eryue, “two months” [urr-yu-eh] (February)
sanyue, “three months” [sahn-yu-eh] (March)
siyue, “four months” [suh-yu-eh] (April)
wuyue, “five months” [wuu-yu-eh] (May)
liuyue, “six months” [leo-yu-eh] (June)
qiyue, “seven months” [chee-yu-eh] (July)
bayue, “eight months” [bah-yu-eh] (August)
jiuyue, “nine months” [jew-yu-eh] (September)
shiyue, “ten months” [shr-yu-eh] (October)
shiyiyue, “eleven months” [shr-ee-yu-eh] (November)
shieryue, “twelve months” [shr-urr-yu-eh] (December)
There is no one Chinese language. In fact there are at least seven known Chinese languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Shanghainese, and Hunanese with large numbers of dialects and minority-group languages.
In 1956, the Chinese Communist Party decreed that the languange to be spoken in the Beijing area and in northern China would be Mandarin and as the Putonghua (“Common Language”) it would be the national language and it would be taught in all of the schools of the country.
Mandarin Chinese is also spoken and taught in Taiwan and Singapore. Younger people generally speak both Mandarin and their local dialect or language.
Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more people than any other language in the world with English being the second in number of speakers; however, English is the most widely spoken language throughout the world.
When people speak of “Chinese” as a language, they usually mean Mandarin Chinese, whether they realize it or not.