编者按：在中国地大物博的环境下，有许多来自不同地方的方言，这些话是一个地区最有特色的产物，我们用英语来介绍一些这些情况。
China has seven major dialect groups. Each group subdivides into many dialects. The people of each province have a special dialect; the people of each city, each town, and each village have their own special dialect as well.
Everyone knows putonghua(Mandarin) is established as the official language in China. Over 90% of Chinese people speak Mandarin, but they may very likely also speak another dialect. The local dialect is generally considered more intimate and is used among close family members and friends and in everyday conversation within the local area. Chinese speakers will frequently code switch between Putonghua (Mandarin) and local dialects. Parents generally speak to their children in dialect and Putonghua appears to be mostly stable. Most Chinese know that local dialects are of considerable social benefit; and when they permanently move to a new area, they will attempt to pick up the local lly learning a new dialect is done informally through a process of immersion and recognizing sound shifts.
In many countries, a person using a southern dialect can understand a person with a northern dialect. However, two people who speak even within the same dialect group do not necessarily completely understand each other. The general situation is that one can understand perfectly people speaking the same local dialect, but intelligibility decreases as the speakers come from more and more distant regions.
This situation also works for foreigners while they speak Chinese with local people, which can make a closer relation with Chinese people.
公众号：HanFan汉风