As its name implies, written language is language used to communicate in writing; spoken language is language that is improvised on the spot and relies on a variety of other means to foster instant communication—it is normally informal. Modern written Chinese takes the Beijing dialect as its model, and contains many different levels of linguistic elements. Spoken Chinese, on the other hand, is divided into two categories, namely colloquial Mandarin and regional dialects. Because spoken language is produced by on-the-spot improvisation (it requires quick thinking and is sometimes articulated thoughtlessly) it is different from written language. Speaking is conducted face to face with rich and varied sounds, facial expressions, gestures, and movements. Although sometimes the words are repeated, redundant, incoherent, disordered, or fragmentary, they still make sense to others. Writing, on the other hand, allows time for rumination, planning, and revision. However, writing on paper has no way to express the rich, changing sounds of speech as well as all of the different facial and bodily expressions; therefore, in writing, one may rely only on the author’s style and grammar and the reader’s imagination to convey information. The sentences used in speaking are relatively short, simply structured, and even incomplete, with duplication, interruption, and interpolation. The sentences used in writing are different because they often have a larger register of vocabulary, more complex sentence structures, more coherence amongst themselves, and a clearer layout. In general, spoken language is vivid and common, while written language is more accurate, well-structured, and standardized.

The main characteristics of spoken language include: sentences that are relatively short and terse with a simple and loose structure; it uses supplementary elements, can be repetitive and is rich in visual images. Spoken Chinese contains different categories, such as spoken Mandarin, and dialects such as Cantonese. However, compared with spoken Chinese, written Chinese has specific sentence patterns and structures that, although more complex, are clearer and more coherent than spoken Chinese. Written Chinese also has a more complex and compound vocabulary.

Have you been criticized by your teacher for “being too colloquial” in your compositions? Why can you not write “stingy” and “police office” in your compositions the same way you speak them in Cantonese? Is there really a way to avoid this problem of being “too colloquial”? There are many ways to avoid being too colloquial. First, it is necessary to understand the different language requirements and methods of expression between spoken and written language. The most helpful way to understand their differences is to translate between these two expressive forms. When writing, one should avoid “writing as one speaks.” Second, read as many well-written works as possible. Seminal works written in modern standard Chinese by May Fourth Movement writers, (e.g., Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Ye Shaojun, and Zhu Ziqing) provide good models for written Chinese. As you read, you should absorb their descriptive expressions and emulate their writing. Third, avoid reading materials that are rife with regional dialect and colloquialisms. In order to attract the reader’s attention, some newspapers, comics, and advertisements readily employ dialect and colloquialisms in their writing. If we are not careful, we may mistake this register of vocabulary as proper written language.  Therefore, until you are able to distinguish proper written language from spoken, you should avoid reading these kinds of materials. This will be conducive to building your Chinese proficiency and reduce the chances of making the mistake of being “too colloquial.” Fourth, learn Mandarin Chinese and pay attention to the differences between it and your own dialect. For example, in sentences such as “I will go first” or “I will eat first,” the word order in a northerner’s speech would be Subject+Adverb+Verb and thus “I first go” or “I first eat”; but a Cantonese speaker would say the same sentences with this order Subject+Verb+Adverb and thus: “I go first” or “I eat first.” When saying “eat a bit more” a northerner would say it in an Adverb+Verb+Supplement structure and thus “more eat a bit”; a Hong Kong person would say “eat more bit,” in a Verb+Adverb+Supplement structure. As written Chinese is based on northern dialects, as long as we learn more Mandarin, converse more with native speakers of Mandarin, and pay more attention to the sentence structures of northerners’ speeches as well as the discrepancies of language usage of the two regions, it will be especially useful for the mastery of standard written Chinese and for improvement in writing skills.

Written and spoken Chinese each has its own time and place. If you confuse the two and do not pay attention to their own unique characteristics and milieus, it will inevitably lead to misunderstandings and social awkwardness. Therefore, the first task of a beginning student of Mandarin is to learn how to distinguish between the two methods of expression. However, this task is not the ultimate goal of language learning. The ultimate goal is to learn how to express one’s views and thought in an appropriate way.