What parts of China speak Cantonese and Mandarin?
What parts of China speak Cantonese and Mandarin?
It is spoken in many of the largest cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai. Mandarin is spoken widely in Singapore and Taiwan. Cantonese, however, is spoken largely in Hong Kong, as well as in Macau and the Guangdong province, including Guangzhou.
Where in China do they speak Cantonese?
Cantonese language, Chinese (Pinyin) Yueyu, (Wade-Giles romanization) Yüeh-yü, variety of Chinese spoken by more than 55 million people in Guangdong and southern Guangxi provinces of China, including the important cities of Canton, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Is Cantonese Chinese or Mandarin?
Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects of the Chinese language and are both spoken in China. They share the same base alphabet, but as a spoken language they are distinct and not mutually intelligible.
Can a Mandarin speaker understand Cantonese?
However, the two languages are distinct when spoken. Mandarin speakers typically cannot understand Cantonese speakers, and vice versa.
Which is older Mandarin or Cantonese?
What may surprise people is that Cantonese is actually older than Mandarin. Cantonese is approximately 2000 years old and belongs to the Yue family of Chinese languages (粵語) spoken in southeast China. The term Cantonese comes from Guangzhou, aka Canton, the capital of the Guangdong province in China (pictured above).
Can someone who speaks Mandarin understand Cantonese?
Can Cantonese understand Mandarin?
Although Cantonese and Mandarin have many similarities, they are not mutually intelligible. This means that, presuming one has no significant exposure or training, a speaker of Mandarin will understand little to nothing of Cantonese and vice-versa.
Which came first Cantonese or Mandarin?
Cantonese and Mandarin: which came first? Cantonese is believed to have originated after the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220AD, when long periods of war caused northern Chinese to flee south, taking their ancient language with them. Mandarin was documented much later in the Yuan Dynasty in 14th century China.