國語

Taiwan Mandarin

Sinitic (Mandarin)

FamilySinitic (Mandarin) Speakers~23M ScriptTraditional Chinese CountriesTaiwan Official inTaiwan Vitalitysafe ISO 639-3cmn

Taiwan Mandarin (中華民國國語 / 臺灣華語 Táiwān huáyǔ) is the standard Mandarin of Taiwan and one of its official national languages, spoken by nearly all of the island's ~23M people. It descends from the Standard Chinese the Republic of China government promoted after 1945 and shares Standard Mandarin's grammar and four-tone system, but is written exclusively in Traditional characters (正體字) and taught with the Bopomofo/Zhuyin (注音符號) phonetic system rather than Pinyin. Shaped by contact with Taiwanese Hokkien and Japanese, it tends to merge the retroflex series zh/ch/sh with the dental z/c/s in casual speech and uses far less erhua than Beijing Mandarin. Many everyday words differ from the Mainland — e.g. the "@" sign is read 小老鼠 "little mouse" rather than Mainland 艾特.

Where it is spoken

31 core words in Taiwan Mandarin

Water

/ʂweɪ̯˧˩˧/

Fire

/xwo˧˩˧/

Sun

太陽

/tʰaɪ̯˥˩jɑŋ˧˥/

Moon

月亮

/ɥɛ˥˩ljɑŋ˥˩/

Star

/ɕiŋ˥/

Mother

媽媽

/ma˥ma/

Father

爸爸

/pa˥˩pa/

I

/wo˨˩˦/

You

/ni˨˩˦/

Name

名字

/miŋ˧˥ tsɿ˥˩/

Eye

眼睛

/jɛn˧˩˧tɕiŋ˥/

Hand

/ʂoʊ̯˧˩˧/

Heart

/ɕin˥/

Love

/aɪ̯˥˩/

Tree

/ʂu˥˩/

House

房子

/fɑŋ˧˥tsɨ/

Dog

/koʊ̯˧˩˧/

Cat

/maʊ̯˥/

Eat

/ʈʂʰɨ˥/

Drink

/xɤ˥/

One

/i˥/

Two

/ɚ˥˩/

Hello

你好

/ni˧˩˧xaʊ̯˧˩˧/

Thank you

謝謝

/ɕjɛ˥˩ɕjɛ/

Good

/xaʊ̯˧˩˧/

Cuckoo

布穀鳥

/pu˥˩ ku˨˩˦ ni̯ɑʊ̯˨˩˦/

Woof

汪汪

/waŋ˥ waŋ˥/

Computer

電腦

/tjɛn˥˩ nɑʊ̯˨˩˦/

Sushi

壽司

/ʂoʊ̯˥˩ sz̩˥/

Dopamine

多巴胺

/twɔ˥pä˥an˥˩/

At sign (@)

小老鼠

/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯˨˩˦ lɑʊ̯˨˩˦ ʂu˨˩˦/

Sources

Words compared

Compared with related Sinitic (Mandarin) languages

Meaning Taiwan MandarinChinese (Mandarin)Northeastern MandarinTianjin MandarinSichuan MandarinNanjing MandarinWuhan Mandarin
Water /ʂweɪ̯˧˩˧/ /ʂweɪ̯˧˩˧/ /ʂweɪ̯˧˩˧/ /ʂwei˩˧/ /suei˥˧/ /ʂueɪ˨˩˨/ /suei˦˨/
Fire /xwo˧˩˧/ /xwo˧˩˧/ /xwo˧˩˧/ /xwo˨˩˧/ /xo˥˧/ /xuo˨˩˨/ /huo˦˨/
Sun 太陽 /tʰaɪ̯˥˩jɑŋ˧˥/ 太阳 /tʰaɪ̯˥˩jɑŋ˧˥/ 太阳 /tʰaɪ̯˥˩jɑŋ˩/ 日头 /ʐʅ˥˩tʰoʊ˨˦/ 太阳 /tʰai˥˩iaŋ˧˥/ 太阳 /tʰɛ˦iaŋ˩˧/ 太阳 /tʰai˥˧iaŋ˨˩˧/
Moon 月亮 /ɥɛ˥˩ljɑŋ˥˩/ 月亮 /ɥɛ˥˩ljɑŋ/ 月亮 /ɥɛ˥˩ljɑŋ˩/ 月亮 /ɥɛ˥˩ljaŋ/ 月亮 /ye˨˩liaŋ˨˩˧/ 月亮 /yʔ˥liaŋ˦/ 月亮 /yɛ˨˩˧liaŋ/
Star /ɕiŋ˥/ /ɕiŋ˥/ 星星 /ɕiŋ˦ɕiŋ/ /ɕiŋ˨˩/ 星星 /ɕin˥ɕin/ /ɕiŋ˧˩/ /ɕin˥˥/
Mother 媽媽 /ma˥ma/ 妈妈 /ma˥ma/ 妈妈 /ma˥ma/ /ma˩˩/ 妈妈 /ma˥ma/ 姆妈 /m̩˧˩ma˧˩/ 妈妈 /ma˨˩˧ma/
Father 爸爸 /pa˥˩pa/ 爸爸 /pa˥˩pa/ 爸爸 /pa˥˩pa/ /pa˥˩/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/ /tie˧˩/ 爸爸 /pa˨˩˧pa/
I /wo˨˩˦/ /wo˨˩˦/ /wɔ˨˩˦/ /wo˩˧/ /ŋo˥˧/ /ŋo˨˩˨/ /ŋo˦˨/
Page 1/4

