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Mandarin ( / ˈmændərɪn / ⓘ MAN-dər-in; simplified Chinese: 官话; traditional Chinese: 官話; pinyin: Guānhuà; lit. 'officials' speech') is a group of Chinese language dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard ...
- Mandarin Chinese. Where it’s spoken: China, Taiwan. Number of speakers: ∼1.1 billion. Mandarin, also known as Putonghua, is the official language of China.
- Cantonese Chinese. Where it’s spoken: China’s Guangdong province, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau. Number of speakers: ∼73 million. Though not quite second in terms of speakers, Cantonese is the second most widely spread dialect spoken in China.
- Wu Chinese (Shanghainese) Where it’s spoken: China’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, Shanghai. Number of speakers: ∼80 million. Used primarily in Shanghai, the Wu Chinese dialect is mostly known as Shanghainese.
- Hakka Chinese. Where it’s spoken: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau. Number of speakers: ∼80 million. The Hakka Chinese dialect is spoken throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southern China.
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Jun 14, 2019 · Mandarin emerged as the language of the ruling class during the latter part of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). The capital of China switched from Nanjing to Beijing in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty and remained in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Since Mandarin is based on the Beijing dialect, it naturally became the ...
Feb 12, 2019 · There are many Chinese dialects in China, so many that it is hard to guess how many dialects actually exist. In general, dialects can be roughly classified into one of the seven large groups: Putonghua (Mandarin), Gan, Kejia (Hakka), Min, Wu, Xiang, and Yue ( Cantonese ). Each language group contains a large number of dialects.
- Jun Shan
Jan 27, 2024 · Mandarin is by far the most popular Chinese dialect, so if you’re going to learn one, it’s probably the most practical. Now, Standard Mandarin is a specific branch of 官话 , and Standard Mandarin is what people are referring to when they say that Mandarin is the national language of China.
Jul 26, 2021 · 汉语 ( hànyǔ) – “Chinese” (especially used for the spoken language) is a term to describe a group of different language varieties spoken in China. 中文 ( zhōngwén) – “Chinese” mostly refers to the written form of the language. 普通话 ( pǔtōng huà) – “Mandarin” or “Standard Chinese”, but its literal ...
It is based on the Mandarin dialect but also incorporates elements from other Chinese dialects. It is the form of Chinese used in official documents, newspapers, and literature. One of the main differences between Mandarin Chinese and Standard Chinese is pronunciation. Mandarin Chinese has four tones, while Standard Chinese has five tones. This ...
