Mandarin Chinese
RegionChina
FamilySino-Tibetan
Speakers1.1 billion native
ScriptSimplified/Traditional Chinese
TypeLogographic
About Mandarin Chinese
The most spoken language by native speakers. Official language of China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Has 4 tones in Mandarin. Uses hanzi characters, over 50,000 exist but only 3,000-4,000 are commonly used. A tonal language where pitch changes meaning completely.
Related Languages
Wu Chinese (Shanghainese)
Spoken in Shanghai and surrounding region. Has more tones than Mandarin, with 8-10 tone categories. ...
Tibetan
The language of Tibetan Buddhism. The script was created in the 7th century. Has a classical form us...
Burmese
The official language of Myanmar. A tonal language with 3 tones. Uses a rounded script derived from ...
Cantonese
The prestige variety of Yue Chinese, spoken in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. The language of most...