普通话

• Pinyin: pǔ tōng huà
• Hanzi breakdown: 普通 (pǔtōng) — common, ordinary; 话 (huà) = 讠(speech radical) + 舌 (tongue)

Meaning

Mandarin Chinese; the standard spoken language of China. Literally 'common speech.'

The official standard spoken language of mainland China, based on the Beijing dialect. Different from Taiwan's 国语 (guóyǔ) and Singapore's 华语 (huáyǔ), though they are essentially the same language. All Chinese students learn 普通话 in school regardless of their local dialect.

Examples

1. 他的普通话说得很标准。 His Mandarin is very standard.
2. 学校里大家都说普通话。 Everyone speaks Mandarin at school.
3. 我正在学习普通话。 I am learning Mandarin.

Usage Guide

Context: language learning, school, communication

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 请用普通话说一遍。(Please say it once in Mandarin.)
• 我的普通话不太好。(My Mandarin is not very good.)

Don't Say

• 在台湾不说普通话这个词 (In Taiwan people say 国语 instead of 普通话 — using 普通话 in Taiwan might sound mainland-specific)

Origin & History

普通 (pǔtōng, common/ordinary) + 话 (huà, speech/language). Literally 'the common language' — the speech shared by all.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal