--- title: "Taiwanese Mandarin vs Mainland Mandarin: the Words, Accent and Writing That Differ, With Pinyin" description: "How Mandarin in Taiwan differs from the mainland: everyday words side by side (taxi, potato, video, metro), the accent and erhua, 注音 and traditional characters, 国语 and 普通话, Taiwanese Hokkien, and 50 words with pinyin and sound." canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/taiwanese-mandarin" author: "Mandarin The Wild" --- Free · 50 words # Taiwanese Mandarin vs mainland Mandarin [Print as flashcards](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-flashcards?level=mine&words=%E5%87%BA%E7%A7%9F%E8%BD%A6%20%E8%87%AA%E8%A1%8C%E8%BD%A6%20%E5%9C%9F%E8%B1%86%20%E8%8F%A0%E8%90%9D%20%E8%A5%BF%E7%BA%A2%E6%9F%BF%20%E8%BD%AF%E4%BB%B6%20%E8%A7%86%E9%A2%91%20%E7%BD%91%E7%BB%9C%20%E8%B4%A8%E9%87%8F%20%E4%BF%A1%E6%81%AF%20%E5%9C%B0%E9%93%81%20%E6%91%A9%E6%89%98%E8%BD%A6%20%E7%A9%BA%E8%B0%83%20%E9%85%B8%E5%A5%B6%20%E9%BC%A0%E6%A0%87%20%E7%9B%92%E9%A5%AD%20%E5%85%AC%E4%BA%A4%E8%BD%A6%20%E8%AE%A1%E7%A8%8B%E8%BD%A6%20%E8%84%9A%E8%B8%8F%E8%BD%A6%20%E9%A9%AC%E9%93%83%E8%96%AF%20%E5%87%A4%E6%A2%A8%20%E7%95%AA%E8%8C%84%20%E8%BD%AF%E4%BD%93%20%E5%BD%B1%E7%89%87%20%E7%BD%91%E8%B7%AF%20%E5%93%81%E8%B4%A8%20%E8%B5%84%E8%AE%AF%20%E6%8D%B7%E8%BF%90%20%E6%9C%BA%E8%BD%A6%20%E5%86%B7%E6%B0%94%20%E4%BC%98%E6%A0%BC%20%E6%BB%91%E9%BC%A0%20%E4%BE%BF%E5%BD%93%20%E5%85%AC%E8%BD%A6%20%E7%AA%9D%E5%BF%83%20%E7%88%B1%E4%BA%BA%20%E8%8A%B1%E7%94%9F%20%E6%99%AE%E9%80%9A%E8%AF%9D%20%E5%9B%BD%E8%AF%AD%20%E5%8D%8E%E8%AF%AD%20%E6%8B%BC%E9%9F%B3%20%E6%B3%A8%E9%9F%B3%E7%AC%A6%E5%8F%B7%20%E7%B9%81%E4%BD%93%E5%AD%97%20%E7%AE%80%E4%BD%93%E5%AD%97%20%E5%84%BF%E5%8C%96%20%E5%93%AA%E5%84%BF%20%E4%B8%80%E7%82%B9%E5%84%BF%20%E5%8F%B0%E8%AF%AD%20%E9%97%BD%E5%8D%97%E8%AF%AD%20%E5%AE%A2%E5%AE%B6%E8%AF%9D) Speed ## Everyday words in the mainland and in Taiwan | | Mainland | Taiwan | | --- | --- | --- | | Taxi | 出租车 chūzūchē | 计程车 jìchéngchē | | Bicycle | 自行车 zìxíngchē | 脚踏车 jiǎotàchē | | Potato | 土豆 tǔdòu | 马铃薯 mǎlíngshǔ | | Pineapple | 菠萝 bōluó | 凤梨 fènglí | | Tomato | 西红柿 xīhóngshì | 番茄 fānqié | | Software | 软件 ruǎnjiàn | 软体 ruǎntǐ | | Video | 视频 shìpín | 影片 yǐngpiàn | | Internet | 网络 wǎngluò | 网路 wǎnglù | | Quality | 质量 zhìliàng | 品质 pǐnzhì | | Information | 信息 xìnxī | 资讯 zīxùn | | Metro | 地铁 dìtiě | 捷运 jiéyùn | | Motorbike | 摩托车 mótuōchē | 机车 jīchē | | Air conditioning | 空调 kōngtiáo | 冷气 lěngqì | | Yogurt | 酸奶 suānnǎi | 优格 yōugé | | Computer mouse | 鼠标 shǔbiāo | 滑鼠 huáshǔ | | Mandarin | 普通话 pǔtōnghuà | 国语 guóyǔ | | Sounding out words | 拼音 pīnyīn | ㄅㄆㄇㄈ zhùyīn | | Rubbish (said differently) | 垃圾 lājī | 垃圾 lèsè | ## Said in the mainland chū出zū租chē车 taxi; cab zì自xíng行chē车 bicycle tǔ土dòu豆 potato bō菠luó萝 pineapple xī西hóng红shì柿 tomato ruǎn软jiàn件 software shì视pín频 video wǎng网luò络 the internet; online zhì质liàng量 quality xìn信xī息 information; news dì地tiě铁 subway; metro mó摩tuō托chē车 motorcycle kōng空tiáo调 air conditioner; air conditioning suān酸nǎi奶 yogurt shǔ鼠biāo标 (computing) mouse hé盒fàn饭 boxed meal; box lunch gōng公jiāo交chē车 bus; public bus ## Said in Taiwan jì计chéng程chē车 (Tw) taxi jiǎo脚tà踏chē车 bicycle mǎ马líng铃shǔ薯 potato fèng凤lí梨 pineapple fān番qié茄 tomato ruǎn软tǐ体 (Tw) software yǐng影piàn片 (Tw) video; video clip wǎng网lù路 (Tw) network; Internet pǐn品zhì质 quality (of goods) zī资xùn讯 information; news jié捷yùn运 (Tw) metro; mass rapid transit jī机chē车 (Tw) motorcycle lěng冷qì气 air conditioning yōu优gé格 (Tw) yogurt huá滑shǔ鼠 (Tw) mouse (computer) biàn便dāng当 lunch box; boxed meal gōng公chē车 bus ## Same word, different sense wō窝xīn心 (Tw) heartwarming; touched ài爱ren人 spouse; husband or wife huā花shēng生 peanut ## The language and its writing pǔ普tōng通huà话 Mandarin; standard Chinese (Putonghua) guó国yǔ语 Mandarin (as used in Taiwan) huá华yǔ语 Chinese language (esp. as used outside mainland China) pīn拼yīn音 pinyin (romanization of Chinese) zhù注yīn音fú符hào号 Zhuyin; bopomofo (phonetic symbols) fán繁tǐ体zì字 traditional Chinese characters jiǎn简tǐ体zì字 simplified Chinese