One of the most widely spoken languages in the world is Chinese in the world

It also has some of the oldest routes and in many respects is completely different from every other language spoken today

But when we refer to the Chinese language, what exactly are we even referring to and can we say that there even is a

language called Chinese? Learn more about the Chinese languages and what makes them unique on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Let me start by saying that I do not speak any dialect of Chinese. I know a couple of words and phrases that are necessary when traveling, but even then I probably butcher the pronunciation.

As such, this episode is not in even then I probably butcher the pronunciation.

As such, this episode is not intended to be an introduction to speaking Chinese or a lesson in pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar.

I am not the person to do that.

My goal is to take a higher level linguistic look at the language.

This comes not only from doing research on the subject, but from many conversations I've had over the years

with Chinese speakers, both native speakers and those who learned it as a second language.

The reason for doing this episode is because, as you will see, Chinese is very different from every other language in the world,

despite being one of the most spoken languages in the world.

So we have to start the episode with a very basic question.

What is Chinese?

When someone in casual conversation says that they speak Chinese. When someone in casual conversation says that they speak Chinese or even reference

Chinese as a language, what they are usually referring to is the spoken dialect of Chinese

we in English call Mandarin.

Mandarin is just one of many languages spoken by Han Chinese people and is one of many

synitic languages.

Mandarin was the dialect of Chinese spoken by the bureaucratic ruling Mandarin class in China, and most importantly, it's the dialect spoken in and around Beijing.

Mandarin is by far the most widely spoken of all Chinese dialects with an estimated 66% of all Chinese language speakers speaking Mandarin.

The dominance of Mandarin was a political choice that successive government set in the 20th century.

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