Mandarin Chinese is spoken worldwide by over 1 billion people. It is the most widely used language. Explore interesting facts about Mandarin below!
Mandarin is not only the most widely spoken language in the World, but there are many interesting facts about it. These are some of the most interesting facts about Mandarin.
Facts about Mandarin
1. One of six official languages of the United Nations
Chinese is one of the six official languages at the UN. Other languages include Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic.
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2. Mandarin is used in China
Mandarin is used in Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore, apart from China. Because Mandarin Mandarin is the official language of China, and because it has a large population, there are most Mandarin speakers in China. Since the 14 century, it has been China’s national language.
3. Simple Grammar
Chinese grammar is not as difficult as English or French. It doesn’t matter if you specify gender. You don’t need to distinguish between singular and plural. It is unnecessary to conjugate verbs or spends too much time on verb tenses.
4. What! Mandarin Has No Alphabets
Mandarin does not have an alphabet; instead, it uses symbols known as Chinese characters. These symbols or characters represent the oldest known writing system. There are approximately 10,000 Chinese characters, and the number keeps growing due to new Chinese symbols.
5. Mandarin is also a great way to sharpen your brain!
Research shows that Chinese speakers use both their right and left brains to learn Chinese, unlike English speakers who only use their left. To distinguish between words with the same intonation, both left and right sides must be used.
6. It’s not so easy to measure words
Chinese has specific measure words that can describe the number of nouns. If you want to describe six balloons in Chinese, you will use the measure word.
7. Chinese In Roman Alphabet
Pinyin is a different writing system that allows you to write Chinese in the Roman alphabet. Pinyin, which means “spelled sound” in Chinese, is a translation of Pinyin. Pinyin can be very helpful in understanding Mandarin’s different tones.
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8. Tone Confusion
Mandarin can be referred to as four tones. A fifth tone is also available, but it is not always counted as neutral. Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shishi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shinshi Shishishishi, which is translated to “The Lion-Eating Poet In the Stone Den” and has 120 characters. All of them have the pronunciation “shi.”
9. Why is it called Mandarin?
Why is Chinese referred to as the Chinese language? The reason is not known by most Chinese. Mandarin, in English, means an official of China’s empire. It also has its roots in the Portuguese term’mandarim,’ which derives from the Malay language term’menteri, which derives from the Sanskrit word’mantrin, which means “minister or counselor.” This explanation was a rollercoaster ride!
10. One of the fastest-growing languages in the World
Mandarin is the fastest-growing language in the World. It is being studied by people all over the globe. China is fast becoming the World’s superpower. It leads to trade activities in the Eastern Hemisphere of the Planet. This helps businesses. This is also something that many people from Western countries are learning. Chinese is becoming one of America’s most popular foreign languages after Spanish.
11. Some Famous Faces
Mandarin is becoming more popular. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg were recently astonished to see a group of students at Beijing University speaks Chinese. (If you ask me, its tones could use some work, though!). Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are two other notable Mandarin speakers. Both were born at Beijing University. Prince William recently gave a Mandarin interview to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year.
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12. It’s a Bizarre Situation
Mandarin is quite bizarre. Mandarin characters can be written either from the left or right side.