China’s official language is Mandarin, which is also called Putonghua (普通话, means “common [...]
China’s official language is Mandarin, which is also called Putonghua (普通话, means “common speech”) in China. There are many dialects in China, and many of them are mutually unintelligible. However, standard Mandarin is taught all over the country, and it’s close to Beijing dialect. All dialects in China use the same set of characters in reading and writing, so even if people with different dialects can’t understand each other, they can read what the other writes.
Mandarin pronunciation uses Hanyu Pinyin, or Pinyin as its official phonetic system. If you understand how Pinyin works, then it will allow you to pronounce Chinese accurately. To learn Chinese and pronounce it correctly, the first step is to learn the principle of Pinyin. There are many Pinyin tutorials on Internet, both in text and video. Travelers can learn the basic use of it before travelling to China.
Here we list some basic and common Chinese phrases that will be useful in the trip. Check it when necessary.
