Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Standard Mandarin, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan and is one of the four official languages of Singapore. It is based off the Mandarin dialect and should not be confused with other varieties of Chinese.
| Standard Chinese | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modern Standard Mandarin 普通话 / 普通話, Pǔtōnghuà 国语 / 國語, Guóyǔ 华语 / 華語, Huáyǔ | ||||
| Native to |  China Hong Kong Macau Taiwan Singapore | |||
| Native speakers | (Has begun acquiring native speakers cited 1988, 2014)[1][2] L2 speakers: 7% of China (2014)[3][4] | |||
| Language family | Sino-Tibetan
| |||
| Early forms: | Middle Mandarin
| |||
| Writing system | Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Mainland Chinese Braille Taiwanese Braille Two-Cell Chinese Braille | |||
| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |
| |||
| Regulated by | National Language Regulating Committee (China)[5] National Languages Committee (Taiwan) Promote Mandarin Council (Singapore) Chinese Language Standardisation Council (Malaysia) | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | – | |||
| ISO 639-6 | goyu (Guoyu) huyu (Huayu) cosc (Putonghua) | |||
| ||||
| Common name in mainland China | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 普通話 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 普通话 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Common speech | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Common name in Taiwan | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 國語 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 国语 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | National language | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Common name in Singapore and Southeast Asia | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 華語 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 华语 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Chinese language | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Common phrases
| English | Chinese (Traditional) |
Chinese (Simplified) |
Pinyin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hello | 你好 | 你好 | Nǐhǎo |
| What's your name? | 你叫什麼名字？ | 你叫什么名字？ | Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? |
| My name is... | 我叫... | 我叫... | Wǒ jiào... |
| How are you? | 你好嗎？/ 你怎麼樣？ | 你好吗？/ 你怎么样？ | Nǐ hǎo ma? / Nǐ zěnmeyàng? |
| I am fine, and you? | 我很好，你呢？ | 我很好，你呢？ | Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne? |
| Yes | 是的 | 是的 | Shì de |
| No | 不 | 不 | Bù |
| I don't want it. | 不要。 | 不要。 | Bú yào. |
| Thank you | 謝謝 | 谢谢 | Xièxiè |
| Welcome! / You're welcome! | 歡迎您！/ 不用謝！ | 欢迎您！/ 不用谢！ | Huānyíng nín! / bú yòng xiè! |
| When? | 什麼時候？ | 什么时候？ | Shénme shíhou? |
| How much (money)? | 多少錢？ | 多少钱？ | Duōshǎo qián? |
| How long (distance)? | 多長？ | 多长？ | Duō cháng? |
| Can you speak a little more slowly? | 您能講得再慢些嗎？ | 您能讲得再慢些吗？ | Nín néng jiǎng de zài màn xiē ma? |
| Good morning! | 早上好！ (早安！ in Taiwan) | 早上好！ | Zǎoshang hǎo! (Zǎo an in Taiwan) |
| Goodbye! | 再見！ | 再见！ | Zàijiàn! |
| How do you get to the airport? | 去機場怎麼走？ | 去机场怎么走？ | Qù jīchǎng zěnme zǒu? |
| I want to fly to London on the eighteenth | 我想18日坐飛機到倫敦 | 我想18日坐飞机到伦敦 | Wǒ xiǎng shíbā rì zuò fēijī dào Lúndūn |
| My Chinese isn't so good. | 我的中文講得不太好. | 我的中文讲得不太好. | Wǒ de Zhōngwén jiǎng de bú tài hǎo. |
| How much will it cost to get to Munich? | 到慕尼黑需要多少錢？ | 到慕尼黑需要多少钱？ | Dào Mùníhēi xūyào duōshǎo qián? |
Standard Chinese Media
Zhongguo Guanhua (Template:Zhi), or Medii Regni Communis Loquela ('Middle Kingdom's Common Speech'), used on the frontispiece of an early Chinese grammar published by Étienne Fourmont (with Arcadio Huang) in 1742
Distribution of Mandarin subgroups in mainland China, as of 1987
Distribution of the Chinese dialect groups as of 1987, including Mandarin (light brown)
A poster outside a high school in Yangzhou urges people to "Speak Putonghua to welcome guests from all around, use the language of the civilized to give your sincere feelings".
Relative pitch contours of the four full tones
Related pages
References
- ↑ Norman (1988), pp. 251.
- ↑ Liang (2014), p. 45.
- ↑ Luo, Chris (22 September 2014). One-third of Chinese do not speak Putonghua, says Education Ministry. http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1598040/3-10-chinese-citizens-do-not-speak-putonghua-says-education.
- ↑ Only 7% of people in China speak proper Putonghua: PRC MOE, Language Log, 2014 Sept. 24
- ↑ http://www.china-language.gov.cn/ Archived 2015-12-18 at the Wayback Machine (Chinese)
- Norman, J., Chinese, Cambridge University Press, (Cambridge), 1988.
- Ramsey, R.S.(1987). The Languages of China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01468-X
- San Duanmu (2000) The Phonology of Standard Chinese ISBN 0-19-824120-8
Other websites
 |
The English Wikibooks has more information on: |
- General Introduction of Chinese Language
- Stroke order for Chinese character Archived 2009-03-17 at the Wayback Machine Official website of the Ministry of Education
- Introductory Course for Mandarin Chinese Archived 2022-03-22 at the Wayback Machine
- New Asia--Yale-in-China Chinese Language Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
