What's the difference
between Cantonese and Mandarin?
Many western people are
confused with Chinese Cantonese and Chinese Mandarin. What is the difference
between Cantonese and Mandarin? How are they related to traditional Chinese
and simplified Chinese?
Mandarin is the official
language in China. Cantonese is one of the Chinese dialects. In mainland
China and Taiwan, most people speak Mandarin, while Cantonese is only
spoken in China's Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. Cantonese is more
popular among overseas Chinese because most Chinese immigrants in North
America come from Guangdong and Hong Kong.
Traditional and simplified
Chinese are only variations of the written forms, whereas Mandarin and
Cantonese are related to its spoken form. They should not be confused, that
is, Mandarin is not the same thing as simplified Chinese. Usually
"simplified Chinese" is for Mandarin speakers, "traditional
Chinese" is for Cantonese speakers and Taiwan Speakers. (Simplified
characters are used in the PRC and Singapore. Traditional Chinese
characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.)
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