The Chinese Dialects
There are many different Chinese dialects, each with its own unique features. The three most common dialects are Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hokkien. Mandarin is the official language of China and is spoken by the majority of the Chinese population. Cantonese is spoken in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, as well as in Hong Kong and Macau. Hokkien is spoken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian.
Mandarin is the most widely spoken Chinese dialect and is the official language of China. Mandarin is spoken by approximately 70% of the Chinese population. The Mandarin dialect is based on the Beijing dialect and is also known as Putonghua. Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, which means that the meaning of a word can change depending on the tone in which it is spoken. There are four tones in Mandarin Chinese: flat, rising, falling-rising, and falling.
Cantonese is the second most common Chinese dialect and is spoken in the southern province of Guangdong, as well as in Hong Kong and Macau.
Cantonese is a tonal language like Mandarin, with six tones: high level, rising, departing, enter, checked, and neutral. Cantonese is also known for its use of loanwords from other languages, such as English, Portuguese, and Thai.
Hokkien is the third most common Chinese dialect and is spoken in the southeastern province of Fujian. Hokkien is a non-tonal language and has a simpler sound system than Mandarin or Cantonese. Hokkien is also known for its use of reduplication, which is when a word is repeated to create a new word. For example, the Hokkien word for ‘bird’ is niau, which can be reduplicated to niauniau to mean ‘many birds’.