Are Mandarin and Cantonese characters the same?

Mandarin and Cantonese use the same written characters, but their pronunciations are often different.

Here's a breakdown:

* Written Characters: Both languages share the same set of written characters, known as Hanzi (漢字) in Mandarin and Kanji (漢字) in Japanese. These characters are the foundation of the Chinese writing system.

* Pronunciation: While the characters are the same, the way they are pronounced in Mandarin and Cantonese can differ significantly. This is due to the evolution of the languages over time.

Think of it like this: Imagine two people speaking different dialects of English. They might use the same words, but their accents and pronunciation might make them sound very different.

Examples:

* "你好" (nǐ hǎo) in Mandarin means "hello" and is pronounced "nei hou" in Cantonese.

* The character "吃" (chī) is pronounced "chi" in Mandarin and "sik" in Cantonese.

So, while Mandarin and Cantonese use the same characters, their pronunciations make them sound different when spoken. This is why someone who can read Chinese characters might not be able to understand spoken Cantonese if they only know Mandarin, and vice versa.