Whats the difference hongkong and chinese drama?

[robx]

It appears that i'm not too sure on what or how to determine if the drama is hong kong or Chinese drama. How does one differentiate between the two?
They both may have cantonese / mandarin audio with english subtitles.
Does hong kong drama always being made with hong kong environment and chinese drama always made with mainland environment?

[milleu87]

cantonese and mandarin is the only way to differentiate them. both has different sound. well maybe the background is different but then if it's historical then the only way to differentiate whether it is cantonese or mandarin.

[robx]

I still don't get it. If both drama has Cantonese and Mandarin as dual audio, how then to differentiate them?
I can't tell if its dubbed to mandarin or if Cantonese is original. My guess is that Cantonese is majority of the time the original if there is dual audio available? Well, i really don't know how to tell which is dub and which is original except the fact that most of the time i see the first audio track as the original, of course i could be totally wrong, so im looking for better ways to tell them apart.

[milleu87]

well i think the only way to tell them apart is then to recognize the actors...and plus there's also taiwanese drama that filmed in taiwan and in mandarin...

and i suppose you could rely on the background.

[Y_T]

Hong Kong dramas speak cantonese.

Chinese dramas speak mandarin.

[milleu87]

yeah but this guy wants to know that if the video comes with dual audio how do you know where it originates?

i recognize the actor from mainland,hk and taiwan so knowing where it comes from never bother me at all.

[robx]

i have watched chinese / hong kong drama / movies for a long time, but i never bothered to care about whether they are from hong kong or from mainland until now. Now, does it really matter if one was uploaded as the other if one can't determine whether it is hkdrama or cdrama?

[milleu87]

well you can always correct it later...so i don't think it matter that much anyway

[becky_49]

It kind of depends, cause sometimes you have collaboration projects between Mainland China and Hong Kong. The mainland actors will film in mandarin and HK actors will film in cantonese, then they'll dub over it depending on where they're airing. The major television company in HK is called TVB, so anything filmed for them would be in cantonese. Filming locations also vary, since many ancient dramas are filmed in the mountain ranges, so HK actors and the crew would have to travel to China to film the scenes.

It's hard to say. Best is to recognize the actors. If you're a native speaker, then you can easily tell which language is dubbed.

[itsonlykat]

If the show is dub in Mandarin or Cantonese, are the actors still using their original voice, or someone else is speaking for their characters. For instance, if the show is originally in Mandarin, but is dub in Cantonese, will the dubbing be done by the original cast of actors and actresses?

[becky_49]

If the show is dub in Mandarin or Cantonese, are the actors still using their original voice, or someone else is speaking for their characters. For instance, if the show is originally in Mandarin, but is dub in Cantonese, will the dubbing be done by the original cast of actors and actresses?

That would really depend on if the actor can speak the language properly. The majority of mandarin speakers can't pronounce cantonese accurately because there's so many tones in cantonese. Unless your first language was cantonese, I would say it's very, very hard to pronounce the words accurately. On the other hand, mandarin is a lot easier to learn since there's only four tones to memorize. A lot of foreigners opt to learn mandarin over cantonese because it's easier (especially with pin yin) and also it's more practical.

This being said, I wouldn't be surprised if HK actors can do their own voice dubs in Mandarin. BUT truth is, actors don't have time to dub for a 20+ episodes tv series. Hence, I'm certain that the voice dubbing is NOT done by the original actors. Movies might be a different story.

[robx]

There are a lot more to it than meets the ears and eyes to be able to tell the difference of hkdrama, cdrama, sdrama, and twdrama isn't there. It's just too many different chinese languages to know unless of course you're chinese and grew up with the culture, then thats a different story.

[itsonlykat]

I guess so... thanks for the info everyone