Mandarin or Cantonese? Simplified or Traditional? Which to Learn First

When people say "Chinese", they usually mean Mandarin, but not always. Before you start, it helps to know what is on the menu, because the choice affects the audio you listen to, the characters you read and the people you can talk to. For most beginners the answer is short: start with Mandarin and simplified characters, and add anything else later.

Mandarin, Cantonese and the rest

"Chinese" is a group of related languages that are often not mutually understandable when spoken, a bit like the Romance languages. The main ones are:

• Mandarin (普通话 pǔtōnghuà, 国语 guóyǔ): the official language of mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore, and by far the most spoken, with hundreds of millions of native speakers and many more second-language speakers. It has four tones plus a neutral tone.
• Cantonese (粤语 Yuèyǔ): spoken in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and by many overseas communities. It has more tones than Mandarin (six are usually taught) and its own romanisation, Jyutping.
• Others: Shanghainese (Wu), Hokkien and Taiwanese (Min) and Hakka. These are different spoken languages, and people who speak them usually also speak Mandarin.

The written language is shared to a large degree, which is why a Cantonese and a Mandarin speaker can often read the same newspaper but not understand each other's speech. (Written Cantonese, with its own words, also exists, mainly in informal writing.)

Which should you choose?

• Mandarin is the default for travel, work, study and online material. There are more courses, tutors, films and apps than for any other variety.
• Cantonese is a good choice if you have family or a partner from Hong Kong or Guangdong, plan to live there, or love Hong Kong film and music.

Mandarin first is also not a trap: skills such as characters, measure words and much of the grammar carry across.

Mainland Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin

Taiwanese Mandarin is Mandarin, spoken with a slightly different accent and some different everyday words. A mainland speaker and a Taiwanese speaker understand each other without trouble. There are differences you will notice:

• Taiwan writes in traditional characters and teaches the Zhuyin (bopomofo) symbols in schools, although pinyin is widely used for learners.
• The accent is often softer, with less of the curled-back "zh, ch, sh" sounds and the neutral tone used somewhat differently.
• Some everyday words differ. "Taxi" is 出租车 chūzūchē on the mainland and 计程车 jìchéngchē in Taiwan (written 計程車 there), and these are easy to pick up once you hear them.

"Taiwanese" can also mean Taiwanese Hokkien, a different spoken language. If a person says they speak "Taiwanese", ask whether they mean Mandarin or Hokkien.

Simplified or traditional characters?

In the twentieth century many characters were simplified by reducing strokes. The two systems are:

• Simplified is used in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia: 学, 国, 马, 爱.
• Traditional is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau: 學, 國, 馬, 愛.

Many characters are identical in both, and many simplified characters are clearly related to their traditional forms. Learners who know one system can learn the other quickly, especially going from traditional to simplified.

A simple rule: choose the system used where you will use the language. If you do not know yet, simplified is the most common, and it is what Pinglingo teaches.

A simple plan

1. Learn Mandarin pronunciation and pinyin first. See pinyin explained for beginners and the tone practice.
2. Learn the first few hundred words in simplified characters through the beginner path.
3. Add traditional characters later if you need them, by comparing the pairs you already know.
4. Add Cantonese, or another variety, as a second project once Mandarin feels comfortable.

Do not worry about choosing perfectly

Many learners freeze at this decision. The costs of a "wrong" choice are small. If you learn simplified characters and later move to Taiwan, you will recognise most of the characters on signs within weeks, because the great majority are the same or clearly related. If you start with Mandarin and later want Cantonese, your sense of tones, characters and grammar will already help. What really matters is that you start, pick one thing, and keep going for a few months before you review the choice.

It is also worth listening to the kind of Chinese you want to understand. Pinglingo's audio is Mandarin as spoken on the mainland, with pinyin and simplified characters. If you plan to watch Taiwanese or Hong Kong shows, expect different accents and vocabulary from time to time, and treat it as a bonus, not an obstacle.

Start the Mandarin beginner path: eight short lessons with pinyin, audio and pictures, in simplified characters.