So a request I sometimes get is “I want to get my Chinese characters translated and written in Cantonese, not Mandarin.”

In short, Chinese writing is the same across the board.  Mandarin and Cantonese are known as “dialects” (of which, there are MANY) and refer to the way the characters are pronounced only.

The term “dialect” is used a bit different than some of you may be used to, in the sense that Mandarin speakers will not be able to understand Cantonese speakers, and vice versa.

In a roundabout way, it’s similar to English.  For the most part, all the writing is the same, but if you’ve ever heard a British accent so thick you couldn’t understand it, it’s kinda like that…  only tenfold worse.

In Mandarin, there are four main tones…  it’s the official language of mainland China (spoken by approximately 70% of the population) and Taiwan.  I’m not a Cantonese speaker, but from what I understand, Cantonese can have anywhere from 6 - 11 tones, depending on province and what you consider a tone…  and is spoken in places like Hong Kong and Macau.