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> "sign a piece of paper that was written in Mandarin" "Mandarin" is NOT a written language, but rather is a group of spoken dialects in Northern China [1]. T

> "sign a piece of paper that was written in Mandarin" "Mandarin" is NOT a written language, but rather is a group of spoken dialects in Northern China [1]. The Chinese written language is called "hàn zì" [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters

yorwba 9y ago
If you use Hanzi to write down something spoken in Mandarin, I'd call the result "written Mandarin". Of course it might at the same time be valid as Cantonese or any of the other languages and dialects spoken in China.
- garmaine 9y ago
  It’s not valid written form of other Chinese languages, for the record. People who speak other Chinese languages learn to read and write Mandarin. Cantonese can be written noticeably differently, in terms of character choice and word order. The same can be said of Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and other “dialects” for which there is extant literature, however small. Also, notably, “Classical Chinese” which is totally different from the modern variants listed above. It’s he same characters, sure, but combining in very different ways.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
my_first_acct 9y ago
Disclaimer. I neither speak nor write any form of Chinese, but I've read a bit on the subject. So: Cantonese (to choose one example) is a separate language from Mandarin (or a separate "variety", if you prefer [1]), but it uses the same writing system as Mandarin. Here is a random internet forum that supports the idea that two separate Chinese languages/varieties/dialects are using a single writing system: [2]. If this is really the case, it would be perfectly reasonable to describe a piece of paper as being written in Mandarin. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese [2] http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,111326,111327 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,111326,11...
- khedoros1 9y ago
  Mandarin is usually written with Simplified Chinese characters. Cantonese is usually written with Traditional Chinese characters. They're "the same characters", but the simplified ones tend to replace certain shapes with simpler versions. From friends, one tends to phrase things somewhat differently between the two languages/dialects. A phrase in one of them sometimes sounds awkward when expressed with the most directly equivalent words in the other. So you've got some pretty good clues about whether the original author of a document was thinking in Mandarin or Cantonese when writing it. And also, it's a Chinese government document in Shanghai: almost certainly simplified Chinese characters representing Mandarin Chinese.

yorwba 9y ago

If you use Hanzi to write down something spoken in Mandarin, I'd call the result "written Mandarin". Of course it might at the same time be valid as Cantonese or any of the other languages and dialects spoken in China.

garmaine 9y ago
It’s not valid written form of other Chinese languages, for the record. People who speak other Chinese languages learn to read and write Mandarin. Cantonese can be written noticeably differently, in terms of character choice and word order. The same can be said of Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and other “dialects” for which there is extant literature, however small. Also, notably, “Classical Chinese” which is totally different from the modern variants listed above. It’s he same characters, sure, but combining in very different ways.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

my_first_acct 9y ago

Disclaimer. I neither speak nor write any form of Chinese, but I've read a bit on the subject. So: Cantonese (to choose one example) is a separate language from Mandarin (or a separate "variety", if you prefer [1]), but it uses the same writing system as Mandarin. Here is a random internet forum that supports the idea that two separate Chinese languages/varieties/dialects are using a single writing system: [2]. If this is really the case, it would be perfectly reasonable to describe a piece of paper as being written in Mandarin. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese [2] http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,111326,111327 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,111326,11...

khedoros1 9y ago
Mandarin is usually written with Simplified Chinese characters. Cantonese is usually written with Traditional Chinese characters. They're "the same characters", but the simplified ones tend to replace certain shapes with simpler versions. From friends, one tends to phrase things somewhat differently between the two languages/dialects. A phrase in one of them sometimes sounds awkward when expressed with the most directly equivalent words in the other. So you've got some pretty good clues about whether the original author of a document was thinking in Mandarin or Cantonese when writing it. And also, it's a Chinese government document in Shanghai: almost certainly simplified Chinese characters representing Mandarin Chinese.