AAPI Heritage Month Spotlight: The Intricacies of the Chinese Language
May 23
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Written by Anthony Calafiura, Translations and Administrative intern at Langalo
The term “Chinese” encompasses several distinct dialects within a language family that use shared writing systems. This can be confusing for many people, who may have a hard time understanding how the language actually works.
You might have wondered:
What’s the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese?
How are Mandarin and Cantonese different?
It may seem intimidating at first – especially when it comes to Chinese translation or interpretation – but if we make some effort to understand the Chinese language family and the culture as a whole, it will all make sense!
The Spoken Language
It is estimated that 1.3 billion people speak some form of the Chinese language. With the language being spoken for thousands of years, dialectal differences based on region have naturally developed.
There are an estimated five hundred Chinese dialects, many of which can even be spoken within the same province. Different dialects can feature a range of accents, while others provide completely different pronunciations of the same words compared to other dialects.
💡 Hint: Consider a strong British or Scottish accent. Regional terms may be used and pronunciations of the same word can sound very different. This can lead to those who speak American English having difficulty understanding British or Scottish speakers without aids such as subtitles.
Some of the most widely spoken dialects include the Cantonese and Shanghainese dialects.
When people refer to Mandarin Chinese, they are referring to a standardization of the Chinese language based on the Beijing dialect. In the 1930s, the Beijing dialect was chosen as the standard language, due to the capital of China historically being there. This was done by the Chinese Communist Party to make communication easier and to encourage unification.
Nowadays, most young people can speak Mandarin, and it is the language used during school and official proceedings.
The Written Language
Historically, the Chinese writing system has been integral to widespread communication. People across China wrote using the same Chinese characters, allowing them to communicate despite dialectal differences and varying pronunciations of certain words.
In other words, every character would mean the same thing, but different regions would assign specific pronunciations to each word. The Chinese writing system allowed people to understand each other despite their linguistic differences.
💡 Hint: Think of it like a more extreme version of seeing the word tomato. Whether pronounced to-may-to or to-mah-to, when written down, people understand the expressed idea despite the slight difference in pronunciation.
In the same period of standardizing the spoken language, the Chinese Communist Party pushed for simplifying China’s writing system to encourage more people to become literate. The simplified system was made easier to write due to having fewer strokes, hence the literal term “Simplified Chinese”. It is important to understand that there is no difference in pronunciation or meaning between the two writing systems.
Each simplified character has an original complementary traditional character. Also, not all traditional characters have been simplified so certain characters are the same across systems. Many people still use the traditional writing system, particularly those in Hong Kong and Taiwan who historically had less influence from the Chinese Communist Party.
✳️ Fun fact: There was an attempt to further simplify characters but it was unpopular due to oversimplification causing confusion.
To reiterate, the difference between Mandarin Chinese and dialects like Cantonese is different spoken pronunciations. The difference between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese is that they are different writing systems that have no impact on pronunciation.
We hope this serves as a good introduction to further understanding of the Chinese language. When it comes to any questions or confusion, rest assured that we, at Langalo, have always got you covered!
Our dedicated team of professionals understands the intricacies of language and is guaranteed to get you results you can rely on.
We translate both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and can interpret to and from Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, as well as many other spoken dialects of the language.
Contact us today to get a free quote for your projects!
