Dialect vs language 方言 vs 語言
fāngyán vs yǔyán · from English
What is the difference between a dialect and a language?
The difference between a dialect and a language is partly linguistic (mutual intelligibility) and largely political and social.
Linguist Max Weinreich popularised the quip that a language is a dialect with an army and navy. Cantonese and Mandarin are not mutually intelligible in speech but are usually called Chinese dialects, while Malay and Indonesian, largely intelligible, are called separate languages. Linguists often use variety or topolect to avoid the question.
Examples
Cantonese and Mandarin (called dialects, not mutually intelligible); Malay and Indonesian (called languages, largely intelligible); Swedish and Norwegian
Kungfucius says: A language is a dialect with an army, a navy, and a Ministry of Education.