In this series of articles we overview languages present in any given country. This time we are looking at the languages spoken in China

The biggest languages present in China include:

  • Chinese (Han) – 1.32 billion speakers;
  • Yue (Cantonese) – 57.57 million speakers;
  • Wu (Shanghaiese) – 71.97 million speakers;
  • Min – 71.97 million speakers;
  • Xiang – 28.79 million speakers;
  • Gan – 14.39 million speakers;

The sole official language of the country is Chinese.

Below you will find summaries for the languages supported by our translation services.

Chinese

Chinese is a Sinitic language spoken by 1.20 billion people both in China and abroad. It is the sole official language of China.

Chinese language summary
Number of speakers worldwide1.20 billion
Language familySino-Tibetan
WritingHanzi logograms
Major Chinese-speaking populations in:6 countries

Demographics and geographic distribution

Approximately 1.20 billion people in more than 6 countries speak Chinese as either the first or a second language. Countries with a significant number of people speaking the language include:

  • Singapore
  • China
  • Malaysia
  • Taiwan
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau

More than 1.32 billion residents of China understand Chinese.

Writing

Chinese employs the Hanzi script, which in itself is a sub-type of the Chinese character script. It is written in the left-to-right or top-to-bottom-to-left fashion.

Translation services

If you intend to expand to the Chinese market via the Chinese language, you might be interested in the following services:

Related services

We hope you have found the answers to the question about what languages are spoken in China“. If you wish to know more about these languages or would like to inquire about our translation services, please contact us at [email protected].

  • Dekra
  • Minox
  • BNP Paribas
  • Swepro
  • Orafol

Succesful Cooperations

Computer Science & Tech

Computer-Assisted Translation of XML Files

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Marketing & Sale

Localization of POS Material in Indesign

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Technology

Software Localization for an Online-Shop

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Engineering

Translation and Desktop Publishing of Technical Drawings

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23.07.2020
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