The journey of learning Chinese often begins with a crucial question: Which Chinese dialect should one choose to learn? The Chinese language is not a monolith, but rather a collection of several main regional dialects. The most widely spoken dialects include Mandarin, Wu, Min, and Cantonese.
Mandarin, with approximately 850 million speakers, is the most prevalent dialect in China. It is not only the most spoken but also the official language sanctioned by the Chinese government. The term "Mandarin" is a translation from the Beijing expression guan-huà, which means "official language". This dialect, which originated in Beijing, was recognized as the official language at the beginning of the 20th century. Mandarin is also spoken in Taiwan, albeit with some differences in syntax and vocabulary.
Wu, spoken by around 90 million people, is prevalent in the Zhejiang province, the municipality of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, and parts of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces. The Min dialect, spoken by about 70 million people, is common in the southeastern province of Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, southern Zhejiang, the Zhoushan archipelago, and Taiwan.
Cantonese, also spoken by approximately 70 million people, is concentrated in Guangdong province, parts of Guanx, southern mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. In Singapore, one of the four official languages, huáyu, is based on the Beijing dialect, though it has its unique differences.
About 70% of the Chinese population, primarily residing in the western plains region, speak Mandarin. This region encompasses the central Yángzi, the plain of Huái, the neoriental plain, Sichuan, and the provinces of Guangxi, Guèizhou, and Yunan.
The various dialects spoken are generally understood by different language groups and can be categorized as follows: Septentrional, spoken in the northern region including the dialect of Pekín; Noroccidental, which includes the dialects of the Loess plain and territories to the west; Southoccidental, spoken in Sichuan and adjacent regions; and Oriental, representing the dialects spoken in Nanking.
Chinese is a tonal language, and tonal differences are one of the most common variations among the different Chinese dialects. Sometimes, dialects of two villages separated by just a few kilometers have different tonal systems. For instance, the tonal system of the dialect spoken in Pekin is typical of the septentrional region.
In this region, Beijing's Mandarin represents one of the simplest Chinese dialects from a tonal perspective, having four different tones that indicate the four levels of the words: very high, high, medium, and fallen high.
The romanization system officially adopted by the Beijing government, called pinyin, represents the tones using diacritical marks superimposed on the nuclear vowel of the word.
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