Difference between Cantonese and Mandarin

Cantonese and Mandarin – you might be one of the several people who’re wondering what language is spoken all over Chinese territory including China Towns. If you’re thinking that answer is Chinese language, well you are not wrong.

But did you know that Chinese is not one language? It is several dialects groups. Do you know what dialects are mainly spoken about?

In this article, we’ll learn about 2 of these dialects Cantonese and Mandarin, and their differences:

Cantonese Spoken areas 

In short, it’s the local dialect of China’s southeast area, almost completely on the coast. This place comprises Guangdong Province and in South Guangxi Province further west regions.

Cantonese is also the major language of Macao and Hong Kong. Within these regions, public discourse takes place nearly exclusively in Cantonese. This makes Cantonese only a variety of Chinese languages, other than mandarin, to be utilized as an official language in the world.

In China, there’re an estimated 63.5 million Cantonese speakers. Whilst this might sound like a huge number, 63.5 million is only 5 percent of the Chinese population. Now, there’re also more than ten million native Mandarin speakers living in aboard, and more than 73.5 million speakers globally.

Mandarin Spoken areas 

Mandarin is the official state of the language of the country. It is the most frequently speaking language in mainland China, spoken by more than 67 percent of the Chinese people, predominantly in the north side and center of china. Habitants of the biggest and one of the most populated cities speak the Mandarin language, including Shanghai and Beijing. It’s also a widely spoken language in Singapore and Taiwan.

By contrast to the 63.5M speakers that can speak Cantonese in the mainland, the Mandarin language is the 1stof almost seventy percent of the Chinese people that equates to more than 925 million people. In recent times, the number of native Chinese speakers living abroad has increased greatly. In fact, it’s estimated that there’re now more than 35 million native speakers of Mandarin living in overseas countries.

Cantonese vs. Mandarin – Major differences 

You might be one of those native Chinese speakers who’re wondering, what the key differences between these dialects Cantonese are and Mandarin. Like what’s mentioned before, the Chinese are composed of various dialects, Cantonese and Mandarin are not 2 languages somewhat, and they’re 2 of the several Chinese dialects. 

In this article, we’ll focus on the difference between the 2 Cantonese and Mandarin in the case of Written Chinese, tones, spoken, grammar structural, and more.

Written character 

Have you ever try to write Chinese characters? Most of us have already seen tons of written Chinese characters. If you’re not a native Chinese speaker, it might be challenging for you to write Chinese at first, but don’t worry it is not an impossible task.

One of the big differences between Cantonese and Mandarin is the method who they’re written. Both of the dialects share a similar origin and have similar base characters, they’ve almost written the similar way.

When it comes to writing the Chinese characters. Mandarin is written utilizing simplified characters as set by the GOVT of China in the late 50s. Cantonese, on the other side, is still written conventionally, it has several strokes than Mandarin.

Tones

Reading and writing are 2 different skills to learn about this. In the case, Cantonese and Mandarin, there’s a misconception that they’re similar but they are just different in speaking. Well, they’re not. So, what are the major difference between these 2 dialects?

The extremely vital thing that we’d learn Cantonese and Mandarin are both tonal dialects that mean that the tones affect the mean of the word. The reality about Cantonese and Mandarin is they each have various tones. 

• Cantonese

Cantonese has 6 different tones. There’re historical pronounce and these are normally utilized for syllables ending in P, T, or K. In total, Cantonese has 9 check the following and compared it to the Mandarin language.

1. Mid rising tone
2. High flat tone
3. Mid flat tone
4. Low rising tone
5. Low falling tone
6. Low flat tone

Understanding the tones needs more comprehensive researches but for now, what’s vital is you have an idea about the major difference between Mandarin and Cantonese when it comes to their tonal forms.

• Mandarin

Mandarin has 5 different tones and 1 neutral tone. The one neutral pronounce is a de-emphasized syllable with no tonal distinction. These are the following:

1. Rising tone
2. High flat tone
3. Falling tone
4. Falling-rising tone
5. Neutral tone

Spoken Cantonese and Mandarin 

Spoken Cantonese and Mandarin are mutually incomprehensible. Little confused and thinking what does it mean? People who speak mandarin will not normally be capable to know people who speak the Cantonese language and vice versa. Both Cantonese and Mandarin language speakers have their distinct methods of speaking words.

These days, they both normally use Pǔtōnghuà or Standard Chinese. It’s the standardized variant of Mandarin that actually means common language. When you come across near states, you might also hear them as Huáyǔ in Singapore or Guóyǔ in Taiwan.

GrammarStructure

When discussing the grammar structure of Cantonese and Mandarin, these dialects are really different. For a not Chinese speaker, it might be simple for you to learn it because it follows some logical set of patterns.

On the other side, it’ll be harder for you to understand Mandarin because it often changes its grammatical structure on the emotional meaning as well as the subject.

Expressions and Idioms

Both Cantonese and Mandarin languages use various expressions and idioms. In other words, even if somebody from Hong Kong is capable to read basic Chinese writing, they mightn’t be capable of compared what’s actually being expressed by the writer if Chinese idioms and colloquialisms are utilized and vice versa.

