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HomeTopics...Asia VacationsChinese Language
The Chinese Language and the Various DialectsThe Chinese language exists in two distinct forms: spoken and written Chinese.
Spoken Chinese LanguageThe Chinese language is the most commonly spoken language in the world.
China's main spoken language is Modern Standard Chinese, which is based on the Mandarin dialect of Northern China and, more specifically, on the Beijing Mandarin dialect. Spoken by over seventy percent of the Chinese population, this "national" language is known as Putonghua (common speech) in China. Putonghua is a spoken representation of Chinese characters and is the official Chinese language of government and administration. Putonghua is also taught in schools throughout China.
Chinese DialectsWhile Modern Standard Chinese is the main language, spoken Chinese has many different dialects, with some of the dialects so dissimilar that you could easily mistake them for entirely different languages. Interestingly, Chinese people often have difficulty understanding one another if they speak different dialects. For many, the only form of communication possible is through the written language.
Most Chinese dialects, such as Mandarin, have in common the use of four distinct tones plus a neutral tone to separate individual, spoken words. Cantonese, spoken mainly in southeastern China and by Chinese-American immigrants, is a notable exception with nine distinct tones.
Written Chinese LanguageThe first Chinese script dates back to between 5,000 and 4,000 BC. Written Chinese is believed to be the oldest written language in the world and uses around fifty thousand different characters and symbols to represent objects and concepts.
Early Chinese script used pictures of single objects to convey straightforward meanings, which was relatively easy to understand. Take, for example, the picture of an arrow hitting a target; this picture was used to denote arrival. As the Chinese language evolved, however, so did the need to express more complex, abstract ideas using combinations of different characters and symbols. Although the Chinese language has many different dialects, all the various dialects are written in a similar way, using either simplified script or full-form characters. Use of the simplified system is widespread throughout the People's Republic of China whereas, in Taiwan and to a certain extent in Hong Kong, traditional, more complex written forms of the Chinese language prevail.
Chinese Language and Linguistic DevelopmentsThe use of an alphabet, in Chinese writing, is a relatively recent development that only became widespread during the 1950s. In 1958, Pinyin (literally, spell sound) was officially adopted as the system of Romanization in the People's Republic of China. The Pinyin system is used to denote the spoken sounds of Putonghua, the common language of China. The Romanized Pinyin system is based on the Latin alphabet.
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