We hope this Cantonese vs Mandarin comparison post has provided you with a comprehensive understanding of the key differences between both languages. It is (or should be) identical to Mandarin. However, if what is written is truly Cantonese, it is easily distinguished from Mandarin if it is of any length because some common words are not cognate and are therefore written with different characters. Cantonese is usually written with traditional Chinese characters, whereas Mandarin is written with simplified Chinese characters. This is perhaps the second most spoken Chinese dialect and it is spoken in areas of southern China, with many Cantonese speakers living abroad. For Example: 我是一個女孩。( I am a girl.) And yet, there may be some confusions between the two. It is a number of dialect groups. Written Cantonese. While most Chinese learners are aware of the regional differences between simplified and traditional characters, it should also be noted that there are a series of characters that are unique to Cantonese in order to allow for writing modern, spoken Cantonese. For starters, there are no case forms, no verb conjugations, and minimal inflectional forms to learn. However, it's not always as close as the example above. cantonese vs mandarin. If you have a product or service suitable, translating and localizing into Chinese is a no-brainer. cantonese vs mandarin mapdifference between cantonese and mandarin people. Written Chinese was originally developed for Classical Chinese, [citation needed] and was the main literary language of China until the 19th century. Sounds & Tones: 9 basic tones. In 1912, China named Mandarin as its official language, and today Standard Mandarin remains the country’s lingua franca. But did you know that Chinese is not a single language? Many people think that Chinese is just one language. I’ve been living here in Hong Kong for over 4 months now, so I’ve decided it’s time to have a go at learning some of the local language, Cantonese. For the younger generation, regardless of whether they uses local vocabulary in writing, they usually understand Standard Chinese very well, since they learn it in school. Spoken vs Written Cantonese Hofmann 682. In many ways, grammar is very similar between Mandarin and Cantonese. (Written Cantonese) ngo5 si6 … Cantonese vs Mandarin? are written in standard Chinese, the exact same sort as Mandarin. Written Cantonese is the written form of Cantonese, the most complete written form of Chinese after that for Mandarin Chinese and Classical Chinese. SUPER USEFUL – Key Phrases in Mandarin, Shanghainese and Cantonese. (Learn the 4 tones in Mandarin here) Cantonese is also the main dialect of the Chinese diaspora, as historically most Chinese who ended up abroad came from Guangdong Province.. Mandarin speakers and Cantonese speakers would have a hard time understanding each other given the huge difference … They learn to write Mandarin in school and use it in all formal occasions. Most people who speak Cantonese usually... Hofmann 682. Cantonese has nine tones while Mandarin only has four, which leads some to argue it’s easier for Cantonese speaker to learn Mandarin, but harder the other way around. But should it be simplified or traditional Chinese? Cantonese is more complicated because it possesses six tones and uses several oral expressions, while Mandarin has only four tones with less unique expressions. The articles in the Cantonese … Mandarin vs Cantonese . You may be one of the many people who are wondering what language is spoken all over China including Chinatowns. Cantonese vs Mandarin: Similarities and Differences. It's hard to take an article seriously when it's written in vernacular Cantonese. The official language of China is mandarin, which is one of the few official languages at UN also. It’s important to know that Mandarin and Cantonese are not the only dialects spoken in the Chinese language, there are many more. As a matter of fact, written Cantonese often includes extra characters as well as characters with different meanings from written vernacular Chinese due to the presence of words that either do not exist in standard Chinese, or correspond to spoken Cantonese. As two major languages spoken in China, the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese is very interesting topic to a linguist. I know Cantonese is often written in traditional characters, but I'm more referring to if I go into a bookstore will there be separate Mandarin and Cantonese sections? Without doubt, Mandarin is easier to learn both in terms of reading and speaking. 