Difference between Mandarin and Cantonese

I have already had another hub “Cantonese, a beautiful and widely used language” talking about the language Cantonese in depth. And, this time, I would like to show you the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin. I am going to make a comparison between Cantonese and Mandarin from the origin and history to different accent of them. And while following my hub, I am sure you will learn more about Cantonese and Mandarin.

Mandarin is the most popular language in China; it is taken as the official language of China by the government in the 1950s, the origin of Mandarin can be trace to the Qing Dynasty of China, which is about 350 years ago. When the Ming Dynasty was over, China was ruled by Manchu and the Qing Dynasty was being built up in China. Manchu is an Ethnic Minorities in the north China; they don’t know the language of Han, in order to rule China easier, they learn the language of the Ming Dynasty. The early stage of Mandarin is the mixture of the two languages. In fact, the “Man” in the word “Mandarin” comes from “Manchu”. After that, Mandarin spread all over China because of the status of Manchu in Qing Dynasty. When compared to Mandarin, Cantonese has a greater history. The origin of Cantonese can be trace to 2200 years ago in Qin Dynasty. It is a language developed from the language of ancient China in south China, so Cantonese has a greater historical value.

Mandarin speaks in every region in China. As Mandarin began to be promoted to the official language of China by the government in 1950s, Mandarin rapidly spread from the north China to south China, and the students in China learn and speak Mandarin at school. So, it is always considered that Mandarin can be used in all parts of China. Cantonese is the mother language of the Guangdong province, a south province of China, and it is widely used in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. Cantonese is the second important language in China for it’s the mother language in some of the most developed cities. What’s more, Cantonese also play an important role in some countries like the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Cantonese is considered as the third language in the U.S. and Canada, and it’s the forth language of Australia. There are more than 60 million people in the world speaks Cantonese, so besides Mandarin, Cantonese is also an important language of China.

The accent of Cantonese is more similar to the language of ancient China; some of the vowels of ancient China are still preserved in Cantonese. However in Mandarin, the feature of this is disappeared. Normally, if you read the Chinese ancient poetry in Cantonese, you will find it is more beautiful in the accent than reading it in Mandarin. As Guangdong province is the first place for China open to the world, there are more words in Cantonese brought in by the other countries than Mandarin.

It is hard to say which is more useful. Mandarin is widely used in all the regions of China, if you want to start your business in China or travel all the parts of China, Mandarin can be more useful. However, if we take cultural and historical status into account, for example, you are a researcher who wants to know more about the ancient Chinese culture, Cantonese can be more useful. One more thing, Cantonese is more likely to be the Orthodox Chinese for its origin and history.

To most of the foreigners, Chinese is a very hard language to learn, that seems because the Chinese do not use the 26 letters, and the accent of Chinese may be difficult for the foreigners to pronounce. So, it is the best way for someone goes to China to learn Chinese from the local people. But you should choose the right place to learn the corresponding language. There are many dialects in different places of China. Normally, it is OK to choose any part of China to learn Mandarin, but some cities, like Beijing might be better. But there is few places for you to learn Cantonese in China, generally, start your journey of learning Cantonese in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macao can be better than some of other parts in Guangdong province for a foreigner. It is recommended that you find a city with great culture in China to start your learning journey. By this way you can learn Chinese while enjoying the great culture of China. In order to learn and practice Chinese, you can join some training course in the University of China or take part in some social activities.