'Mandarin' is not a chinese word. It's called 'Mandarin' because the early western explorers and traders (late Ming- and early Qing-Dynasty) understood that it was the language of the officials. Their first contacts were at the Southern China coast (Guangdong, Fujian), where the officials (appointed by the central government) used the dialect of the northern capital (Beijing). Quite different from the local languages. The Portugese ('mandarim') and Spaniards (mandarin) came by India ('mantrin') and Malaysia ('menteri'), where this word meant 'minister' or 'counsel'/'advisor'.

English Pinyin traditional simplified meaning notes -------------- ----------- ------------- ------------ ------------------ ---------------------------- Mandarin 官話 官话 speech of officials Northern dialect(s) pǔtōnghuà 普通話 普通话 common language Language in mainland guóyǔ 國語 国语 national language In similar to English is the language of UK hànyǔ /huáyǔ 漢語/華語 汉语/华语 (an) ethnic group native to China If anything is wrong, please counsel me about my shortcomings, Thanks.

the people in dalu used to call "putonghu", in taiwan they call "guoyu", in the other country people call "huayu", all of these called "mandarin" it's the same thing

now : manderin=Putonghua=Guoyu Huayu including manderin and all kinds of local languages in China.

Oh, italki removed my space characters. This is my answer: ___English_____Pinyin_____traditional___simplified________meaning________________notes ----------------__------------___ --------------____------------____-------------------------____ ---------------------------- Mandarin____guānhuà______官話________官话 ______speech of officials_____Northern dialect(s) ____________pǔtōnghuà____普通話_______普通话____common language______Language in mainland ____________guóyǔ_________國語_________国语______national language_____In similar to English is ________________________________________________________________________the language of UK __________hànyǔ /huáyǔ __漢語/華語__汉语/华语 __________________________(an) ethnic group _________________________________________________________________________native to China