Cantonese has six tones, whereas mandarin has just four. But, now, language learning is more obtainable than ever. What people call chinese is actually the written version of vernacular mandarin. I agree, cantonese is not a dialect, it is a regional language. In hong kong cantonese, three of the nine tones have merged, and so in reality there are only six tones at the moment. Cantonese, taishanese and other yue languages native languages, southwestern mandarin, vietnamese, malay both malaysian and indonesian, hong kong english, macau portuguese. Whilst its important to learn grammar in detail in small chunks, it can be very useful to get familiar with some general chinese grammar rules. Even though both cantonese and mandarin uses the same standard chinese script the two languages are still mutually unintelligible and very have many different aspects to it. The core of its standard form is described in the dictionary guoyu cidian. While both mandarin and cantonese are tonal, when it comes to the spoken word, cantonese sounds completely different to mandarin. Differences between mandarin and cantonese ltl mandarin. There are five distinguishing factors between cantonese vs. Learn to speak and understand cantonese chinese with pimsleur language programs 1 by pimsleur feb 1, 2006 3.
However, in cantonese if i said that, that would mean, i allow you to buy a book. 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. Apr 10, 2019 the best languagelearning software for 2020. Mandarin, japanese, and korean which is the hardest. Another major difference between mandarin and cantonese is the pronunciation. Many people think that chinese is just one language. While they are both tonal languages where different tones give different meanings to the same sound, the number of tones is different. When they hear a person from china speaking, they immediately say that the person is speaking in chinese. Both the mandarin and cantonese dialects are tonal languages where one word has many meanings depending on the pronunciation and intonation. But cantonese and mandarin arent the only chinese languages with a tonal system.
Both languages are spoken in malaysia and singapore. As soon as someone requested for a translation from chinese to english but after i clicked on it, it used to be actually cantonese, not mandarin. They are spoken with radically different tones, pronunciation, and even grammar, and certain of their words and phrases have different meanings, depending on the region. Predominantly chinese folk religions which include taoism, confucianism, ancestral worship and mahayana buddhism. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including. These lessons are designed to teach cantonese grammar patterns. These tones are vital when trying to convey your meaning, making cantonese harder to learn than mandarin. The differences between mandarin and cantonese by a. Thats not to say that learning cantonese is a waste of time, and for some people, it may be the better choice, but for most people wanting to speak chinese, mandarin is the way to go. Its a question asked by many, if not all who are unfamiliar with chinese culture. Jan 27, 2020 and cantonese speakers are increasingly learning mandarin to find work in mainland china. So it seems as though mandarin is more practical than cantonese. As you guys can see, were going to be changing the format a little bit, because the topic is a little bit too involved for me to just be talking on camera, im going to be using a presentation to use as cues to. Differences between mandarin and cantonese ltl mandarin school.
Simplified or traditional chinese, mandarin or cantonese. A comprehensive grammar is a complete reference guide to cantonese as spoken by native speakers in hong kong. Mandarin has five tones, while cantonese has nine different tones. Cracking the tones are said to be the hardest part of learning chinese. Mandarin has only four tones per sound, while cantonese has at least six and can have up to nine. To hear the pronunciation, just click on the sound icon. Cantonese and mandarin different dialects or different. Japanese has so many loaned terms from english, that helps make it easier to remember words, especially when youre just learning. Is there a difference between written cantonese and mandarin. So if you ever want to be a master of the language, a good understanding of grammar combined with active and persistent practice is an essential and yet often overlooked element. Many languages of the world are tonal, and mandarin is by far not the hardest. Difference between mandarin and cantonese compare the. Similarities and differences many people think that chinese is just one language.
As a quick example, spoken mandarin and cantonese use different words for to eat. Cantonese has 9 tones while mandarin has just 4 making it easier to learn than cantonese. If you are not a native but have to spend considerable time in china, you would be better off learning mandarin instead of cantonese. These arent specific grammatical structures, but general facts about the chinese language that apply in most cases. Rather than using standard chinese grammar, they use the grammar of their dialect and classical chinese to read the arabic sounds out loud. For instance, cantonese and mandarin in their written forms are, for the most part, mutually intelligible, but they differ significantly in their rules of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary when spoken wardhaugh 2008. Cantonese has 9 tones in total which can be divided into 6 open syllables and 3 checked syllables. About 15 of the world speaks some form of chinese language as native. Mandarin and cantonese are just two major different varieties or dialects of spoken chinese, not forms of written scripts. As most of you already knew, spoken cantonese is quite different than written cantonese, which is very similar to chinese mandarin.
