Correct usage of 語,文,話

[LyYenKhang]

When referring to the spoken Chinese language is it most appropriate to use 中話 as opposed to 中文? I thought that 文 is only use to refer to the written language. Does 語 refer to written or spoken (or both).

I ask because in Vietnamese 話 is only used for referring to spoken language, 文 is used exclusively for referring to written language and so is 語. I'm not sure how it is in Chinese though because my Pimsleur program teaches to say: ni3 hui4 shuo1 ying1 wen2 ma?

Thanks.

[calibre2001]

中國話 is more like it.

[Hofmann]

Strictly speaking, 文 is something written. Therefore, one cannot "說中文." One speaks 漢語. One writes 中文. However, this has been confused so much that 文 includes spoken language. This is similar to "The sign says..." in English. Signs cannot speak, so it should be "The sign reads..." or "On the sign is written..." but "The sign says..." has become common.

[David Wong]

From my observations, these are commonly used:

中文

华语

国语

汉语

普通话

广东话

etc...

说<insert option>话

说<insert option>语

学中文

写汉字

语文

Never encountered "中话“.

[LucyxLucy]

I don't really know the grammatical differences between 语，文，and 话, but I know from a native speaker's point of view that 语and文 are often used interchangeably. E.g. 英语&英文，法语&法文 etc., to me, both ways could mean the spoken or written component, however, I've noticed that people from Mainland China prefer using 英语, but people from Taiwan prefer 英文, even though they have the same meanings.

Nevertheless, this is likely to be one of those things that is grammatically incorrect, but everyone says it anyway.

For 话, I've noticed that it always goes after the name of a place, such as 东北话，长沙话, but it's limited within the dialects of China. You could say, if you really wanted to, things like 英国话 or 法国话，people would understand you for sure, but it sounds quite awkward.

A better example would be terms like 粤语 and 广东话, which mean the same thing, but if you switch them up, neither 广东语, nor 粤话 makes sense.

[calibre2001]

An example of 中國話

[renzhe]

The correct usage of 語,文 and 話 is to use them within proper words, and not to think of them as something that can be exchanged. See David Wong's post for a list of legitimate words.

The other thing to consider is that different places have different meanings for these words. 汉语 is common in the PRC and is usually assumed to mean vernacular writing and standard Mandarin pronunciation, but other places will use it more rarely and might use it for all Chinese languages together. Similarly, you rarely hear 华语 in the PRC, but it's the official name in Singapore I think. 国语 is typically used in Taiwan to refer to spoken standard Mandarin, whereas 普通话 is used on the Mainland -- unless one is discussing the difference between the two standards. Mainland people have corrected me whenever I said that I speak 普通话, and say that I should use 汉语 or 中文 instead. Using 普通话 stresses the standard dialect part, and can sound very arrogant, especially if the other person speaks with an accent because their native dialect is not Mandarin. 汉语 is more inclusive. I don't think that saying you speak 国语 in Taiwan would have the same connotations. So the words will depend on the region where you are and the cultural context.

All these examples are from my (limited) understanding, but it shows that the meaning of words is important.

Like Hoffman says, 話 is speech, 文 is writing and 語 is both. But in practice, it comes down to the words containing these characters, and they don't always follow these meanings fully. So in many places 中文 can refer to speech too and 英语 and 英文 are, according to my observation, completely interchangeable. Learning the words in context is the only way -- and keep in mind that the usage is different in different countries and communities.