Differences between Chinese and Mandarin
Most people regard two of them as one. Are Chinese and Mandarin the Same? Many foreign students get confused by these two. Here we will see the following four different aspects:
Translating and definition
The translation of Chinese is 汉语(hàn yǔ) or 中文(zhōng wén). It includes Classical Chinese， dialects, and standard Chinese/Mandarin. Chinese refers to the abbreviation of Chinese language and writing or Chinese language and literature and also refers explicitly to the language and writing of the Han nationality (Chinese and Chinese characters) or Chinese language and literature. Chinese is relative to foreign languages and textures, including Mandarin + local dialects (characters) + minority languages (characters) + Chinese characters.
Mandarin is 普通话(Pǔ tōng huà), which is a standardized form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect as the standard phonetic, northern Mandarin as the basic dialect, and classic modern writings as the grammatical standard lingua franca. “Mandarin” is also the popular name for “Modern Han Nationality Common Language” (现代汉民族共同语) in China. It is the formal language of modern Chinese. The official language of the People’s Republic of China; in international affairs, it is the representative language of the People’s Republic of China. It is known as 国语”Guoyu”, 汉语” Huayu”, 中国话” Zhongguo hua”, “Guanhua,” etc. as well.
History
Mandarin was announced by “the National Character Reform Conference” in 1955. However, the Chinese have thousands of years of history.
Written form
The written form is also different. Mandarin uses simplified Chinese characters, which the written form of Chinese includes simplified, traditional, and dialect characters. It often provides text and cultural environment; or refers specifically to text, such as “Simplified Chinese,” “Traditional Chinese,” and so on.
Users
Nowadays, kids are receiving Mandarin education in schools. However, they may speak a dialect at home with their parents and grandparents. Many seniors don’t speak Mandarin, but they speak Chinese dialects, especially those living in rural areas and away from cities. For different reasons, like media and little kids at home, many seniors also understand Mandarin, though they speak the dialect only.
Have you ever experienced that when speaking Mandarin to someone and getting a dialect replied to?
References:
https://www.htu.edu.cn/yw/2010/0708/c1663a31298/page.htm
https://www.toutiao.com/article/6732751843673244172/?wid=1691907272081
