Does English have a standard one?

[harrymick]

I was wondering if English has a standard one like Mandarin in China?

You know, Mandarin is the official national standard spoken language of China, which is based on the principal dialect spoken in and around Beijing.

[blacknomi]

"How can you govern a country where there are 246 different types of cheese?"

— attributed to Charles de Gaulle

[harrymick]

Do you know China is communism country , which can govern anything including people's lives , even sexual activity. lol, I mean birth control and family planning.

[harrymick]

I really want to know this.

[Red5]

See: Standard English
See also: Accent; Dialect; Pidgin; Creole; Slang; Idiolect; Descriptive Grammar; Prescriptive Grammar; Received Pronunciation

[Red5]

Also, read more in similar discussions about Standard English at the foot of this page.

[blacknomi]

Originally Posted by harrymick

Do you know China is communism country , which can govern anything including people's lives , even sexual activity. lol, I mean birth control and family planning.

Standard and dangerous are synonyms! lol

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by harrymick

I really want to know this.

The basic answer is no. English has dialects, but the language is regarded as one, so no form is officially favoured, nor are the dialects regarded as different in official terms. The UK also recognises other languages, like Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, etc. These languages, with the exception of Welsh, are onl;y spoken by a very few people, but they are accepted. they are, however, different languages. The situation with regard to English is not the same as that of China- you can speak any dialect of English officially, but then they are less different than the dialects of Chinese, which I believe are more different. In Spain, where the dialects are more like different langauges, they are all recognised. The general tendency in Europe is to recognoise and accept the language diversity, though this is a fairly recent trend in some parts.