Varieties of Chinese

The Sino-Tibetan family is a parent language of Chinese. Many linguists believe that all varieties of Chinese language have been derived from an original language, known as Proto-Sino-Tibetan. It is also believed that the Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman languages descended from this language.

It is estimated that Chinese is spook by 20% of the world. The Chinese language is a rich and varied language. There are varieties of Chinese language, more commonly known as dialects. Although most people regard the varieties of Chinese language as a single language, the variations in these dialects are so vast that one particular dialect may be incomprehensible to someone who is familiar with another dialect.

Depending on the classification scheme, it is estimated that there are around 6 to 12 varieties of Chinese dialects. Amongst these varieties of Chinese dialects, the one that is most spoken is Mandarin. Min, Wu, and Cantonese follow closely behind.

One of Hong Kong’s official languages is Cantonese (English being another) and continues to be common with people residing in Cantonese-speaking overseas communities. Mandarin, on the other hand, is the Peoples Republic of China’s official language. The United Nations has also included Chinese into one of its six official languages.

Among the other varieties of Chinese dialect, Wu is spoken by people in Shanghai; Min is spoken by people in Fujian and Taiwan, along with the Gan, Xiang varieties of the Chinese dialect.

There are few other varieties of Chinese dialect such as Kejia which is spoken by the Hakka, and Yue which is more common with people from Guangzhou.

Chinese language is a tonal language. There is greater stress on the tone. The modern varieties of Chinese languages can have somewhere between four to nine tones.

Written Chinese vs. Spoken Chinese

Chinese is written using the Han characters. It is believed that Chinese characters originated in the Shang dynasty.  It is interesting to note that the varieties of Chinese dialects have undergone a number of evolutions since the late-Han dynasty. Written Chinese, on the other hand, has seen far less changes than the spoken language.

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