China is recognised as the oldest continuous civilisation in the world and is the world's most populous country with a population of around 1.5 billion. China's economy is one of the world's faster growing and the country is now seen as a superpower, because of its massive population, economy and miltary. As China is involved in so much international trade and business, so the Chinese language is recognised as an increasingly important language in the world. Learning Chinese offers many benefits to both professional and personal development, not least gaining a better understanding of one of the most vibrant cultures in the world.
Chinese is an umbrella language term that encompasses multiple dialects and languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese. Mandarin and Cantonese are written in the same way but are spoken very differently. There are over 80,000 chinese characters but generally only 3,500 are used in conversation. It is regarded as a very logical language. There are no verbs, no plurals, no tenses, no conjugations and no subject-verb agreements.
Mandarin (or Standard Chinese) is the official and predominant language of China and Taiwan, and one of the official languages of Singapore. Mandarin is shaped and based on the Beijing dialect. It is used as the mother tongue by one fifth of the world's population.
Cantonese is a variety of Chinese originating from the City of Guangzhou, also known as Canton, and from the surrounding area in Southeastern China. Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou. Most overseas Chinese communities, such as those in the UK and USA, also speak Cantonese because historically Chinese immigrants came from Guangdong.
