FAQ

§ Chinese Speaking Countries

Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world. More than 1,3 billion people speak Chinese as their first language.

Q: I'm confused about the difference between Mandarin, Cantonese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese.

A: 

1. Mandarin-Simplified Chinese: used in Mainland China, Singapore.

2. Mandarin-Traditional Chinese: used in Taiwan.

3. Cantonese-Traditional Chinese: used in Hong Kong, Macau, province of Guangdong.

# What is Mandarin Chinese?

• MANDARIN CHINESE （中文／汉语）also known as Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Putonghua, is the sole official language of Mainland China and Taiwan, one of the official languages in Singapore, and one of the official languages in the United Nation.

# What is Cantonese?

• CANTONESE is another variety of Chinese. It is a dialect used in SAR of China Hong Kong, Macau, and Chinese province of Guangdong where the dialect Cantonese originated.

# What are the differences between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese characters?

• SIMPLIFIED CHINESE is used in Mainland China, Singapore.

• TRADITIONAL CHINESE is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau.

Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are two written varieties of Chinese characters. Almost every educated native Chinese speaker understands both Simplified and Traditional characters, however, it is obvious that people in China and Singapore would largely prefer to read text in Simplified Chinese.