Mandarin vs. Cantonese
WHAT are the differences between Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese? To answer this one of the most asked questions in Chinese translation industry, below are some very concise but correct / verified facts for your quick information:
MANDARIN is the SPOKEN Chinese language (a variant, or your may say, a dialect) used by people in most parts of Mainland China, Taiwan & Singapore, covering over 75% of the Chinese speaking population worldwide.
CANTONESE is the SPOKEN Chinese language (a variant, or your may say, a dialect) mainly used by people in Guangdong (or "Canton") province, Hong Kong, Macao and some overseas Chinese communities.
Mainland China (most parts): Most People speak Mandarin (or "Pu-Tong-Hua" as we may say) .
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Hong Kong & Guangdong: Majority of people speak Cantonese.
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Interested in learning more about these two spoken varieties of Chinese language and their connections / differences? Read below:
CHINESE MANDARIN:
Mandarin is the officially recognized and most widely spoken language in China. In Chinese, the term for "Mandarin" is"Pu-Tong-Hua", which virtually means "common language" or "standard language". It is the most commonly adopted Chinese language variant in government, education, business and media. It's also spoken more than any other Chinese language dialects in the cities.
Mandarin is spoken in most of the Chinese schools, colleges, and universities, as well in most of our mainstream media, including films, television programs, radio stations, and music, in Mainland China, Taiwan & Singapore. Technically speaking, Mandarin refers to a range of dialects, but the language as a whole is considered a first language for almost 900 million Chinese speakers. Cantonese on the other hand, is an official language of Hong Kong and Macau, and is also widely spoken in the Canton area of China. Schools in Hong Kong are mainly taught in Cantonese.
Do all Chinese people speak Mandarin, since it is the official state language?
No, though more and more people who reside in Macau and Hong Kong are learning Mandarin as a "second language". However, according to a ministry of education statement in 2015, 20 percent of people living in China — around 300 million people — still do not speak Mandarin as their first daily language.
BTW: Besides being the official spoken language for Mainland China, Taiwan & Singapore, Mandarin is also one of the five official working languages in the United Nations.
CHINESE CANTONESE:
Cantonese is a variety (or dialect to some extend) of Chinese language spoken in certain regional areas of China and some overseas Chinese communities. In Mainland China, it is the lingua franca of the province of Guangdong and neighbouring regions such as some parts of Guangxi, being the dominant spoken language of the Pearl River Delta. It is the dominant and official language of Macau and Hong Kong. Cantonese is also widely spoken amongst overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and throughout the Western world.
Historically speaking, it's the traditional prestige variety of Yue, one of the major subdivisions of Chinese. Although the term Cantonese refers narrowly to the prestige variety, it is often used in a broader sense for the entire Yue subdivision of Chinese, including related but largely mutually unintelligible dialects such as Taishanese. When Cantonese and the closely related Yuehai dialects are classified together, there are about 80 million total speakers.
This important variant of Chinese language is viewed as vital part of the cultural identity for its native speakers in Macau, Hong Kong and across large swathes of southeastern China.
In English, the exact meaning/reference of term "Cantonese" is somewhat ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the variety native to the city of Canton (the traditional English name of Guangzhou). This narrow sense may be specified as "Canton language" or "Guangzhou language". However, "Cantonese" may also refer to the primary branch of Cantonese that contains Cantonese proper as well as Gaoyang and Taishanese; this broader usage may be specified as "Yue".
