Chinese

Chinese (中国語) is a common language spoken in Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, and other countries. However, there is a large difference in dialects, and the standard languages are called Mandarin or National Language (Taiwan).

Contents [hide]

1 Overview

2 External Links

2.1 English

2.2 Japanese

3 Article in Other Languages

Overview

Chinese (中国語, Chūgokugo, lit. "Chinese language"), according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the oldest language in existence. It has many dialects, and the total number of speakers exceeds 1.3 billion.

For Westerners dealing with Latin script, Chinese, which is composed of Chinese characters, is said to be as difficult to understand as Japanese.

With China's economic development, its influence has become greater than ever before. For Japan, Chinese is becoming a familiar foreign language along with English, since there are many Chinese-speaking countries and regions in the neighborhood. In particular, the recent increase in the number of video games and anime distributed in Chinese and interaction with Chinese-speaking otaku has led some people to learn Chinese on their own. There are also those who learn Chinese to gain an advantage in business. Many others learn Chinese because they are interested in Chinese history (e.g., Spring and Autumn Annals and the Records of the Three Kingdoms).