There are almost three hundred languages and dialects in circulation in the People's Republic of China, but only one is officially recognized as the state. The language of China, in which it is customary to sign documents, conduct business negotiations and broadcast on federal channels, is called Mandarin.
Some statistics and facts
- According to accurate data, 56 recognized ethnic groups in China speak 292 languages.
- The standard state language of the PRC is the official spoken language only on the mainland.
- The Tibetan language has official status in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Mongolian in the territories of Inner Mongolia.
- The spoken languages in the republic belong to at least 9 families.
- Not all Chinese languages use the same Chinese script.
- On the banknotes of the PRC, in addition to Chinese writing, Arabic, Latin, Mongolian and Tibetan letters are used. This is done for those groups of the country's population that do not use hieroglyphs when writing.
Mandarin Chinese
Western people call Mandarin Chinese, which is officially accepted as the state language in the PRC. The vocabulary and phonetics of Mandarin are based on the norms of the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the northern group of numerous dialects in the territory of the Celestial Empire. Its written standard is called baihua.
However, the island territories of the PRC have completely different state languages and in Taiwan, for example, it is called "goyu".
Exam in the Celestial Empire
In 1994, the PRC authorities introduced an examination for the level of Mandarin language proficiency, according to the results of which only native Beijing citizens make less than 3% of mistakes in writing and speaking. For work as a radio correspondent, for example, no more than 8% of mistakes are permissible; for teaching Chinese at school, no more than 13%. Only a little more than half of the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire were able to pass the Mandarin language proficiency level with the number of errors less than 40%.
Tourist notes
Going on a trip to China, remember that you will not have problems communicating only in the territories bordering with Russia, in the capital, Shanghai, Hong Kong and a couple of other large cities. The whole province does not even speak English at all, and only in large hotels can you find a porter or a waiter who can help solve any problems a foreigner has.
Have a business card with your hotel name in Chinese with you to show to the taxi driver. They do not differ in their knowledge of English, even in the capital.
