Major Chinese Dialects

Major Chinese Dialects

China is such a huge country that it is not surprising to come across many different variations of the Chinese language. Eight major dialects exist in China today and you might want to get familiar with them if you are planning a trip there! As you will read below, they all have some distinguishing features that make them quite different from one another.

Mandarin

Mandarin was originally spoken by Chinese officials from Beijing. The word ‘Mandarin’ means ‘commander’ in Sanskrit and it came to us through Portuguese, since the Portuguese used the term to refer both to the Chinese people and their language.

Today Mandarin is the main language of government, media and education in China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages of Singapore. In total, there are approximately 870 million Mandarin speakers in the world.

Just over 53% of the population of China speak Mandarin and of those, 70% are between the ages of 15 and 29, while the remaining 30% are people of age 30 and up.

Written Chinese is based on spoken Mandarin and speakers of other Chinese dialects have to learn the grammar and vocabulary of Mandarin in order to read and write in Chinese.

Shanghainese

Shanghainese is spoken by about 15 million people in Shanghai but there are also many speakers in Hong Kong. There is no standard written form of Shanghainese and it rarely appears in writing. Even if it is the chosen spoken language of Shanghai, it’s not used in academic settings and can only be heard occasionally on the radio.

Since a lot of Mandarin Chinese literature was written by native Shanghainese speakers, many Mandarin Chinese words that are used today come from these literary works. The words have become so well adapted into Standard Mandarin that most speakers assume they are Mandarin without realizing that they are actually Shanghainese.

Cantonese

Cantonese is spoken by about 71 million people mostly in southeast China and particularly in Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. It is also spoken in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and among overseas Chinese communities in many other countries.

Cantonese is the main language of business, media and government in both Hong Kong and Macau. Here, students have to learn how to write and read standard Mandarin Chinese, but of course they read it with a Cantonese accent!

Cantonese first appeared in writing in the 17th century. It’s mostly used in personal correspondence such as diaries, comics, poetry, advertising, popular newspapers, magazines and sometimes literature. There are two standard forms of written Cantonese: a formal version and a colloquial version. The former is very different from spoken Cantonese but similar to Standard Chinese and Mandarin speakers can easily understand it. The latter is much closer to spoken Cantonese and not understandable to Mandarin speakers. Cantonese is known for being harder to learn than Mandarin for its difficult tones.

Hakka

Hakka is spoken in southeast China, and in some parts of Taiwan and Hong Kong. In total, there are about 40 million Hakka speakers. Hakka means ‘guest’ and just like other ancient dialects, it has many sub-dialects. What is very interesting to notice is that in this dialect, the final consonants –p, -t and –k that were used in ancient Chinese still exist, while they did not survive in standard Chinese.

Xiang

25 million people in China speak this dialect, mostly in the Hunan province, but also in Sichuan, Guangxi and Guangdong. Two distinct varieties exist: Old Xiang, which is spoken in the southern areas and New Xiang, which can be heard in the northern areas and has been influenced by Mandarin. Xiang differs from Mandarin Chinese for its six tones, whereas Mandarin only has four, and the interchangeable “I” and “n” sounds.

Gan

Gan or Jiangxihua is a variety of Chinese spoken by about 20 million people mostly in the Jiangxi province, but also in some parts of Hubei, Anhui, Hunan and Fujian provinces of China. The name Gan comes from the river that runs through Jiangxi. The most prestigious form of the dialect is spoken in Nanchang, and it’s very similar to Cantonese. Gan uses one tone more than Mandarin, and has good variations in vocabulary.

Sichuanese

About 120 million people speak Sichuanese, and if it was considered an independent language, it would be the tenth most widely spoken in the world. Mandarin native speakers find this Chinese variety almost impossible to understand.

Taiwanese

Until the eighties there were restrictions that didn’t allow Taiwanese to be used on many occasions. These restrictions have now been eradicated and Taiwanese is even taught in schools. Some companies use Taiwanese as their official language. Today about 70% of the population of Taiwan speaks Taiwanese but  the majority also speak Mandarin.