Take a very popular and widely used Cantonese expression to assist make a better image and know the above-utilized reference to Cantonese and Mandarin natives trying to comprehend each other –the chicken speaking to the goose. It essentially means that while outsiders might think they know each other, they do not really.

Usefulness

Of course, when you start to learn the language, one of the major things that you’d take into consideration is the usefulness of Cantonese and mandarin. Which is more helpful, Cantonese and Mandarin? You might be questioning a similar question so this is something you’d think about. When you arrived in China, the Government and business activities are conducted in the Mandarin language. In public schools, most learners, even Cantonese natives are learning mandarin as a 2nd language.

So, if you’re in the mainland of China, it’ll be simple for you to contact other speakers because most people are speaking the Mandarin language. The case of the Cantonese language is different. As mentioned earlier, the majority of people who speak the Cantonese language are from, Guangxi Province, Macau, Guangdong Province, and Hong Kong. 

Mandarin in these areas is not widely used therefore if you’re planning to go to these areas, learning the Cantonese language is the one that’ll be useful for you. When we discuss the utility of any language, forever consider the country where you’re going.

What’s being widely spoken language? What do natives mainly use? These are the 2 questions that you have to ask yourself.

Difficulties in learning Cantonese and Mandarin languages 

Taking into account the major difference between Cantonese and mandarin, there’re difficulties in learning both Cantonese and Mandarin languages. There’re aspects of Mandarin that make it difficult for non-Chinese and native Chinese hard to learn. The most commonly known factor is a Chinese character. For the alphabetic language, there is a good loop among the speaking, writing, and listening, and those 2 categories are being made as 1 complex skill.

Though, with the Chinese, it breaks that line. Speaking doesn’t essentially help your reading ability and reading does not essentially help your writing skill in the Chinese language. Mastering the language means that you’ve to be able to command 3 different abilities that have to master both in parallel and separately.

It is a tonal language that can be a big task for non-Chinese speakers who’re used to speaking with emphasis (I did not eat your bread!) and rising tones, inflection to pose a question. The Cantonese language can be hard even for those who speak other dialects because of its tonal structure. For instance, the Mandarin language has 4 tones but Cantonese has 8 comprises pitch and outline forming a syllable’s meaning.

Cantonese and Mandarin – Which is more popular?

Mandarin is the most well-known dialect among native speakers. It’s mainly utilized in Mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan. These regions represent a huge population of over 1.3 billion Chinese. Most of the television and radio stations in China announce in Mandarin dialect. 

It has to turn out to be the main face of the language ever since the Government of china mandated that Mandarin is the official spoken language of the country, and is becoming a more and more widely used language on a global level.

As for Cantonese language, it’s widely spoken in Guangdong (Canton) province in Mainland China, gong Kong and with abroad Chinese in cities such as New York City and San Francisco. The population number in these regions is roughly ten million. Though, due to the inclination of Cantonese language speakers, this has led to a few Cantonese language speakers feeling concerned that their language is being lost.

An article published by South China Morning Post reveals that there’s a reduction in the numbers of Guangzhou teenagers and Youngsters are speaking the Cantonese language hence parents are focused to talk with them in the Mandarin language.

Cantonese or Mandarin – which language we should learn?

As we mentioned earlier, there’re several differences between Cantonese and Mandarin. If you deciding which language to learn, or which to teach your kids, it’s generally recommended to go with the Mandarin Language because of the fact it’s the most widely speaking language on earth, and said that it’d be the language of the next generation. Although, if you want to explore and drive deeper into the linguistic and Chinese language culture, it cannot hurt to pick up the Cantonese language as well.

Can I speak the Mandarin Language in Hong Kong?

Yes, you can, but nobody will thank you for it. It is estimated that around 50 percent of the population in Hong Kong can speak Mandarin, but this is due to the requirement of doing business in China. Around 90 percent population of Hong Kong still use the Cantonese language as their 1st language and there’s some resentment at shots by the Government of China to push the Mandarin language.

If you’re a non-native Chinese speaker, people in Hong Kong will surely people to speak to you in English than in the Mandarin language. The advice above is very true in Macau also, even though locals there’re slightly less sensitive to speaking the Mandarin language.

Some similarities between mandarin and Cantonese.

1. Mandarin and Cantonese languages are forms of Chinese 
2. Mandarin and Cantonese, both are tonal languages 
3. The Cantonese language has similar roots as written phases with mandarin 

Takeaway…

We hope this Cantonese and mandarin difference article has provided you with a complete understanding of the major difference among both languages. Without any doubt, Mandarin is simple to learn in terms of speaking and reading. This is because the Chinese characters are simplified and there’re fewer tones to understand. Though, that’s not to say Mandarin is very easy to understand.

There's a number of differences among these 2 Cantonese and mandarin languages, including characters, usefulness, spoken, idioms, and expressions. While there’re five tones in Mandarin, there’re six to nine in the Cantonese language.