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Languages of China

Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience

Inside Beijing Capital International Airport with colorful welcome signs in many different languages.

China has many languages, making it a very diverse place. The most spoken language is Standard Chinese, based on the Beijingese dialect. This language is part of a group called Hanyu, which includes many related languages.

There are also around 300 minority languages spoken by some people in China. Some of these, like Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Zhuang, get special support from the government. These languages appear on Chinese money.

Standard Chinese, called Putonghua in China, is the official language used everywhere in the country. It helps people from different places talk to each other. Some areas, like the Tibet Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia, also have their own official languages. Places such as Hong Kong and Macau have extra official languages, including English and Portuguese, which makes talking there even more interesting.

Spoken languages

The spoken languages of nationalities that are a part of China belong to at least nine families:

Sino-Tibetan

Kra–Dai

Turkic

Mongolic

Para-Mongolic

Tungusic

Ethnolinguistic map of China

Koreanic

Hmong–Mien

  • Hmong
  • Mien
  • She

Austroasiatic

Austronesian

Indo-European

Yeniseian

  • Jie (Kjet) (extinct) (?)

Mixed

Unclassified

Written languages

Main article: Written Chinese

Many languages in China have their own special ways of writing. Some use their own letters or symbols instead of the usual Chinese characters. For example, the Tai Lü language uses the Tai Lü alphabet, and the Kazakh language uses the Kazakh alphabets.

Some languages, like Cantonese and Shanghainese, use Chinese characters but add special marks to show pronunciation. Even some languages not related to Chinese, like Korean and Vietnamese, once used Chinese characters. There are also old scripts from past cultures, like the Jurchen script and the Tangut script.

In the past, important places like palaces and temples used many different scripts. Today, Chinese money shows words in several writing styles so everyone can read it. Some groups in China who did not have a way to write their language created their own alphabets with help from the government.

Language policy

Main article: Language policy in China

Before the Qing dynasty ended, Mandarin was chosen as the main language for schools. Some people say that Cantonese almost became the main language instead.

Today, Standard Mandarin, also called Putonghua, is the main language in China. It is based on how people speak in Beijing. It uses special rules called pinyin to help with pronunciation. Some people worry that pinyin might change the old way of writing.

China also has rules to support languages spoken by different groups. These groups can learn in their own languages. But often, Mandarin is used the most, and sometimes other languages are not used as much as they should be. For example, in 2020, some people in Inner Mongolia were upset when the government decided to use Mandarin instead of Mongolian in schools. Leaders in China have encouraged more use of Mandarin for all groups.

Study of foreign languages

Indo-European

English

English is the most commonly taught foreign language in China. Students need it to go to university.

After the Reform and opening up in 1988, English was taught in public schools from the third year of primary school. Many people in China learn English. It is used in business and to teach Standard Mandarin to people who are not Chinese citizens. It is also an official language in Hong Kong.

German

Welcome signs in various languages at Beijing Capital International Airport. Front to back: French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and Korean.

About 170,000 people in China have studied the German language.

Spanish

Because of growing interest in Latin America, around 20,000 people in China have studied the Spanish language. There are about 120 Spanish-language departments across the country.

Portuguese

Interest in Portuguese has grown, especially because of Chinese investments in African countries. Portuguese is also an official language in Macau. Today, there are about 40 Portuguese-language departments nationwide.

Russian

A German-language inscription on the Christ's Church, Qingdao

Many middle and high schools in China teach Russian-language courses. For example, a school in Shenzhen has offered Russian classes since 2011.

Urdu

More students are choosing to learn Urdu because of interest in Pakistani culture and job opportunities.

Arabic

More people in China are studying Arabic because of cultural interest and beliefs about job opportunities. It is also studied by the Hui people.

Esperanto

A handwritten Russian-language sign on a window in Beijing

Main article: Esperanto in China

Esperanto was popular in some groups in the early 1900s and in the 1980s, but it is not as popular now.

Japanese

As of 2012, over one million people in China were studying Japanese. People learn Japanese because of interest in Japan's culture and society.

Korean

Main article: Korean language in China

There are about 2 million Korean language speakers in China.

Korean language education began in 1945. Some families learn Korean hoping for better education or business connections with South Korea.

Images

Map showing where Turkic languages are spoken across Eurasia.

Related articles

Standard Chinese
English language
Portuguese language
Hong Kong
Macau
Uyghur language

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Languages of China, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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