What are the varieties of Chinese?

The varieties are typically classified into several groups: Mandarin, Wu, Min, Xiang, Gan, Hakka and Yue, though some varieties remain unclassified. These groups are neither clades nor individual languages defined by mutual intelligibility, but reflect common phonological developments from Middle Chinese.

What are the 3 types of Chinese language?

However, the written language can be further subdivided into three forms: simplified, traditional, and informal slang or phonetic. There is also a form called “pin-yin” which is the Chinese language transcribed using a roman spelling.

What is the difference between Guoyu and Putonghua?

guó yǔ (国语) is used by Taiwan and sometimes Hong Kong to refer to Mandarin, while pǔ tōng huà is used by Mainland China to refer to Mandarin.

What is the official standard language used by China?

Mandarin language
Mandarin language Beijing forms the basis for Modern Standard Chinese—Guoyu, “National Language,” usually called putonghua “common language” by the Chinese. Modern Standard Chinese is also spoken officially on Taiwan.

Is there a difference between Mandarin and Chinese?

Mandarin is a dialect of Chinese. Chinese is a language (Mandarin is one of the dialects of Chinese alongside Shanghainese, Cantonese and many more).

Is Mandarin a standard Chinese?

Standard Mandarin is designated as one of the major languages in the United Nations, mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan….

How are Mandarin and Cantonese different?

The Tones Mandarin has five tones, while Cantonese has nine different tones. These tones are vital when trying to convey your meaning, making Cantonese harder to learn than Mandarin. In Hong Kong Cantonese, three of the nine tones have merged, and so in reality there are only six tones at the moment.

How many different types of Chinese language are there?

ten different varieties
Officially, there are ten different varieties of Chinese, although some sources only list eight because the last two are only spoken by less than 1% of the population. These variants are written using Chinese characters and do not have their own written form.

Where are the different varieties of Chinese spoken?

The Xiang varieties are spoken in Hunan and southern Hubei. The New Xiang varieties, represented by the Changsha dialect, have been significantly influenced by Southwest Mandarin, whereas Old Xiang varieties, represented by the Shuangfeng dialect, retain features such as voiced initials.

Are there different dialects of Mandarin in China?

While Mandarin is spoken in distinctive dialects throughout China, standard Mandarin is mostly influenced by the Northern Beijing dialect. This is similar to how standard American English is influenced by the West Coast dialect.

Which is spoken by more people, Cantonese or Mandarin?

This is the group spoken in northern and southwestern China and has by far the most speakers. This group includes the Beijing dialect, which forms the basis for Standard Chinese, called Putonghua or Guoyu in Chinese, and often also translated as “Mandarin” or simply “Chinese”.

What kind of phonology does Standard Chinese have?

Standard Chinese, a form of Mandarin, takes its phonology from the Beijing dialect, with vocabulary from the Mandarin group and grammar based on literature in the modern written vernacular. It is one of the official languages of China .