What exactly does “The Chinese language” mean? Does it mean Mandarin, or are other langs like Cantonese, Hakka, and Teochew included?
What exactly does “The Chinese language” mean? Does it mean Mandarin, or are other langs like Cantonese, Hakka, and Teochew included?
It’s not ambiguous for anyone familiar with the topic. Chinese withoutany further clarification means Mandarin, putonghua, “common language”. That being said any discussion of other Chinese languages or dialects I’m sure would be welcome in this community.
addit: I don’t think anyone would feign confusion about whether a community for learning Italian was referring to the Italian national language or Sicilian or Naples dialect.
Well put, I’m also not familiar with any sentiment that assuming Chinese means putonghua is a problem. Although I won’t assume OP meant to imply that. Many nation building projects in the “old world” (where linguistic diversity is great) have involved language standardization.
“I’m also not familiar with any sentiment that assuming Chinese means putonghua is a problem.” I’ve come across Westerners who do make this claim, as well as some people from HK.