Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese - What Mandarin Chinese Is And Why You DON'T NEED To Learn All Characters (And Not Even A Lot Of Them!)

What is Mandarin Chinese?

Mandarin Chinese is the main dialect spoken in China, originally spoken in the area around Beijing but since 1955 adopted as official language of the People's Republic of China.

In China are spoken a lot of different dialects. Among them there are Cantonese (spoken for example in Hong Kong) and Taiwanese.

Here at WearYourChineseName^TM we strictly adhere to the official, standard Beijing pronunciation.

Interestingly, the writing system (Chinese characters) is the same for all China, no matter which dialect is spoken; so the term Mandarin (and Cantonese, Taiwanese, etc.) refers only to the spoken language.

The Secret to Learn Mandarin Chinese Fast!

With its over 50,000 different characters, Chinese language maybe intimidates you! But here at WearYourChineseName.com you learn Mandarin Chinese fast for one simple reason:

You start learning from the most frequently used words and characters!

Character and word frequencies are useful information for Chinese language learning and instruction. Are you not curious about how many characters you should learn in order to master Mandarin Chinese? We were! And discovered that if you learn only the most commonly used 152 Chinese characters, you'll know 50% of all Chinese language usage.

We developed the "1,000 Chinese Characters" Daily Course that with its 360 lessons can help you master 89% of all Chinese language usage. With the "1,000 Chinese Characters" Daily Course you focus your attention on the 1,000 most commonly used characters saving time and effort.

For example, consider the following Chinese text (the characters belonging to the list of 1,000 most commonly used Chinese characters are highlighted in yellow - for the list click here):

谈到洁净，从商业世界到日常生活，成年人都没有立下好榜样。例如，他们把许多公众地方弄得凌乱不堪，肮脏难看。有些工业也是污染环境的源头。当然，工商业本身不会污染环境，问题出在人身上。贪婪也许是全球环境污染的元兇，但不洁的个人卫生习惯也难辞其咎。澳大利亚联邦一个前任处长也有同感，他说：“公共卫生的问题，归根究底就是个人卫生的问题。”可是，仍然有人觉得，卫生纯属个人私事，别人没必要说三道四。这样的想法正确吗？

The text above is composed of a total of 179 characters. 154 of them (86%), highlighted in yellow, belong to the list of 1,000 most commonly used Chinese characters - for the list click here.

English translation:

On the other hand, adults are not always good examples of cleanliness, either in everyday life or in the business world. For example, many public places are left messy and unsightly. Some industries pollute the environment. Pollution, however, is caused, not by faceless industries and businesses, but by people. While greed is probably the main cause of the worldwide problem of pollution and its many ill effects, part of the problem is the result of unclean personal habits. A former director general of the Commonwealth of Australia supported this conclusion when he said: "All questions of public health reduce themselves to a consideration of the one man, the one woman, the one child." Still, some feel that cleanliness is a personal matter and should be of no concern to anyone else. Is that really so?

List of different Chinese characters contained in the text above:

谈到洁净从商业世界日常生活成年人都没有立下好榜样例如他们把许多公众地方弄得凌乱不堪肮脏难看些工也是污染环境的源头当然本身会问题出在上贪婪全球元兇但个卫习惯辞其咎澳大利亚联邦一前任处长同感说共归根究底就可仍觉纯属私事别必要三道四这想法正确吗

It's a fact: if you want to learn Mandarin Chinese the fastest way, you need to focus on the most frequently used words that you find here. My promise: you'll learn fast Mandarin Chinese!