Mandarinspeaking

Mandarinspeaking, often written Mandarin-speaking, refers to the use of Mandarin as a person’s primary language of communication. In common usage, it denotes individuals and communities for whom Mandarin is a first language or a dominant means of daily communication. Mandarin is a group of related Sinitic varieties that are broadly categorized as Mandarin, with significant regional variation.

The largest concentration of Mandarin-speaking people is in China, where Mandarin is the de facto national language. It is also widely spoken in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, and among diaspora communities in North America, Europe, and Australasia. Estimates place native speakers above 900 million; total speakers exceed one billion when including second-language speakers.

Standard Mandarin is based on the Beijing dialect. It is the official language in Mainland China (Putonghua) and Taiwan (Guoyu), and one of the four official languages of Singapore (Huayu). Mandarin comprises multiple regional varieties; mutual intelligibility varies. It uses a tonal syllable structure with four tones plus a neutral tone. Grammar is analytic with subject–verb–object word order.

Written Chinese uses Chinese characters. Mainland China and Singapore primarily use Simplified characters; Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau use Traditional characters. Mandarin education is widespread, with literacy based on Standard Chinese; Mandarin plays a central role in media, government, and education. In multilingual contexts, speakers may switch between Mandarin and other Chinese varieties such as Cantonese.