> the idea that different languages are dialects of Mandarin I believe most Chinese do think Mandarin and Cantonese are parallel and won't consider Cantonese a

> the idea that different languages are dialects of Mandarin I believe most Chinese do think Mandarin and Cantonese are parallel and won't consider Cantonese a dialect of Mandarin. It's better to put it this way: both Mandarin and Cantonese (and many others) are "dialects" of a fictional, idealized language "Chinese". Hence, "dialect" here might be an incorrect translation of "fangyan", which literally just means "regional language".