How many dialects does Chinese have?
One of the great trick questions in linguistics. What we call Chinese “dialects” are actually separate languages. Two of the major languages are Mandarin, the official spoken language of China, and Cantonese, centered in the South, notably in Hong Kong. Some Chinese-Americans have learned one of the non-official languages (or “dialect”) from their family and cannot speak or understand Mandarin at all. On the flip side, some “languages”, such as Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian are actually dialects of each other, understandable by native speakers. Although there are regional differences, they are somewhat like the differences between American and British English (although some linguists argue that Scots English should be properly classified as a separate language!) Political situations such as the one in China and Scandinavia have led to the famous saying “A language is a dialect with an army.
One of the great trick questions in linguistics. What we call Chinese “dialects” are actually separate languages. Two of the major languages are Mandarin, the official spoken language of China, and Cantonese, centered in the South, notably in Hong Kong. Some Chinese-Americans have learned one of the non-official languages (or “dialect”) from their family and cannot speak or understand Mandarin at all. On the flip side, some “languages”, such as Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian are actually dialects of each other, understandable by native speakers.
