Do Chinese speak Mandarin or Cantonese?
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Do Chinese speak Mandarin or Cantonese?
So what is the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese? Mandarin is an official language in China, Taiwan, and Singapore, while Cantonese only has official status in Hong Kong and Macau. While there are notable exceptions, most Chinese speakers can speak Mandarin at least to a certain degree.
Is Cantonese or Mandarin better?
So it seems as though Mandarin is more practical than Cantonese. That’s not to say that learning Cantonese is a waste of time, and for some people, it may be the better choice, but for most people wanting to speak “Chinese”, Mandarin is the way to go.
Is Chinese Simplified Cantonese or Mandarin?
Mandarin and Cantonese are the two most common verbal Chinese dialects….
| Target Market | Written | Spoken |
|---|---|---|
| China | Simplified | Mandarin |
| Hong Kong | Traditional | Cantonese |
| Taiwan | Traditional | Mandarin |
| Singapore | Simplified | Mandarin |
Can a Mandarin speakers understand Cantonese?
However, the two languages are distinct when spoken. Mandarin speakers typically cannot understand Cantonese speakers, and vice versa.
Is Cantonese the same as traditional Chinese?
It should also be noted that Mandarin is not simplified Chinese and Cantonese is not traditional Chinese. Mandarin and Cantonese are spoken languages. Mandarin is the standard and official spoken language for mainland China and Taiwan .
How different are Mandarin and Cantonese?
Both the Mandarin and Cantonese dialects are tonal languages where one word has many meanings depending on the pronunciation and intonation. Cantonese has nine tones, whereas Mandarin has just five. Cracking the tones are said to be the hardest part of learning Chinese.
Is Mandarin and Cantonese written the same?
Mandarin and Cantonese sometimes share a word that descended from a common Middle Chinese word, but whose pronunciation diverged. In this case, they both use the same character(s) for the word. But Cantonese always uses traditional characters, while Mandarin is written with simplified characters in China and Singapore.
What are the dialects of Cantonese?
Cantonese Status. In PRC, Cantonese is spoken along with Mandarin. Dialects. Standard Cantonese, also known as Guăngdōn g dialect, refers to the most prestigious dialect spoken in Guăngzhōu (Canton), Hong Kong, and Macau .There are numerous other dialects of Cantonese, Structure.