It's important to note that "Mandarin" isn't actually a single language, but rather a group of dialects that share a common standard pronunciation and writing system. The standard Mandarin is called Putonghua in mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan.
Here's a breakdown:
* Mandarin - The most widely spoken variety of Chinese, encompassing a group of dialects.
* Putonghua - The official standard language of mainland China.
* Guoyu - The official standard language of Taiwan.
Although there are other Chinese languages and dialects spoken, Mandarin is by far the most prevalent, with hundreds of millions of speakers worldwide.