Many people assume there is only one chinese language, but in fact, this is not the case. Relative to mandarin, the history of cantonese is more profound, it has nearly 1,000 years of history, and mandarin only has around 100. Mandarin consists of four major tones, but some linguists count the neutral tone as a fifth. Thanks to the advent of the internet, new business models, user generated content, and clever crowdsourcing, todays learner has unprecedented access to free resources, cool tools, and native speakers no matter where in the world. Some believe the earliest split started to become more apparent during the song dynasty, just immediately before the mongols. Around 30% of the population of china, which equates to 400 million people, only speak cantonese. Learn cantonese easily with our cantonese story books. Anne henochowicz praises david mosers new book for bringing clarity to the complex history of chinese language and the challenges it faces. The characters and grammar are very similar between mandarin and cantonese.
The tones 4 in mandarin, 6 in cantonese the lack of romanization in cantonese making it harder to learn at the start lack of written cantonese. This disparity in the number of tones can make it easier to learn mandarin than cantonese. How to study cantonese learn cantonese with our cantonese. So it seems as though mandarin is more practical than cantonese. You will encounter mandarin while traveling in beijing, and because it is the speech of officials, knowing how to say hello in mandarin is useful everywhere you go. Nearly all residents of hong kong still use cantonese as their first language.
Written cantonese is very common in manhua, books, articles, magazines, newspapers, online chat, instant messaging, internet blogs and social networking websites. Nov 14, 2018 what are the differences between cantonese and mandarin. The differences between mandarin and cantonese by a. Nov 01, 2019 moreover, cantonese contains colloquial words outside of mandarin, which are represented by special characters not found in the mandarin set of chinese characters. If you mean spoken language, cantonese is generally not understood in beijing. The famous book qi lin bayin, which was compiled in the 17th century, is the first and the most fullscale rime book that provides a systematic guide to character reading for people speaking or learning the fuzhou dialect. Mandarin, cantonese, simplified, traditional making sense of. Cantonese is one of many minority dialects, and there are also many minority languages.
Cantonese is spoken in hong kong and many overseas chinese communities. For example, cantonese, hakka, of course mandarin, and many more. But should it be simplified or traditional chinese. However, even amongst these communities, it is becoming more popular to learn mandarin as a second language. Differences between mainland mandarin and taiwanese mandarin.
Overall, chinese all languages is spoken in 37 countries, with 1. The pronunciation of shared words in cantonese and mandarin is totally different. Mandarin and cantonese are just two major different varieties or dialects of spoken chinese, not forms of written scripts. Cantonese is an official language of both the hong kong special administrative region hong kong and the macau special administrative region. Mandarin is also the main dialect in taiwan and singapore.
China is forcing its biggest cantonesespeaking region to. Summary the 6 main differences between mandarin and cantonese are. History of mandarin and cantonese and why arent they. Mandarin and cantonese are both dialects of chinese, not different languages. Its these differences that will ultimately help you decide which one is best suited to your personal language goals and needs. This straighttothepoint post will quickly clear up any confusion between the two most commonly used languages in china. Mar 24, 2021 mandarin is now the third most popular language to learn worldwide, and knowledge of the language is becoming an increasingly valuable asset to many employers all over the world. It does have a standardized form as joseph boyle states and it even has special cantonese characters to represent particles and characters not normally found in mandarin. Mainland mandarin is written with simplified characters, whereas taiwanese mandarin uses traditional characters. I have sensed that this question was asked with the mindset that mandarin and cantonese are two languages in the first place. The characters used for mandarin and cantonese share the same roots in ancient china, but mandarin uses simplified characters, which were. Mandarin when talking about the chinese language, though you arent sure what the difference is. Its worth noting there is a bit of contempt at the attempts of the chinese government to push mandarin over cantonese.
The main difference between mandarin and c antonese is that mandarin is spoken by a larger number of people and. Cantonese, on the other hand, has six major tones and three additional high, mid and lowlevel tones. Technically mandarin and cantonese are just different spoken dialects of the same language but there are actually characters for spoken cantonese used in comic books and other unofficial writing basically just homophones of official characters with a koumouth character tacked on to the front. See more ideas about chinese, learn chinese, mandarin chinese. However, in cantonese it feels like the grammar would be more like. Variations in vocab, slang and expressions while the written language is essentially mutually intelligible, cantonese and mandarin have a fair bit of variation in individual words, expressions, word order and local slang. Mandarin is spoken in the mainland and cantonese is spoken in hong kong and. Traditional chinese how are they related to cantonese vs mandarin. In much of the country, it is the primary spoken language, including beijing and shanghai, although many provinces still retain their own local dialect.
