This started in my Real Estae Law class during the discussion about discrimination, whether intentional or not, in where an Aget shows a client houses based on ethnicity. Remember, U.S. of A. is a polyglot of races and ethnicities. In most areas of the country, they tend to clump together in one area. Depending on the numbers present they break down to other levels. Asian--Japanese-Korean-Chinese-SE Asian-...or smaller like Viet Namese-Cambodian-Laotian. We had a guy in the class with Chinese ancestry who pointed out that there was even a Cantonese - Mandarian breakdown.

We all know about different dialects. Ameriacn vs Great Britain english, Castillian vs Mexico spanish. But it is easily understood by both sides. Is this the same for Mandarian and Cantonese or are they totally separate?

Mandarin and Cantonese are totally separate as far as the spoken language. They shares a common written language

Ditto to what Alan said.. they are two different spoken languages.

Other than Cantonese & Mandarin, there are others like Hokkien, Teochew, etc...

I think it is because of the different "states" in China.. that's why they speak different languages..

How did China successfully unite? Germany came together in the 1870's, but Bavaria had a different dialet called Swabisch which is not exactly the same as Hochdeutsch. But the differences are like American vs Great Britain english. Italy the same. MOst contries had a common language which is understood by all with regional differences. It used to be required in this country that you learned english (our form) to get through or become citizen. Now I can't find a job because I am not bilingual and be able to speak spanish., but that's another story for another time. I way I learned it here is that Mandarian was the "high falutin" court language but everyone else spoke chinese which was Cantonese. Now I find there are other languages involved that are all different.. But the writing is the same. Now that confuses me a bit. So I could write a letter that would be understood by all, but if I read it outloud it wouldn't be? Verrrry interesting