Today, Mandarin Chinese (普通话 pǔtōnghuà—literally translated as the “common speech”) is the most widely spoken native language in the world—with over 1.2 billion native speakers globally. To put this in perspective, Spanish comes in second with approximately 400 million native speakers, and English comes in third with over 300 million native speakers worldwide. Although Mandarin is so widely spoken, you may be surprised to discover that Mandarin is not the sole language in China, but rather, there are a vast variety of languages spoken across China. Linguists have divided Chinese into seven to ten different dialects, or main language groups, including Mandarin, Wu, Yue, or Min—each with its own sub-dialects. Cantonese (广东话 guǎngdōng huà) is part of the Yue dialect, spoken by over 70 million people worldwide. This makes Cantonese one of the most popular varieties of Chinese, behind Mandarin of course. It is mostly spoken in Hong Kong, Macau, and the Guangdong Province, hence its name guǎngdōng huà.
Though Cantonese and Mandarin’s spoken languages are completely different, the writing/characters are surprisingly the same. For instance, computer in both Mandarin and Cantonese is written as 电脑. However, in Mandarin, it’s pronounced diànnǎo, while in Cantonese it’s pronounced din6 nou5. Additionally, you may notice that Cantonese includes six different tones compared to Mandarin’s four tones. Thus, inevitably, the pronunciations of different characters between the two languages are distinct. To native speakers of either language, however, there may be a slight exception to this rule. Though Mandarin and Cantonese have distinct pronunciations, sometimes certain phrases may sound quite similar. For example, bread in Mandarin is pronounced miànbāo, whereas in Cantonese it is pronounced min6 baau1. So, interestingly enough, a native speaker of either language would be able to understand parts of the other language. Now, how cool is that?
Sources:
https://asiasociety.org/china-learning-initiatives/many-dialects-china
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cantonese-language
https://www.chinahighlights.com/hong-kong/
https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/the-10-most-spoken-languages-in-the-world
It’s cool how similar and different mandarin and Cantonese are
This is a really interesting article! i always wondered how mandarin and cantonese were different. Thank you!
我喜欢这个文章！我想会说中文和广东话。
广东话是个非常有趣的语言。
I love this article, I speak Cantonese too.
I never knew that Mandarin and Cantonese words are written in the same way even though they are pronounced very differently. Very interesting!
Great article, I would love to learn more about the different dialects! This is a well written, informative article!
This article is structured well and intriguing and it helped me understand how Mandarin and Cantonese are different!
Great article! I am pretty knowledgeable about Mandarin but I never really understood the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese. It is also very interesting to learn about different dialects across China. Thank you so much for sharing.
Some of my family members speak Cantonese so I would really love to learn this dialect to be able to better communicate with them. I never knew that Cantonese had six tones compared to Mandarin’s four tones. Thanks for sharing!
Great article! I’m so surprised at the amount of Chinese dialects there are. Although I was aware of how similar mandarin and Cantonese were in writing, I’m super shocked to learn that Cantonese has two more tones. Thanks for sharing!
I didn’t know that Cantonese was spoken by 70 million people! I also didn’t know that Cantonese had six tones instead of four, like Mandarin. This article helped me learn more about the Cantonese dialect. Thanks for sharing!
This article was very interesting. I didn’t know that the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin is having six tones compared to four tones. My friends speak Cantonese to their grandparents but it sounds so different from mandarin so I could never pick up on it. I know how to say a few things such as “hi” and “how are you” but that’s pretty much it. I tried learning and speaking Cantonese but it sounds too different like a whole other language.
Thank you for this article that points out the similarities and differences in Mandarin and Cantonese. I knew that the written language is the same, and many characters are similar in sound. Although I know some Mandarin, I have trouble understanding Cantonese, but I hope to learn the language in the future.
Thank you for making an article that is very in depth and includes various levels of understanding when differentiating Mandarin and Cantonese. Its also very comforting knowing that, as a cantonese speaker, cantonese is getting recognition.
Thank you for making this article! Even though I speak some Cantonese it’s nice to compare the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese.
i had no idea Mandarin Chinese (普通话 pǔtōnghuà—literally translated as the “common speech”) is the most widely spoken native language in the world—with over 1.2 billion native speakers globally. this article is so interesting!!!!
Spectacular! I want to learn 普通话 now. 这个文章很informative和interesting。
Cool article! As someone who had little knowledge in differentiating Mandarin and Cantonese, this article was very educational to me.
I didn’t know Chinese as a whole had so many native speakers! This article was very interesting.
This is a very interesting article. I have some part of my dad side who can speak cantonese. It is good to know more about their language.
This article was so interesting, I now really want to learn how to speak cantonese to really experience the differences and learn mpre about them!
It was really interesting to learn the differences between Mandarin and Cantonese. This article was very informative and fun to read.
This is a really interesting article! i always wondered how mandarin and cantonese were different. Thank you!
As a person that speaks Cantonese, this was a great article. This helped me realized that although there are many differences between the two languages, there many more similarities. I loved this article!
My mom speaks Cantonese! I never knew how many differences and similarities there were. Nice article.
I never knew that Cantonese had six different tones! This article was very well written. I wonder what similarities and differences other dialects have compared to Mandarin.
I didn’t know that Cantonese is the most widely spoken native language in the world! I find the similarities in characters between Mandarin and Cantonese to be quite interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing about Cantonese! I speak Cantonese with my family frequently, but I never knew there were six tones. In class, I’ve noticed the similarities with Mandarin, which you’ve pointed out, and the correlation’s been helpful in learning Mandarin.
Thank you for sharing this! My mother speaks Cantonese but I don’t so it is very interesting to learn about this language. I wonder how many differences there are between Cantonese and Mandarin. Thanks for the great information.
This article was well written and very thorough! I speak some Cantonese with my maternal grandparents and have noticed the crossovers between Mandarin and Cantonese, but I never knew that there were six tones in Cantonese.
This was really interesting and informative! My family speaks Cantonese very frequently at home, so it’s nice to learn more about it. I’m not able to speak Cantonese proficiently, but I can understand it to some degree, so hopefully, I’ll be able to learn it later. Thanks for sharing!
What an interesting topic! My parents always tell me to learn Cantonese as it is “similar” and “easy” to learn. They say I should just watch shows in Chinese and Cantonese and I would be able to learn much faster. I still haven’t had the time to learn Cantonese so I’m really glad that you reminded me of this. Thank you for sharing!
That is so interesting! I never knew Mandarin Chinese have over 1.2 billion native speakers globally. Your article was informative and interesting to read. Keep up the good work.
This was such an informative and interesting article! I can speak a little bit of Cantonese but I never knew there was actually six tones instead of four! Thank you for sharing!
This was such an informative and interesting article! I can speak a little bit of Cantonese but I never knew there was actually six tones instead of four! I have been trying to improve my Cantonese and my Mandarin and I never was aware of all the similarities and differences!
Wow thank you for sharing this!! I Never knew that there were 6 tones instead of 4. My grandparents speak cantonese and I learned it when I was young. I hope I can learn it again!
I’m ngl at first I didn’t know that cantonese and mandarin were different. I knew that they were not spoken in the same regions but I never new that there was differences in the language. I’m currently learning mandarin in school and I think that it would be cool to learn Cantonese and Mandarin at the same time. I acctually know someone that speaks Cantonsese but they dont speak mandarin and I find that quite suprising. I acttualy live in a mansion and I have a corner deticated to chinese culture and there is some cantonses included
我觉得这个报告是很好的。在家里我跟我家人说广东话。 我的家人和亲戚时香港人所以我妈妈和爸爸要我说广东话。