There really is no better way to put it, things are just different. Mandarin and which one you should learn mastering chinese on your own used to be ranked as one of the most challenging language feats on the planet. Words in cantonese and mandarin are one syllable long only. In mainland china and singapore, mandarin is the spoken language and people resort to simplified chinese when they write. Mandarin, japanese, and korean which is the hardest language. These six are named dark flat, dark rising, dark departing, light flat, light rising, and light departing. Didi driver local carhailing app for two hours to drop standard mandarin in.
If youve recently started learning chinese, its a good idea to make sure youre familiar with these points. Cantonese is also the preferred language for the overseas european, australian, and north american chinese populace. In this case, writing in vernacular cantonese will look different from writing in vernacular mandarin, because of slight differences in grammar, vocabulary, etc. Cantonese is just like every other local dialect in china, and it differs only slightly from mandarin in terms of grammar since they both use chinese characters as scripts, but more regarding slangs and idioms, usage of certain words, and vocabu. This means the pronunciation is made easier by romanization. I would compare the 2 to italian and spanish, very similar to each other. Oct 31, 2017 in this video, youll get started with cantonese. It presents a fresh and accessible description of the language, concentrating on the real patterns of use in current cantonese. Learn cantonese in 20 minutes all the basics you need. I am fluent in mandarin, familiar with cantonese and a beginner in japanese, and my thought is that once you know the basics and become pretty fluent in chinese, you will be having an easier time learning the other languages. Cantonese tones, pingyam systems, and the difference between mandarin and cantonese all of which you can actually read on amazon for free using the look inside function. Chinese grammar levels a1 10 basic chinese grammar points for beginners 1400 words 21 minutes here are ten basic chinese grammar points that everyone interested in the language should know. Learn more in the cambridge englishchinese simplified dictionary. However, this aspect of mandarin is what native english speakers dread when learning.
Jan 17, 2019 cantonese thus is very different from the mandarin used in taiwan, even though they both use traditional chinese characters. From my understanding, formal written cantonese is identical to written mandarin in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Oddly enough, one language that appears to be more like cantonese than mandarin is korean. Mandarin has 4 tones as shown below, plus a neutral tone. What people call chinese is actually the written version of vernacular mandarin, or written putonghua. To be sure, it has its fair share of rules to remember, but those rules arent overwhelming by any means.
You will discover the key points of cantonese grammar. Taiwanese mandarin or national language of the republic of china, is a variety of mandarin chinese and a national language of taiwan. While many mandarin speakers might be able to write chinese words in pinyin. A comparative perspective aims to examine from a semantic perspective how syntactic structures and focus adverbs in mandarin chinese and semantic particles in cantonese conspire to encode focus structures and determine focus manifestation in chinese. This is the place to start if you want to start learning cantonese. Because the languages are so similar, cantonese grammar is as easy to learn as chinese grammar. May 20, 20 of the different varieties of chinese, mandarin is the most widely spoken version with over 800 million speakers. But that is not the case since there are several versions of spoken chinese. There is also a difference between mandarin and cantonese in.
Chinese mandarin with pinyin writing, french, german, italian, portuguese brazilian. The chinese language has a variation of dialects, usually pertaining to regions. Naturally, some knowledge of mandarin can be helpful in learning cantonese, but one cannot assume that it is simply a matter of learning a new pronunciation for the same language, or a new set of vocabulary to go with the same grammar. Cantonese and mandarin are written in the same way, though cantonese favors traditional chinese characters rather than simplified.
Except for tones, vocabulary and grammar structures also differs. An example about how similar or different mandarin and cantonese can be is demonstrated in the following simple sentence. Really enjoying it so far, but have a quick grammar question. Another major difference between mandarin and c antonese is the pronunciation. With expertise in translation, localization, and creative services in over 100 languages, venga partners with clients to help them communicate globally and support their global ambitions. Cantonese is spoken in hong kong, macau, guangzhou, and southern parts of china in that vicinity. Focus manifestation in mandarin chinese and cantonese. I am a native cantonese speaker who also knows mandarin. Cantonese and mandarin are written in the same way. Mandarin and cantonese are the largest chinese dialects.
The other major variety is cantonese which, along with english, is the official language of hong kong. What is the difference between mandarin and cantonese. Language software should also make use of different multimedia formats to make learning more interactive and interesting. Written chinese was originally developed for classical chinese, citation needed and was the main literary language of china until the 19th century.
