There are numerous myths and misunderstandings about Chinese languages. In fact the term Chinese
language itself is cause for confusion. It is often used to refer to Mandarin is the most common and widely spoken Chinese language and is the official language of Taiwan and China. However, to say that Mandarin equates to the Chinese language ignores the tremendous linguistic diversity that exists in Greater China.

Although other Chinese languages such as Cantonese, Hakka and Hokkien are often referred to as dialects this is in fact incorrect. They are distinct languages and mutually unintelligible. A more correct use of the word dialect is to differentiate the various forms of a language spoken in different places. For example the Mandarin spoken in Beijing and the Mandarin spoken in Chengdu.

Another common myth is that all the Chinese languages can be written using the same writing system. While there is a standard form of written Chinese, it is based on spoken Mandarin. The way other Chinese languages are written (using Chinese characters) can vary considerably from standard Chinese. Have a look at this page for an example of how Taiwanese written in Chinese characters looks.

Yet another misunderstanding is that the traditional characters used in Taiwan and Hong Kong are completely different from the simplified characters used in China. In fact many of the characters are the same. Many of the simplifications are fairly logical and it is not difficult to identify them. Any person with knowledge of one system can adapt to reading the other system with some effort. While there is some potential for confusion it is actually not a huge problem.