Which Countries and Regions Speak Mandarin Chinese?

Mandarin Chinese is the second most spoken language in the world (behind English), with approximately 1.138 billion native and non-native speakers combined. However, there are 929 million first-language speakers of Mandarin Chinese, making it the most common native-speaking language of them all. The official language of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore, Mandarin Chinese is also spoken across large areas of Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and Tibet, often as a second language. It is also alive and well in Chinese communities or Chinatowns across the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, and Madagascar. This article looks at which countries speak Mandarin language and other stats and facts about Chinese languages.

Undoubtedly, Mainland China has the highest number of Mandarin speakers in the world, with more than 80 percent of the population following a uniform Mandarin language. The Beijing dialect is called Putonghua and is considered “Standard Chinese.” Some linguists worry that a push to nationalize one single language across the vast areas that make up China means local dialects are in danger of dying out. But others argue having a standardized language means greater unity across the social, economic, and educational landscape. One resident from Gegye County, Ngari Prefecture, Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, named Sonam Rinchen, said, “Using Mandarin helps me better understand the outside world, achieve better development and enjoy a better life.”

While Mandarin is the official language, several other Chinese languages are spoken around the country. Cantonese is also spoken, especially in South China, including Hong Kong and Macau. While Mandarin and Cantonese use the same written language, they are not mutually intelligible, and many Cantonese speakers also learn Mandarin. Because China is large and varied, containing a variety of ethnic groups, other languages also survive, including Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur, Zhuang, Kazakh, and Yi.

Taiwan

Singapore has an incredibly diverse population, so much so that the government assigned Singapore four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil. Around half of the population speaks Mandarin Chinese, making it the de facto official language. This is in part because Singaporean children of Chinese families are taught Mandarin Chinese as a second language, and across the country, a bilingual education policy is followed, which means the majority of citizens can speak at least two of the national languages.

Other Chinese Speaking Countries: Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Tibet

Mandarin Chinese speakers are growing across much of the Asian world, with the numbers of speakers across Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and Tibet on the rise. In the administrative region of Hong Kong, Cantonese is the most widely spoken language, but many residents are now becoming proficient in Mandarin as a second language. Much like in Singapore, Mandarin is taught in many schools across Hong Kong, and the language is often spoken in international governmental and business settings. A large portion of the population in the region of Macau speaks Cantonese, but since Macau’s handover to China in 1999, the number of Mandarin Chinese speakers here has been on a significant rise.

Meanwhile, of the impressive 137 different languages spoken in Malaysia, including the official Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and its various dialects are among the most spoken, particularly amongst its citizens of Chinese origin. In Tibet, the traditional language is standard Tibetan, but domination by the Chinese government means that Mandarin Chinese is on the rise, especially amongst younger generations of Tibetan residents.

Chinatowns, composed of Chinese neighborhoods and districts with a significant Chinese population, are found in many major cities throughout the world today, including San Francisco, Manhattan, Honolulu, Toronto, London, Paris, Vancouver, and more. Within these communities the traditionally spoken language has predominantly been Cantonese. However, in recent decades Mandarin Chinese has become increasingly popular among younger generations, in line with mainland China’s push for a standardized language, which can sometimes cause communication barriers between older and younger residents.

Cantonese originated in the city of Guangzhou, formerly Canton, in southeastern China and is now spoken across much of the region, including in Hong Kong. Cantonese is the most common language spoken by Chinese ex-pats overseas because most of the original Chinese emigrants in the second half of the 20th century came from the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. That is slowly changing as more travelers start to come out of northern and southwestern China.