Here's a breakdown of the key points:
* Logographic: Each character typically represents a complete word or meaningful part of a word, rather than a single sound like letters in alphabetic systems.
* Complex: There are thousands of characters, and learning to recognize and write them can be a significant undertaking.
* Evolution: Many characters have evolved over centuries from pictographs (pictures) to more abstract forms.
* Simplified and Traditional: There are two main forms of Chinese characters: Simplified Chinese, used in mainland China and Singapore, and Traditional Chinese, used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau.
* Pinyin: While characters are the primary way of writing Mandarin, pinyin is a romanization system used for pronunciation, helping learners understand the sound of characters and for searching online.
Therefore, the "script" of Mandarin is better understood as a system of characters rather than a traditional alphabet.