Chinese is not the same as Mandarin; would you believe it? Chinese is more of a group of languages and dialects spoken in China, with Mandarin being one of them. Others include Wu, Hakka, Min Nan, and Cantonese. The only difference is that Mandarin is more popular and is, therefore, China’s and Taiwan’s official language. Learning Mandarin can unlock a wide range of opportunities in all careers. It’s spoken by a billion people, making it one of the most popular languages in the world. To anyone interested in Mandarin, here are some interesting facts about this language.
1. The Hoovers Spoke Mandarin in the White House to Avoid Eavesdroppers
The 31st president of America, Herbert Hoover, and his wife, Lou Hoover, conversed in Mandarin inside the White House to evade eavesdroppers. This couple was fluent in Mandarin because Herbert had spent some time working as a mining engineer in China. Whenever he didn’t want his aides to know what he was talking about, he would communicate in Mandarin.
2. Spoken Mandarin Does Not Have Gendered Pronouns
Unlike most languages across the world, spoken Mandarin does not have gendered pronouns. It only utilizes “tā,” a single third-person gender-neutral pronoun. Note that there are different gender pronouns in written Mandarin for both him and her. However, they are both pronounced as “ta”.
3. Mandarin Has More Native Speakers than English
As of 2024, Mandarin is the most spoken language with the highest number of native speakers. There are about 950 million Mandarin native speakers. That’s about two times the number of English native speakers, which currently stands at 400 million.
4. Mandarin Speakers Are Most Likely to Have a Perfect Pitch
In the West, it’s difficult for kids to achieve a perfect pitch. Only 1 out of every 10,000 people have a perfect pitch. However, research has shown that learning Mandarin can help one develop a perfect pitch. This also applies to students who have no prior experience in musical training.
5. Mandarin is One of the Slowest Spoken Languages
There is a common misconception that Asian languages are spoken faster than European languages. This is partially true and only applies to Japanese. If anything, research done at the University of Lyon in France ranked Mandarin as the slowest language. The second slowest language, according to this study, was German.
6. A Chinese-American Marine Corps Shouted in Chinese during the Battle of Inchon to Cause Confusion
During the Korean War, Kurt Lee, a Chinese-American corps, made history twice. He was the first Chinese to join the US Marine Corps. And secondly, during the Korean War at the Battle of Inchon, he yelled orders in Mandarin to confuse the Chinese troops. He used this technique in other wars, and it was exceptionally tactful.
7. Mao Zedong Couldn’t Fluently Speak in Mandarin
Mao Zedong, the first chairman of the People’s Republic of China, had a Hunanese dialect. Remember when we said that Chinese comprises of many languages? Well, Hunanese is one of them. As a result, he couldn’t speak Mandarin fluently, which made it difficult for many Chinese people to understand what he was saying. Mao Zedong had to rely on translators to express his ideas and policies. This is a problem to date, with millions of Chinese people not being able to speak Mandarin fluently.
8. Mandarin is One of the Most Difficult Languages to Learn
Despite being popular, Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages to learn. Mandarin’s writing system is significantly complex among English speakers used to the Latin alphabet. Not to mention, Mandarin requires learners to memorize thousands of foreign characters.
The other thing that makes Mandarin difficult is the tonal nature. Most people take up to 2,200 hours to achieve native proficiency in Mandarin.
9. Mandarin is Around 800 Years Old
Not to be confused with the Chinese language, which dates back to 6,000 years ago, Mandarin was developed around 800 years ago. It started in Northern China during the Jin and Yuan dynasties and was influenced by Manchurian and Mongolian languages.
10. Mandarin Unlocks a New Part of the Brain
Most languages, including English, are associated with the left side of the brain. Mandarin, however, activates the right side of the brain, as is evident in Chinese speakers.
11. Mandarin Does Not Have an Alphabet
Unlike Spanish and English, which have an alphabet, Mandarin does not follow such a system. Instead, it has characters. There are about 50,000 characters used in the Chinese language, which makes learning it so challenging. Fortunately, one doesn’t have to memorize all these characters to be proficient in Mandarin. Just a few are enough.
12. Kanye West Can Speak Mandarin
Kanye West moved with his mother, Donda, to China when he was 10. She had received a job offer to teach at the Nanjing University. As expected, Kanye was enrolled in a school in China where he learned some Mandarin. He shared a picture of when he was in China on Instagram with the caption “Back.” While in China, Kanye also learned how to ride a bike.
13. John Cena Can Speak Mandarin
One of the world’s most renowned WWE superstars, John Cena, can speak basic Mandarin. John learned this language through a free WWE program. He set aside time from his busy schedule to learn how to talk to his Chinese fans. The WWE had trouble infiltrating the Chinese entertainment market for a long time. However, with John’s help, the organization established a solid fan base in China.