character ér儿huà化 rhotacization (adding an r sound to a syllable) nǎ哪r儿 where yī一diǎn点r儿 a little; a bit tái台yǔ语 Taiwanese Hokkien mǐn闽nán南yǔ语 Southern Min; Hokkien kè客jiā家huà话 Hakka (Chinese dialect) ## Now read them in a real story [**十两饺子**How to order dumplings in ChineseHSK 1 · 1 minRead it free](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/how-to-order-dumplings-in-chinese) ## What is the difference between Taiwanese Mandarin and mainland Mandarin? They are the same language, and speakers understand each other with no trouble; the differences are like British and American English. Taiwan writes in traditional characters, 繁体字 (fántǐzì), and teaches children to sound out words with zhuyin, 注音符号 (zhùyīn fúhào), the ㄅㄆㄇㄈ symbols; the mainland writes simplified characters, 简体字 (jiǎntǐzì), and uses pinyin, 拼音 (pīnyīn). Some everyday words differ, as in the chart, the accent is softer, and even the name differs: 国语 (guóyǔ) in Taiwan, 普通话 (pǔtōnghuà) in the mainland and 华语 (huáyǔ) in Singapore and Malaysia. ## How is the Taiwanese accent different? Taiwanese speakers rarely add the -r of erhua, 儿化 (érhuà), so 哪儿 (nǎr) and 一点儿 (yìdiǎnr) are 哪里 (nǎlǐ) and 一点 (yìdiǎn). In everyday speech zh, ch and sh often soften towards z, c and s, many words keep their full tone where the mainland uses a light neutral tone, and sentences end with soft particles like 喔 (o) and 啦 (la). A few standard readings differ too: 垃圾 (rubbish) is lājī in the mainland and lèsè in Taiwan, and 星期 (week) is xīngqī and xīngqí. ## What is erhua, and what is the Beijing accent? Erhua, 儿化 (érhuà), is adding an r sound to the end of a syllable, written with 儿: 玩儿 (wánr), to play, 一会儿 (yíhuìr), a moment. It is strongest in Beijing, where it is heard on almost every other word and gives the city its rolling accent. Standard mainland Mandarin uses it in a set of common words; southern China and Taiwan mostly leave it out, and both are correct. ## Is Taiwanese the same as Taiwanese Mandarin? No. Taiwanese, 台语 (Táiyǔ), is Taiwanese Hokkien, a form of Southern Min, 闽南语 (Mǐnnányǔ): a different Chinese language that a Mandarin speaker cannot understand without learning it. Mandarin, 国语, is the common language of Taiwan, and many people speak both, with Hakka, 客家话 (Kèjiāhuà), and indigenous languages too. Taiwanese Mandarin borrows some words from Hokkien. ## Which words mean different things in Taiwan and the mainland? A few can trip you up. 土豆 (tǔdòu) is a potato in the mainland but a peanut, 花生 (huāshēng), in much of Taiwan. 机车 (jīchē) is a motorbike in Taiwan, and also slang for annoying or fussy. 窝心 (wōxīn) means heartwarming in Taiwan but frustrated in some mainland dialects. And 爱人 (àiren), a husband or wife in the mainland, sounds more like a lover in Taiwan. ## Should I learn Taiwanese or mainland Mandarin? Learn the one you will use: traditional characters and zhuyin if you are going to Taiwan, simplified characters and pinyin for the mainland, Singapore or Malaysia. Grammar, almost all vocabulary and pronunciation are the same, so switching later mostly means learning the other script and a list of words like the ones above. Our traditional to simplified converter turns one script into the other. ## Can’t hear it? Play uses your device’s Mandarin voice. Edge, Chrome and Safari have one; a browser with none plays each character in our recorded voice instead. ## More on Chinese - [Traditional to simplified converter](https://mandarinthewild.com/traditional-to-simplified) - [Zhuyin converter](https://mandarinthewild.com/zhuyin-converter) - [Mandarin vs Chinese, Cantonese and Taiwanese](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/mandarin-vs-chinese) - [TOCFL practice test](https://mandarinthewild.com/tocfl-practice-test) Words, pinyin and meanings from our own dictionary, which marks Taiwan usage (Tw); the accent and readings from Wikipedia’s Taiwanese Mandarin and Erhua. Usage varies by speaker and both sides borrow each other’s words.