一个很蠢的问题：Mandarin到底是指咱们现在通用的简体中文还是繁体中文？

Loise Hsu wrote:

法国的翻译社自己搞不清楚Mandarin的意思。也有法国翻译社不知道中文有繁简之分，以为Mandarin是指简中的。所以如果有人说要翻成Mandarin，我会跟他确认一下到底是哪一边的中文。

Mandarin - the official language of China, spoken by most educated Chinese people

ysun wrote:

Mandarin 属于口语范畴（a form of spoken Chinese），而简体、繁体中文则是指书写形式（written forms）。

Ding ZHANG wrote:

一语中的。mandarin也就是过去的官话吧？

Sessions - Free and Open to Public

January 26, 2013 10:00 am - 3:30 pm

Austin City Hall, 301 West Second Street

Presentations in English. Translated written materials available in Español, 官话, and tiếng Việt.

ysun wrote:

Mandarin 属于口语范畴（a form of spoken Chinese），而简体、繁体中文则是指书写形式（written forms）。
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/Mandarin

Mandarin 在中国大陆称为普通话，在台湾称为国语，在新加坡、马来西亚称为华语。

普通话的定义：“普通话是以北京语音为标准音，以北方方言为基础方言，以典范的现代白话文著作为语法规范的现代汉民族共同语”。
http://dsxx.pynet.net/show.aspx?id=132&cid=56

Ding ZHANG wrote:

mandarin也就是过去的官话吧？

In Chinese linguistics, Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 官话; traditional Chinese: 官話; pinyin: Guānhuà; literally "speech of officials") is a group of related varieties or dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China.
...

In the early 20th century, a standard form based on the Beijing dialect, with elements from other Mandarin dialects, was adopted as the national language. Standard Chinese, which is also referred to as "Mandarin", Pǔtōnghuà (simplified Chinese: 普通话; traditional Chinese: 普通話; literally "common speech") or Guóyǔ (Chinese: 國語; literally "national language"), is the official language of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, and one of the four official languages of Singapore.

Definition of MANDARIN
1
a : a public official in the Chinese Empire of any of nine superior grades
b (1) : a pedantic official (2) : BUREAUCRAT
c : a person of position and influence often in intellectual or literary circles; especially : an elder and often traditionalist or reactionary member of such a circle

2 capitalized
a : a form of spoken Chinese used by the court and the official classes of the Empire
b : the group of closely related Chinese dialects that are spoken in about four fifths of the country and have a standard variety centering about Beijing

3 [Swedish mandarin (apelsin) mandarin (orange), ultimately from Portuguese mandarim mandarin; perhaps from the color of a mandarin's robes]
a : a small spiny orange tree (Citrus reticulata) of southeastern Asia with yellow to reddish-orange loose-rinded fruits; also : a tree (as the satsuma) developed in cultivation from the mandarin by artificial selection or hybridization
b : the fruit of a mandarin
…

Origin of MANDARIN
Portuguese mandarim, from Malay mĕntĕri, from Sanskritmantrin counselor, from mantra counsel — more at MANTRA
First Known Use: 1589

Adsion wrote:

非常准确而漂亮的回答！但不知道为什么那么多西方人就知道汉语有Mandarin和Cantonese，不知道Simplified Chinese和Traditional Chinese。其中繁体中文和简体中文都是Mandarin相对应的书面语言（很简单，台湾人写繁体说普通话，广东话的书写形式不是一般懂中文的就能很容易读懂的），而Cantonese只是中国诸多方言中的一种，之所以这种方言在国外广为人知是因为早期出国的华人说Cantonese的占大多数。

经常有客户或潜在客户发来文件要译成Mandarin。谁知道其中的缘由？难道Mandarin一词是国人叫开的？

[Edited at 2012-12-15 15:15 GMT]

The English word "mandarin" (from Portuguese mandarim, from Malay [ˈməntəri] menteri, from Hindi mantri, from Sanskrit mantrin, meaning "minister or counsellor"), originally meant an official of the Chinese empire.[2][3] As their home dialects were varied and often mutually unintelligible, these officials communicated using a koiné based on various northern dialects. When Jesuit missionaries learned this standard language in the 16th century, they called it Mandarin, from its Chinese name Guānhuà (官话/官話), or "language of the officials".