Area in China where Mandarin is commonly spoken (light brown)
Mandarin is the most widely spoken Chinese dialect and is the official language of the People's Republic of China. Mandarin is taught in most Chinese schools, regardless of the dominant local dialect, to promote national unity. Other prominent Chinese dialects include Cantonese.
Appearances in The Big Bang Theory[]
- Howard claims to speak Mandarin. In The "Pilot" He tells Penny to have a "good shower" in French and Mandarin. But the "Mandarin" he speaks (Xi ge tong kuai zao!) is quite twisted in pronunciation.
- According to a comment from Szechuan Palace owner Mr. Chen in "The Dumpling Paradox", Howard's Mandarin is actually very poor:
- Chen: Where is your annoying little friend who thinks he speaks Mandarin?
- Mr. Chen can understand authentic Mandarin, but the actor playing him, James Hong, was actually born to parents who spoke Cantonese, the dominant dialect of southeast China and Hong Kong. In "The Dumpling Paradox", the words that Chen mumbles to himself when he leaves Leonard, Raj, and Sheldon at their table are possibly Cantonese.
- At the end of "The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization," Chinese Leonard and Chinese Sheldon mock American Leonard and Sheldon with inauthentic pseudo-Chinese, not authentic Mandarin. The actors are not native Chinese speakers.
- In "The Tangerine Factor" Howard tries to teach Sheldon Mandarin, causing Sheldon to speak several ridiculous pseudo-Mandarin sentences while communicating his disapproval of the food at Szechuan Palace to an annoyed Mr. Chen. Interestingly, though, Sheldon does utter a quite authentic Mandarin sentence "Aiya, xia si wo le!" (literally "Alas, I'm frightened!") to Penny in this episode. Chen's words at the end of the episode, "Xing gan jing bi ti hou, kuai zou kuai zou!" (literally "Blow your own nose and go away quickly") are a little stiff for Mandarin, and may be Cantonese.
- In "The Hawking Excitation" (S5E21), Howard rejects Sheldon's request to see Stephen Hawking in several languages, including Chinese "不" (meaning "no", pronounced as "bù").
- Allegedly Penny has a Chinese character tattooed on her bottom; both Mandarin and Cantonese share common Chinese characters that are pronounced differently in each dialect. Sheldon, who has seen her naked, dispassionately interpreted it as meaning "soup".