一件厚外套个过路人，沿仔马路走过来。 伊拉讲好，啥人先让过路人脱脱外套，就算啥人力道大。 北风用足力道吹，但是风吹得越大，过路人就拿外套裹得越紧。 最后，北风只好放弃。 接下来轮到太阳暖洋洋个照下来，过路人马上就拿外套脱脱了。 所以北风只好承认，太阳比伊力道大。
- Wu is a group of Chinese languages spoken around Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and Shanghainese is its best-known variety.
- The pronouns differ from Mandarin: '侬' (non) means 'you', '阿拉' (ahla) means 'we', and '伊' (i) means 'he' or 'she'.
- Yes-no questions end with '伐' (vah), as in '侬去伐？' (Are you going?).
- It keeps voiced consonants like b, d, and g that Mandarin lost, so '大' (big) sounds like 'du'.