26 May 2017 While they are both tonal languages (where different tones give different meanings to the same sound), the number of tones is different. Mandarin is one of the world’s largest language groups, with about 600 million speakers in … But that is not the case since there are several versions of spoken Chinese. Cantonese is a completely different spoken language than Mandarin, and uses 9 tones instead of just 4 as in Mandarin! Do you know what Chinese dialect is mainly spoken? Other Dialects of Chinese. Compared to languages from several other language families, Chinese languages could come across as easy to learn—if one could get past the obstacle of learning to read and maybe write Chinese characters. Under it are its subdivision of languages or dialects of regional varieties which popularly includes Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese (Yue) and Min. A notable difference between Cantonese and Mandarin is how the spoken word is written; both can be recorded verbatim, but very few Cantonese speakers are knowledgeable in the full Cantonese written vocabulary, so a non-verbatim formalized written form is adopted, which is more akin to the Mandarin written … Most importantly, Mandarin and Cantonese reflect the differences within the spoken language of Chinese rather than the written word. As far as my (brief) experience goes, newspapers etc. Mandarin vs Cantonese. Written Cantonese isn't standardised and is only used for super informal occasions like in Facebook or a blog. Cantonese happens to be the Mother Tongue in Hong Kong, and has a solid written form, just like any other "national language", so there it enjoys much higher status than Mandarin. Japanese kanji have also been simplified. When they hear a person from China speaking, they immediately say that the person is speaking in Chinese. (Written Mandarin) wǒ shì yī gè nǚ hái (Spoken Mandarin) wǒ shì yī gè nǚ hái << Both written and spoken Mandarin is the same!>> Cantonese Chinese Region: Hong Kong, Macau, and Southern China. Although there are some differences in vernacular between Putonghua and Guoyu, people in the two places can communicate easily. Much of the time "written Cantonese" is "Mandarin written by a Cantonese speaker" and so can only be distinguished from native Mandarin by relatively subtle cues. Summarizing Cantonese vs Mandarin. Each dialect is spoken specifically on certain regions in China with its own characteristics, spoken or written. Both languages are pronounced differently, even if they are written almost identical. Cantonese Vs Mandarin Difference 4: 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. Simplified Chinese is used mainly in Singapore, Malaysia and of course mainland China. To put it simply, Cantonese and Mandarin are different languages. Standard Chinese, when formalised, was largely based on Mandarin Chinese, meaning Mandarin speakers can write as they speak, but Cantonese speakers pronounce the same character differently – you then can’t accurately ‘transcribe’ spoken Cantonese into the written word as it will have a completely different meaning altogether. Where hanzi have been simplified, they are immediately identifiable as Chinese. If you are thinking that the answer is Chinese, well, you are not wrong. 1. It’s written 讠 in simplified Chinese and 言 in the other character sets. Mandarin has now become the second language for citizens of Hong Kong. While you can use Mandarin in Hong Kong in many situations, this is not received very positively as a rule.. I think what the articles you've read mean is that if you take those newspaper articles and try to read them out loud with Cantonese pronunciations, they'll sound awkward and too formal compared to street Cantonese. No need to learn written Cantonese … Mandarin is a tonal language with four tones. Better break this up into four parts, or you'd be confused (I'll also avoid as many jargons as possible). The Spoken Language Cantonese and Mandarin are two mutually unintelligible Chinese languages. Difference between written Mandarin and Cantonese 你好！ I have a question for any native Chinese speakers or people who know a fair amount about Chinese languages: What is the difference between written Mandarin and Cantonese? Just to illustrate how Chinese can differ between dialects we’ve taken three of the most common dialects below and shown you how they are read in these dialects. This is because the characters are simplified and there are fewer tones to learn. While someone who reads Mandarin will understand at least some written Cantonese, the same cannot be said for speaking and listening! The major difference between Hong Kong and China overall can be broken down into the following points: In Hong Kong, people speak Cantonese but write in Traditional Chinese. in Learning . Here are 10 basic phrases in Mandarin vs Cantonese vs … Major differences. difference between mandarin and cantonese writing. Instead of asking them to choose between Mandarin or Cantonese, one should ask them if they perceive "written Chinese" as (a) written Mandarin, or (b) something that should not be classified as Mandarin, but a form of literary Chinese that may be or may be not the written form of … Another significant difference between Mandarin and Cantonese is pronunciation. Cantonese is believed to have originated after the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 A.D., while Mandarin arose out of the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century. 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