What is Modern Standard Chinese the official Chinese language known as?
Mandarin language
Mandarin language Beijing forms the basis for Modern Standard Chinese—Guoyu, “National Language,” usually called putonghua “common language” by the Chinese. Modern Standard Chinese is also spoken officially on Taiwan.
Why is Mandarin Chinese called Mandarin?
When Jesuit missionaries learned this standard language in the 16th century, they called it “Mandarin”, from its Chinese name Guānhuà (官话/官話) or ‘language of the officials’.
Can I understand Cantonese if I only speak Mandarin?
Someone who only speaks Mandarin will not generally be able to understand Cantonese, and vice versa. As an example, “hello” in Mandarin is nǐ hǎo, pronounced nee-haow (find out more about pronunciation here), but in Cantonese it is néih-hóu. Another way of greeting someone in China is to ask whether they have eaten yet.
How many syllables are there in the modern Chinese language?
The pronunciation of Modern Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect, which is of the Northern, or Mandarin, type. It employs about 1,300 different syllables. There are 22 initial consonants, including stops (made with momentary, complete closure in the vocal…
How well is Mandarin received in Hong Kong?
In the author’s personal experience, as a Mandarin speaker frequently visiting Hong Kong, Mandarin has been received well in scenarios where English was first used to communicate and not understood. As a back-up, and following an apology for poor Cantonese, communicating in Mandarin has then seemed acceptable.
When was the Modern Standard Chinese language created?
(Modern Standard Chinese… …was launched; this resulted in Modern Standard Chinese. In 1956 a new system of romanization called Pinyin, based on the pronunciation of the characters in the Beijing dialect, was adopted as an educational instrument to help in the spread of the modern standard language.