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The Difference Between Chinese and Mandarin

Mandarin, known officially as 普通话 (pǔ tōng huà), is the standard language of China and the most widely spoken language globally. The term 中文 (zhōng wén) refers to the Chinese language, with 中 (zhōng) meaning “middle” and 文 (wén) meaning “language,” often associated with the Middle Kingdom, China. While Mandarin is the dominant language, China is home to many other languages.

Mandarin vs. Cantonese

• Mandarin is the official language of China and has over a billion speakers. It uses four tones and simplified or traditional Chinese characters.
• Cantonese is spoken mainly in Guangdong province, Hong Kong, and Macau, with six to nine tones. Cantonese generally uses traditional Chinese characters.

Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible when spoken, although they share many written characters and basic sentence structures.

The Beijing Dialect

The Beijing dialect (北京话) influences standard Mandarin pronunciation. It has expressive intonation and a unique feature called “Erhuayin”, where an “er” sound is added to many words, giving it a distinct flair.

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