Chinese vs Cantonese
Is Chinese similar to Cantonese? How close are they?
Mandarin and Cantonese are both Chinese (Sinitic) languages that share most of their characters and a formal written standard, but in speech they are not mutually intelligible: Cantonese has six tones, different everyday vocabulary and grammar particles.
The short answer
Mandarin and Cantonese are both Chinese (Sinitic) languages sharing most characters and much grammar, but in speech they are not mutually intelligible. Cantonese has six tones (nine if checked tones are counted separately) and keeps final -p, -t and -k sounds that Mandarin lost.
The verdict
Shared characters and formal vocabulary, similar grammar. Different pronunciation, more tones in Cantonese, and core words differ (吃 chī vs 食 sik6, 是 shì vs 係 hai6).
Closeness score
20 / 30
Mutually intelligible?
partly
Shared vocabulary
Formal vocabulary is largely shared; everyday spoken vocabulary diverges considerably
Which first?
Mandarin first unless you live in Hong Kong / Guangdong.
Kungfucius says: Same family dinner, different dinner-table language.
Side by side
chī食
sik6食 is the older word (Classical Chinese); Mandarin replaced it with 吃 in everyday speech but keeps 食 in compounds such as 食物.
bù / de唔 / 嘅
m4 / ge3These characters exist almost only in written Cantonese, so their presence identifies the text immediately.
shì係
hai6Cantonese uses 係 as its everyday copula; Mandarin uses 是.