Han readings compared

Compared with related Sinitic > Mandarin (Taiwan variety / 中華民國華語) languages

Character Taiwan MandarinThai Mandarin (heritage)Chinese (Mandarin)Northeastern MandarinAmerican Mandarin (heritage)Early Mandarin (Yuan)Tianjin Mandarin
/i˥˥/ /i˥˥/ /i˥˥/ yi⁵⁵ /i˥˥/ yi¹ /i˥˥/ i3 /i˨˩˦/ yi²¹ /i˨˩/
èr /ɑɻ˥˩/ èr /ɑɻ˥˩/ èr /ɑɻ˥˩/ er⁵³ /ɚ˥˧/ er⁴ /ɚ˥˩/ ʐï4 /ʐʅ˥˩/ er⁵³ /ɚ˥˧/
sān /san˥˥/ sān /san˥˥/ sān /san˥˥/ san⁵⁵ /san˥˥/ san¹ /san˥˥/ sam1 /sam˥/ san²¹ /sɑn˨˩/
/sɿ˥˩/ /sɿ˥˩/ /sɿ˥˩/ si⁵³ /sɿ˥˧/ si⁴ /sɹ̩˥˩/ sï4 /sɿ˥˩/ si⁵³ /sɿ˥˧/
/u˨˩˦/ /u˨˩˦/ /u˨˩˦/ wu²¹³ /u˨˩˧/ wu³ /u˨/ u3 /u˨˩˦/ wu¹³ /u˩˧/
liù /ljou˥˩/ liù /ljou˥˩/ liù /ljou˥˩/ liu⁵³ /liou˥˧/ liu⁴ /ljou˥˩/ lieu4 /liəu˥˩/ liu⁵³ /liou˥˧/
/tɕʰi˥˥/ /tɕʰi˥˥/ /tɕʰi˥˥/ qi⁵⁵ /tɕʰi˥˥/ qi¹ /tɕʰi˥˥/ tshi3 /tsʰi˨˩˦/ qi²¹ /tɕʰi˨˩/
/pa˥˥/ /pa˥˥/ /pa˥˥/ ba⁵⁵ /pa˥˥/ ba¹ /pa˥˥/ pa3 /pa˨˩˦/ ba²¹ /pa˨˩/
jiǔ /tɕjou˨˩˦/ jiǔ /tɕjou˨˩˦/ jiǔ /tɕjou˨˩˦/ jiu²¹³ /tɕiou˨˩˧/ jiu³ /tɕjou˨/ kieu3 /kiəu˨˩˦/ jiu¹³ /tɕiou˩˧/
shí /sz̩˧˥/ shí /sz̩˧˥/ shí /ʂʐ̩˧˥/ shi³⁵ /ʂʐ̩˧˥/ shi² /sɹ̩˧˥/ ʂï2 /ʂʅ˧˥/ shi⁴⁵ /ʂʐ̩˦˥/
Page 1/7

Part of LangMap — a linguistic visualization project. This is a static, crawlable summary; the interactive maps offer pronunciation audio, filters, and a globe view.