Where did the term Mandarin come from?

The word “Mandarin” originated from the portuguese word “Mandarim”, which means “Chinese Officials / Court Officials / Government People”. When Europeans Jesuit visited China in 1500s, they noticed that the Chinese Court Officials spoke a common official language that is different from other commoner’s languages.

What is the history of Chinese Mandarin?

Mandarin emerged as the language of the ruling class during the latter part of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). The capital of China switched from Nanjing to Beijing in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty and remained in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912).

Is Mandarin or Chinese correct?

In English-speaking countries, “Mandarin” is usually preferred for the spoken language. “Chinese” or “written Chinese” are correct for the written language. Of course, there are other dialects, including Cantonese, which are no less “Chinese” than the one we also call Standard Chinese or putonghua.

Why is it called mandarin and not Chinese?

The Ming dynasty officials wore yellow robes, which may be why “mandarin” came to mean a type of citrus. And the language the Chinese officials spoke became “Mandarin,” which is how the English name for the language more than 1 billion people in China speak still comes from Portuguese.

Is mandarin different from Chinese?

Mandarin is a dialect of Chinese. Chinese is a language (Mandarin is one of the dialects of Chinese alongside Shanghainese, Cantonese and many more).

What came first Cantonese or Mandarin?

Cantonese and Mandarin: which came first? Cantonese is believed to have originated after the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220AD, when long periods of war caused northern Chinese to flee south, taking their ancient language with them. Mandarin was documented much later in the Yuan Dynasty in 14th century China.

Which came first Cantonese or Mandarin?

Whats the diff between Mandarin and Chinese?

Here’s the short answer: Mandarin is a form of the Chinese language. Some call it a dialect. Chinese is an umbrella language term that encompasses multiple dialects/languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, and more. When you look at it closely, there are actually over 200 dialects of Chinese!