Differences between learning cantonese and mandarin. In teaching terms, mandarin chinese uses the pinyin system. In cantonese, there must always be an agent in a passive, while in mandarin this isnt the case. Unlike synthetic languages, seldom do words indicate time, gender and plural by inflection. Alright, hey guys, welcome back to another episode of language diary, and were going to be doing something fairly exciting today. While these lessons require learning a certain amount of vocabulary, the emphasis is on learning the grammar concepts. Whats the difference between chinese, mandarin and cantonese. Mandarin and cantonese even have different vowels and consonants. The purpose of a character dictionary is to learn characters, not words.
These lessons are designed to teach chinese grammar patterns. I consider mandarin softer, and smoother, cantonese a bit rougher and harsher. Cantonese is an analytic language in which the arrangement of words in a sentence is important to its meaning. May 08, 20 mandarin audio system can differentiate mandarin and cantonese via the sentence syntax, for instance if it had been cantonese the grammar would seem rather weird or strange. Mandarin, cantonese, its all chinese to me, but which chinese.
Traditional chinese how are they related to cantonese vs mandarin. Hutton and bolton 2005 is a fun dictionary for street slang, lau 1977. Both cantonese and mandarin are dialects of the chinese language, and both are spoken widely in mainland china. Listening to people speaking mandarin and cantonese can seem as if the languages are totally differentyet they do have many similarities, especially in grammar and characters. The characters in mandarin have been simplified in 1950 while characters in cantonese are still traditional. Chinese words are composed of one or more characters, i. Also, the grammar between mandarin and cantonese are fairly different. Technically, cantonese keeps the pronunciation and grammar features of the ancient chinese more. It is used by most of the chinese primary schools, colleges, and universities. Hence to learn cantonese effectively one needs to pay attention to its grammar. From my own experience, whenever i read through formal publications from hong kong, i can comprehend the text perfectly, although i dont speak cantonese im taiwaneseamerican by the way. The difference between cantonese and mandarin lingualinx. Mandarin words always end in a vowel, whereas cantonese words could end in a vowel or a consonant. They can help you get a feel for mandarin chinese and how it works.
The grammar book also has great introductory information about topics mentioned above. I very rarely mix up pedagogy with actual cantonese grammar content, however, understanding a few basic things about cantonese discourse will help you understand how to approach thinking about cantonese word order, so i want to bring up a couple of very important points before we get started. Mandarin vs cantonese grammar question hi all, im a nonnative mandarin speaker, been living in shanghai for about 6 years, recently decided to start studying cantonese. Zhan 1988 gives correspondences for dialects of guanghou and hong kong dspecialized dictionaries. The written chinese used is the same everywhere mainland, hong kong, taiwan. Just like the software for learning any other language, the best software for learning mandarin should offer students learning methods that are designed to meet individual learning styles. How long does it take for mandarin speakers to learn. Written cantonese is the written form of cantonese, the most complete written form of chinese after that for mandarin chinese and classical chinese. How to describe differences between cantonese and mandarin. Zeng 1986 gives correspondences between cantonese, mandarin, and english. If a mandarin speaker moves to live in a place where every one speaks cantonese, the person would be able to understand the basic cantonese in about 36 months, and can have a daily conversation in about a year if he studies the dialect.
For example, when trying to look up the word dialect, one will find the characters. The written form of both languages are the same, with the exception that mandarin uses simplified characters and cantonese uses traditional characters. Cantonese is one of the major dialects, as well as mandarin, traditional and simplified for written chinese the most popular, and thus most widely used chinese dialect within mainland china, is mandarin. The difference between mandarin chinese and cantonese esl. For instance, the word for not in mandarin is bu, but it is but in cantonese. The differences between mandarin and cantonese is obviously, as for the tones, we all know that there are 4 tones in mandarin,however,there are 9 tones in cantonese. Pimsleur chinese cantonese conversational course level 1 lessons 116 cd. Written vernacular chinese first appeared in the 17th century and a written form of mandarin. The grammar in cantonese is much harder than mandarin grammar by using more particles, which makes it harder for nonnative speakers to learn.
In the teaching context, mandarin pronunciation is usually romanized using the pinyin system or zhuyinbopomofo in taiwan where cantonese commonly uses yale romanization. Other resources for learning mandarin chinese grammar patterns and structures. And cantonese speakers are increasingly learning mandarin to find work in mainland china. However, there are certain peculiarities to each dialect. A background on the main variations of chinese and help you answer. Is japanese, cantonese or mandarin chinese the easiest to. Mandarin and cantonese are dialects of the chinese language and both are spoken in china. Also there is confusion about what you actually mean when you said having knowledge of another chinese dialect eases up the learning process for cantonese, languages may be easier to understand if you have a basis in it, but with the languages in china.