Aug 03, 2010 the split between cantonese and mandarin is hard to pinpoint, but if you accept rough estimations, it was about 700 years ago, after the mongols conquered china when mandarin began taking shape. What are the differences between cantonese and mandarin. Technically, cantonese keeps the pronunciation and grammar features of the ancient chinese more. Cantonese is known as a more difficult language to learn compared to mandarin.
If its in written form, cantonese and mandarin could be very similar or even totally mutual intelligible, except for that simplified chinese characters are used in the cantonese speaking regions in mainland china while the traditional chinese characters are used in hong kong. Cantonese requires you to not only recognize the tone by. The bc system was also used in textbooks published by the hong kong. To understand how written mandarin and written cantonese differ, we need to know a little about how the spoken languages differ. It was emperor qin shihuang who first united chinese words over 2200 years ago in 221 b. Even though both cantonese and mandarin uses the same standard chinese script the two languages are still mutually unintelligible and very have many differen.
Mandarin is characterized by four tones, compared to eight in cantonese, and the loss of final consonants, so that while middle chinese had an inventory of p, t, k, m, n, ng, standard mandarin only has n, ng. Which is spoken by more people, cantonese or mandarin chinese. Spoken vs written cantonese nonmandarin chinese chinese. A system called wadegiles for romanizing mandarin was introduced in the 19th century. The difference between cantonese and mandarin can be difficult for foreigners to pick up on. Using different words for the same concept cantonese and mandarin sometimes use different words to represent the same. With features of written in cantonese, cantonese narrations and romanization annotations, our.
Both mandarin and cantonese are generally subject verb object sentence structures svo, however, this can change with sentences with a direct and an indirect object. A notable difference between cantonese and mandarin is how the spoken word. Cantonese is a language within the chinese language family originating from the city of guangzhou also known as canton and its surrounding area in southeastern china. Although they share a common alphabet, the spoken language is distinctly different from one another and mutually intelligible. Sep 01, 2015 cantonese will be helpful for advanced chinese learners starting to read ancient chinese poetry, as many words rhyme in cantonese but not in mandarin. This system is now largely redundant, although taiwan still uses it for place and personal names. But it is the tone of colloquial cantonese that makes it difficult for mandarin speakers to understand. Mandarin speakers, we can see that mandarin is far more commonly spoken.
Except for tones, vocabulary and grammar structures also differs. To be sure, mandarin spoken in northern china is somewhat different than in southern china. But dont confuse it with any animosity of cantonese vs mandarin. Whats the difference between chinese, mandarin and cantonese. The ability to speak and understand mandarin can open doors to a wide range of attractive career opportunities in many industries. Other dialects of chinese include taiwanese, shanghainese, and hakka. I want to learn chinese, should i learn mandarin or cantonese. However, they share about 75% of the same characters. In areas where simplified characters are generally used, traditional characters do show up on occasion in everyday life. Fluentu takes a step back from the traditional textbook approach and encourages. May 04, 2016 main difference mandarin vs cantonese mandarin and cantonese are two dialects of the chinese language. Aug 17, 2020 mandarin has 4 tones plus a neutral 5th, cantonese has 6 tones or indeed 9 tones if you include the checked tones mandarin has over 1.
It is the traditional prestige variety of the yue chinese dialect group, which has over 80 million native speakers. Jan 27, 2020 and cantonese speakers are increasingly learning mandarin to find work in mainland china. The mandarin hilton home derby menu, prices, restaurant. The pronunciation and vocabulary of cantonese has preserved many features of the official language of the tang dynasty with elements of the ancient yue language. Nov 01, 2017 cantonese is known as a more difficult language to learn compared to mandarin. Educated chinese people learn the pronunciation in msm, but you can also read written chinese with the pronunciation of other dialects. Example of grammar difference between cantonese and mandarin.
Sentences follow the same grammartical structure, but some words are written with different characters. How are written mandarin and written cantonese different. Feb 28, 2017 mandarin is one of the worlds largest language groups, with about 600 million speakers in china, taiwan, and places like singapore. Just that some of the words are used differently and the sentence structure could be different. Cantonese is a language within the chinese sinitic branch of the sinotibetan languages.
