The differences between zhongwen, hanyu, putonghua, guoyu and huayu

zhōng wén – Chinese language. It can cover both the spoken language as well as the written form. Also, all the different Chinese dialects are considered to be zhōng wén, though with the increasing popularity of Mandarin worldwide, zhōng wén tends to refer mainly to Mandarin Chinese.

中文

中国语言。“_中文”涵盖了口语和书面语，所有不同的中国方言统一被视为“中文”，即使如今普通话在全世界日趋流行，“中文”主要指的还是普通话。

hàn yǔ – hàn refers to hànzú, or the Han ethnic group. Of the 56 ethnic groups in China, the Han people account for over 90% of the population. hàn yǔ, as the name suggests, refers to the language of the Han ethnic group, or Mandarin. Mandarin Chinese is considered “standard” Chinese — as opposed to other Chinese dialects.

汉语

汉语是汉族、也可以说汉民族群体的语言。中国有56个民族，其中汉族便占了90%以上的人口。汉语正如名称所指，指的是汉民族的使用语言，或者普通话。普通话被视为中国的标准语言，与中国的各种方言不一样。

pǔ tōng hua – The literal meaning of pǔ tōng huà is “common language”. pǔ tōng huà is the official language of Mainland China.

普通话

字面意义上来说是指“普遍的语言”。普通话是中国大陆的官方语言。

zhōng wén is used when the opposite may be English, Japanese, etc., whereas "pǔ tōng huà" is used when the opposite may be other Chinese dialects. Like in most countries, the most standard Chinese dialect can be found on television. In China, all the TV anchors are required to speak standard pǔ tōng huà.

说到“中文”就像谈到“英文”、“日文”一样，但是说到“普通话”却是跟说其他方言的情况一样。在大部分的地区，大家都可以听到电视上最标准的中国方言。中国的电视节目主持人都需要具备说好标准普通话的能力。

pǔ tōng huà and hàn yǔ are pretty much the same thing. You can think of pǔ tōng huà as the more standard, better-pronounced hàn yǔ.

“普通话”和“汉语”可以说几乎是一样的意思。我们可以认为普通话就是指更为标准、发音更好的汉语。

guó yǔ (国语) – guó yǔ (国语) literally means “national language”. Guó yǔ and pǔ tōng huà are also essentially the same. guó yǔ (国语) is used by Taiwan and sometimes Hong Kong to refer to Mandarin, while pǔ tōng huà is used by Mainland China to refer to Mandarin.

国语

“国语”字面上指的是“国家语言”。“国语”和“普通话”本质上来说是一样的。台湾以及香港偶尔会用“国语”指“Mandarin”，而“普通话”在大陆人看来就是“Mandarin”。

huá yǔ / huá wén – These two terms also refer to standard Mandarin but are used in Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia. Both countries have adopted Mainland China’s pǔ tōng huà along with simplified characters rather than traditional. huá yǔ / huá wén refer exclusively to spoken and written language.

华语、华文

这两个词都指的是标准普通话，但是经常是东南亚所使用的，尤其是新加坡和马来西亚。这两个国家已经接受了中国大陆的普通话，使用简体文字而不是繁体字。“华语”、“华文”分别指的是口语和书面语。

The differences between zhōng wén (中文), hàn yǔ (汉语), pǔ tōng huà (普通话), guó yǔ (国语), huá yǔ (华语) and huá wén (华文) are pretty subtle and the nuances are commonly overlooked by foreign Chinese learners.

“中文”、“汉语”、“普通话”、“国语”、“华语”和“华文”之间的不同之处是很微妙的，但国外中文学习者普遍忽略了这些细微差别。