What Are the 3 Languages of Chinese?
There are three main dialects of Chinese. These are Cantonese, Hakka, and Gan. You might be familiar with one or more, but it is helpful to know about the others. Each has its own characteristics and sounds. The most basic differences between the three are tones, which are variations in the pitches of syllables.
Cantonese
Cantonese is the predominant Chinese variety and is the official language of Hong Kong and Macau. It is also the most common Chinese language in China’s overseas Chinese communities. Standard Cantonese is the most widely spoken Chinese language in the West. However, it does have its differences.
Like Mandarin, Cantonese is a dialect of Chinese. However, it has some differences compared to Mandarin. Its vowels are derived from Middle Chinese rather than Mandarin, and its consonants differ from those of Mandarin. While there is some similarity between the two languages, their differences are too great to make them mutually intelligible.
Cantonese is spoken in many regions of Southeastern China, including Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. It is the dominant language of Hong Kong, the capital city, and many of its neighboring cities. It is estimated that over 55 million people speak Cantonese.
Mandarin is the official language of China, while Cantonese is a dialect of Mandarin. There is a strong debate over whether they are the same language, with some saying that Cantonese is an official language, while others believe Cantonese is a separate language. As a result, there is little common ground between the three.
Hakka
The Hakka are a Chinese people who live in the southern provinces. Unlike the rest of China, they are not affluent and are often engaged in prostitution. They typically work in brothels for a few hundred dollars a month and are subject to social stigma and sexual disease.
In the late 19th century, over 1,000 Hakka associations from all over the world met to protest the publication of the Geography of the World in Shanghai, which characterized the Hakka as non-Chinese. Today, Hakka associations have branches in the United States, Canada, and Taiwan.
The Hakka traditionally live in small villages, where families are grouped according to common ancestry. The number of family members varies between urban and rural villages, but a large majority of families comprise one or two children. Rural Hakka may have as many as three children per family, but the population policy of the People’s Republic of China has encouraged smaller families. As the country’s economy industrializes, the demand for farm labor falls. The Hakka believe that boys inherit the family name and have special obligations to ancestors. Girls are thought to be lost once they marry.
The Hakka language is a dialect of Chinese that incorporates the characteristics of both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese. It is considered one of the oldest languages in China and has remained largely unchanged for centuries. It is considered a standard dialect, though some people disagree. In some areas of China, the Hakka population is large enough that some televised news broadcasts are in Hakka.
Gan
The Chinese language has many dialects and sublanguages. Gan is one of them. Its speakers are concentrated in Jiangxi Province. It is a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The dialects of Gan are largely similar to those of the Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian provinces. One of the most common dialects of Gan is the Nanchang dialect. Its name is derived from the shortened name of the province where the Gan language originated.
Gan is a variety of Chinese that is spoken in western China. It has over 41 million speakers and is distinct from Mandarin and other Chinese varieties. It is most common in Jiangxi province and the regions around it, such as Jiliang, Fuguang, and Yingyi. Some dialects of Gan are mutually intelligible with those of Mandarin and Xiang, but the language has its own distinctiveness.
There are two major varieties of Gan. The Gan variety is mostly spoken in Jiangxi province, but is also spoken in other provinces. The Xiang dialect is also spoken in parts of southern China, and is similar to Mandarin. It is often thought of as a northern dialect but has many differences from other dialects.
Chinese speakers may have difficulty understanding each other if they don’t know the correct pronunciation of characters and accents. The Chinese classify their languages as dialects, although linguists disagree.