Mandarin vs cantonese in writing because chinas writing system is so old, the characters arent necessarily tied to the pronunciation of any one dialect. The difference between cantonese and mandarin individuals who are fluent in either language are able to communicate with one another through the written word, as both languages share a common vocabulary, give or take a few words. Chinese language history mandarin and cantonese today. Written in traditional chinese, pinyin and english a bilingual look and find book. Because chinas writing system is so old, the characters arent necessarily tied to the pronunciation of any one dialect. As wikipedia article explains, it is more a cultural difference than merely just differences of language i. Mandarin and cantonese even have different vowels and consonants. What are the differences between chinese and mandarin. If you actually think about it saying chinese language gives no justice to it, as it includes over 200 dialects. If youre looking for a venue that offers quality chinese cuisine, set in an inviting and warm ambience, not to mention a. A book in 4 languages english, spanish, french, and mandarin chinese my colors pi kids english, spanish, french and chinese edition kathy broderick 4. I wont go too deep into the history of each, but basically, traditional chinese was the.
Both languages have different tones, but the use of tones in cantonese is even more challenging due to it having between 6 and 9 different tones. Jan 18, 2019 for example, cantonese, hakka, of course mandarin, and many more. If you have a product or service suitable, translating and localizing into chinese is a nobrainer. Cantonese is spoken by the people of hong kong, macau and the wider guangdong province, including guangzhou previously canton in english. Jun 29, 2017 cantonese is believed to have originated after the fall of the han dynasty in 220ad, when long periods of war caused northern chinese to flee south, taking their ancient language with them. Strictly speaking, classical chinese refers to the written language of the classical period of chinese literature, from the end of the spring and autumn period early 5th century bc to the end of the han dynasty ad 220, while literary chinese is the form of written chinese used from the end of the han dynasty to the early 20th century, when it was replaced by vernacular written.
Difference between mandarin and cantonese compare the. Although both languages are tonal languages, mandarin has four tones and a neutral tone whereas cantonese has six to nine tones. We have to clarify that mandarin or cantonese is not chinese because there are several chinese languages and dialects. Learn mandarin chinese with paul noble for beginners part 1. From my understanding, formal written cantonese is identical to written mandarin in terms of vocabulary and grammar.
The differences between mandarin and cantonese is obviously, as for the tones, we all know that there are 4 tones in mandarin,however,there are 9 tones in cantonese. History books contain many cantonese versions of names eg, peking vs beijing old cantonese romanization vs todays official mandarin romanization. Is this a difference in grammar between cantonese and mandarin. If you enjoy cantonese songs or movies, learning cantonese can help you understand whats going on, especially given that such things are popular in china and overseas chinese communities. Together, that comes out to a whopping nine tones four more than mandarin. Thats 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. It is the traditional prestige variety of the yue chinese dialect group, which has over 80 million native. Once upon a time, learning chinese and finding mandarin chinese resources meant either moving abroad or committing to expensive, boring, locationdependent classes. But what are the differences between cantonese vs mandarin. If youre a nonnative speaker, its preferred that you use english over mandarin. Although there are several variations, mandarin is the closest thing to a common, unified dialect in china. From my own experience, whenever i read through formal publications from hong kong, i can comprehend the text perfectly, although i dont speak cantonese im taiwaneseamerican by the way. Classical chinese is a traditional style of written chinese that evolved from the classical language, making.
Whats the difference between chinese mandarin and cantonese. It once served to standardize the language and is still widely quoted as an authoritative reference book in modern. Simplified or traditional chinese, mandarin or cantonese. Mandarin has only four tones per sound, while cantonese has at least six and can have up to nine. Mandarin is the official state language of china and is the lingua franca of the country. Traditional chinese is used by chinese speakers in hong kong, taiwan and macau, as well as the majority of mandarin and cantonese speakers who live in other countries. Jan 20, 2018 cantonese is known as a more difficult language to learn compared to mandarin. There are five distinguishing factors between cantonese vs. When we read ancient poems in cantonese, we find they.
384 1344 1062 1541 220 1035 1283 1562 545 64 625 587 1499 1436 1566 1480 1097 1298 7 1113 28 1012