4 ms·
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 fr
by 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 agoMandarin 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.