Looking for the meaning or definition of the word Putonghua? Here's what it means.
Proper noun
Standard Mandarin, the officiallanguage of the People's Republic of China; the common national speech of the Han nationality using Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, Beijing speech as the basic dialect, and the model writing of the modern vernacular prose as the norm for grammar.
In the last 20 years, however, participation by Australian-born children who speak Putonghua or another Chinese language at home has increased substantially.
Simultaneous translations of press conference and public sessions will be available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish and for the opening ceremony, Putonghua will also be available.
The mainland participants were interviewed in Putonghua, while a mixture of English and Cantonese was used when interviewing Hong Kong participants.
Another option if you speak a bit of the putonghua is to have a tailor visit you at home.
Pinyin romanization, however, is not intended to replace the Chinese characters but to help teach pronunciation and popularize the Beijing-dialect-based Putonghua.
However, this forceful promotion of Putonghua has also given rise to the risk of cultural extinction.
