<p>Standard Written Chinese is the written form of Mandarin, and is the only form of written Chinese in widespread use. People speaking all forms of spoken Chinese, including Cantonese speakers, Hokkien speakers, etc., all learn to write in Standard Written Chinese, i.e. they all learn to write the way Mandarin speakers speak (for better or worse).</p>

<p>There exists a fairly complete system of "Written Cantonese" (and to a lesser extent also written representations of Hokkien), which writes the way that Cantonese speakers speak, but it is practically never used in ordinary life by Cantonese speakers, and even many native Cantonese speakers may not understand some of the characters in it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-15T22:34:03.380Z
2015-07-15T22:34:03.380Z
user102008
<p>This is a more political questions than linguistics questions. &quot;Standard written language&quot; means regulated by government and used in public places so that every educated individual can understand regardless region. However, Cantonese by linguistics standard, can be considered as a complete different language from Mandarin, so does Shanghainese. The reason not much materials are written in Cantonese is because of the regulations. In forums that only Cantonese speakers join, the words written are totally different. I cannot understand any, but my roommate helped me a bit. He said there are multiple ways Cantonese are written. There is a standard written Cantonese, but these days young people sometimes refuse to learn it systematically, so they write down spoken words just by characters with similar pronunciations. This is also because Cantonese is not recommended to be taught as a mandatory course in schools.</p>
<p>My Shanghai roommate says Shanghainese is gradually disappearing in his generation. But there are more societies speaking Cantonese than Shanghainese, so  standard Cantonese can still exist for long.</p>
<p>Answer based on my friends who are native Cantonese and Shanghainese speaker.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-10T18:14:33.723Z
2020-07-10T18:26:41.217Z
2020-07-10T18:26:41.217Z
River
<p>I've looked for this question on the site but can't seem to find it. I'm interested in learning Chinese, well, Cantonese specifically, and I want to focus on both the written and spoken components. But from what I've read, the standard for written Chinese is Mandarin, regardless of dialect.</p>
<p>Is this understanding correct? I.e., that a variety of dialects use written Mandarin as the standard for the written component of the language, but differ only in pronunciation and word preference?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-12T06:43:31.210Z
In Chinese, spoken language (語言) and written language (文字) are two very different concepts. Mandarin is a spoken language, not a written language.
joehua
<cantonese><topolect><writing><spoken>
Is it correct to say the standard for written Chinese is Mandarin, regardless of dialect (e.g. Cantonese)?
# Is it correct to say the standard for written Chinese is Mandarin, regardless of dialect (e.g. Cantonese)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-07-14)

I've looked for this question on the site but can't seem to find it. I'm interested in learning Chinese, well, Cantonese specifically, and I want to focus on both the written and spoken components. But from what I've read, the standard for written Chinese is Mandarin, regardless of dialect.

Is this understanding correct? I.e., that a variety of dialects use written Mandarin as the standard for the written component of the language, but differ only in pronunciation and word preference?

**Tags:** cantonese, topolect, writing, spoken

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: In Chinese, spoken language (語言) and written language (文字) are two very different concepts. Mandarin is a spoken language, not a written language.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-07-15. Score: 2

Standard Written Chinese is the written form of Mandarin, and is the only form of written Chinese in widespread use. People speaking all forms of spoken Chinese, including Cantonese speakers, Hokkien speakers, etc., all learn to write in Standard Written Chinese, i.e. they all learn to write the way Mandarin speakers speak (for better or worse).

There exists a fairly complete system of "Written Cantonese" (and to a lesser extent also written representations of Hokkien), which writes the way that Cantonese speakers speak, but it is practically never used in ordinary life by Cantonese speakers, and even many native Cantonese speakers may not understand some of the characters in it.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2020-07-10. Score: 1

This is a more political questions than linguistics questions. "Standard written language" means regulated by government and used in public places so that every educated individual can understand regardless region. However, Cantonese by linguistics standard, can be considered as a complete different language from Mandarin, so does Shanghainese. The reason not much materials are written in Cantonese is because of the regulations. In forums that only Cantonese speakers join, the words written are totally different. I cannot understand any, but my roommate helped me a bit. He said there are multiple ways Cantonese are written. There is a standard written Cantonese, but these days young people sometimes refuse to learn it systematically, so they write down spoken words just by characters with similar pronunciations. This is also because Cantonese is not recommended to be taught as a mandatory course in schools.

My Shanghai roommate says Shanghainese is gradually disappearing in his generation. But there are more societies speaking Cantonese than Shanghainese, so standard Cantonese can still exist for long.

Answer based on my friends who are native Cantonese and Shanghainese speaker.


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