Difference between Chinese and Mandarin

[Ib_slave]

Apparently Chinese and Mandarin are treated as 2 different subjects by IBO. What is the difference???

[Zefar]

Chinese is just China, and Mandarin is standard spoken chinese which is also used in other places?

I don't know.. not sure...I personally take IB chinese

[LeeHits]

There's an IB Chinese?

Anyways, Chinese it the encompassing language of China. Mandarin is a dialect of Chinese, not its own language. The other main dialect is Cantonese. For the most part, the grammatical system is the same. Cantonese speakers as well as Taiwanese Mandarin speakers use traditional Chinese characters whereas Mainlanders use simplified. For a seasoned Chinese reader, the difference between the two writing systems is minimal as simplified is just the simpler derivative of traditional.

But I wonder what the difference between IB Chinese and IB Mandarin is...It doesn't make much sense to me. Is IB Chinese all writing/reading?

Edited July 6, 2008 by LeeHits

[Forester]

you can take mandarin or Cantonese.

they are grouped as ib chinese.

[loser123726]

Apparently Chinese and Mandarin are treated as 2 different subjects by IBO. What is the difference???

my sku provides Chinese A1, B and ab initio

but when my IBC was confirming subject choice with students on the IB site, i saw no option named as "Chinese B",it is named as "Mandarin B" instead

but this does not apply to A1 and ab initio

anyway mandarin is just a chinese dialect spoken by the Peking higher class ppl back in the old days, but foreigners nowadays tend to use it as a name for the Chinese official language, Putonghua

i can garuntee ur teacher is teaching u Chinese language and proper Putonghua

no worries!

[Guest rudolflai]

Chinese is the subject. Chinese texts can be read with thousands of Chinese dialects, each producing different pronounciations, but the official one is Mandarin.

In Chinese A1 HL, SL, A2 HL, SL, you can take the oral exams in Cantonese (dialect of hk ) or Mandarin.

Get it?