In our Youtube Live hangout, we answered a very popular question we often get from our students: What are the major differences between Mainland Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin?

Script Differences: 

Mainland Mandarin is written with simplified characters, whereas Taiwanese Mandarin uses traditional characters. Sentences follow the same grammartical structure, but some words are written with different characters.  They can look very different, for example:

However, they share about 75% of the same characters! :)

Accent Differences:

In Mainland Mandarin, you'll hear:

• zhi
• chi
• shi
• 垃圾 (lā jī)
• + 儿 (er) 'erhua' accent/retroflex
• More neutral tones: 先生 (xiān sheng)，漂亮 (piào liang)，东西 (dōng xi)
• 
  

In Taiwanese Mandarin, you'll hear:

• zi
• ci
• si
• 垃圾 (lè sè)
• no retroflex
• Neutral tones are not always used: 先生 (xiān shēng)，漂亮 (piào liàng)，东西 (dōng xī)
• 
  

Vocab Differences (Two Kinds)

Completely different words for the same terms:

English:	Mainland:	Taiwanese:
Potato	土豆 (tǔ dòu)	马铃薯 (mǎ líng shǔ)
Pineapple	菠萝 (bō luó)	凤梨 (fèng lí)
Bicycle	自行车 (zì xíng chē)	脚踏车(jiǎo tà chē)
Taxi	出租车(chū zū chē)	计程车 (jì chéng chē)
Subway	地铁 (dì tiě)	捷运 (jié yùn)
Boxed meal	盒饭 (hé fàn)	便当 (biàn dāng)
Tomato	西红柿 (xī hóng shì)	番茄 (fān qié)

Words are understandable but used in different ways:

English:	Mainland:	Taiwanese:
You're welcome/no need to thank me	不用谢 (bú yòng xiè)	不会 (bú huì)
Service person / Miss /Mister	服务员 (fù wù yuán)	小姐/ (xiǎo jiě) / 先生 (xiān shēng)
People of other nationalities	老外 (lǎo wài)	外国人 (wài guó rén)
Understand	明白 (míng bái)	了解 (liǎo jiě)
Girl / Boy	女孩儿/男孩儿 (nǚ hái (r) / nán hái (r))	女生/男生 (nǚ shēng / nán shēng)

What do you think are the biggest differences in Mainland Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin? Share with us in the comments below! :)