Standard Chinese

Standard Chinese, or Standard Mandarin, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan and is one of the four official languages of Singapore. It is based off the Mandarin dialect and should not be confused with other varieties of Chinese.

Standard Chinese
Modern Standard Mandarin
普通话 / 普通話, Pǔtōnghuà 国语 / 國語, Guóyǔ 华语 / 華語, Huáyǔ
Native to	China  Hong Kong  Macau  Taiwan  Singapore
Native speakers	(Has begun acquiring native speakers cited 1988, 2014)[1][2] L2 speakers: 7% of China (2014)[3][4]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese Mandarin Beijing dialect Standard Chinese
Early form	Middle Mandarin
Writing system	Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Mainland Chinese Braille Taiwanese Braille Two-Cell Chinese Braille
Signed forms	Wenfa Shouyu[5]
Official status
Official language in	China (as Putonghua)  Taiwan (de facto; as Guoyu)  Singapore (as Huayu)  United Nations Shanghai Cooperation Organisation  Myanmar (Wa State)
Regulated by	National Language Regulating Committee (China)[6] National Languages Committee (Taiwan) Promote Mandarin Council (Singapore) Chinese Language Standardisation Council (Malaysia)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	goyu (Guoyu) huyu (Huayu) cosc (Putonghua)
Glottolog	None
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Common name in mainland China
Traditional Chinese	普通話
Simplified Chinese	普通话
Literal meaning	Common speech
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Pǔtōnghuà Wade–Giles P'u3-t'ung1-hua4 Yale Romanization Pǔtūnghwà IPA [pʰùtʰʊ́ŋxwâ]
Common name in Taiwan
Traditional Chinese	國語
Simplified Chinese	国语
Literal meaning	National language
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guóyǔ Wade–Giles Kuo2-yü3 Yale Romanization gwóyǔ IPA [kwǒ.ỳ]
Common name in Singapore and Southeast Asia
Traditional Chinese	華語
Simplified Chinese	华语
Literal meaning	Chinese language
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huáyǔ Wade–Giles Hua2-yü3 Yale Romanization hwáyǔ IPA [xwǎ.ỳ]

Common phrases

English	Chinese (Traditional)	Chinese (Simplified)	Pinyin
Hello	你好	你好	Nǐhǎo
What's your name?	你叫什麼名字？	你叫什么名字？	Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
My name is...	我叫...	我叫...	Wǒ jiào...
How are you?	你好嗎？/ 你怎麼樣？	你好吗？/ 你怎么样？	Nǐ hǎo ma? / Nǐ zěnmeyàng?
I am fine, and you?	我很好，你呢？	我很好，你呢？	Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne?
Yes	是的	是的	Shì de
No	不	不	Bù
I don't want it.	不要。	不要。	Bú yào.
Thank you	謝謝	谢谢	Xièxiè
Welcome! / You're welcome!	歡迎您！/ 不用謝！	欢迎您！/ 不用谢！	Huānyíng nín! / bú yòng xiè!
When?	什麼時候？	什么时候？	Shénme shíhou?
How much (money)?	多少錢？	多少钱？	Duōshǎo qián?
How long (distance)?	多長？	多长？	Duō cháng?
Can you speak a little more slowly?	您能講得再慢些嗎？	您能讲得再慢些吗？	Nín néng jiǎng de zài màn xiē ma?
Good morning!	早上好！ (早安！ in Taiwan)	早上好！	Zǎoshang hǎo! (Zǎo an in Taiwan)
Goodbye!	再見！	再见！	Zàijiàn!
How do you get to the airport?	去機場怎麼走？	去机场怎么走？	Qù jīchǎng zěnme zǒu?
I want to fly to London on the eighteenth	我想18日坐飛機到倫敦	我想18日坐飞机到伦敦	Wǒ xiǎng shíbā rì zuò fēijī dào Lúndūn
My Chinese isn't so good.	我的中文講得不太好.	我的中文讲得不太好.	Wǒ de Zhōngwén jiǎng de bú tài hǎo.
How much will it cost to get to Munich?	到慕尼黑需要多少錢？	到慕尼黑需要多少钱？	Dào Mùníhēi xūyào duōshǎo qián?

Related pages

• Mandarin Chinese