Differences Between Mainland and Taiwanese Mandarin

In the overall scope of things, the differences between the Mandarin language as spoken in the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan is not very large. This is not surprising since both started from the same source, the Beijing dialect. Unfortunately, as a result of the 1949 political split between the two sides and the resulting complete lack of communications during the cold war era, some differences have arisen. These differences are not a real obstacle to communication but they do make for interesting trivia as most native Chinese speakers, from either side, are only vaguely aware of them except for the officially prescribed differences such as the official name of the language, the use of simplified characters, and which phonetic system is in use. The separate evolution of the language is more obvious on the new words which had to be coined to name things that did not exist prior to 1949, such as new technology, products, and names of foreign personages.