answersLogoWhite

0

It's been said a language is a dialect without an army and a navy.

In general if two different systems of speaking have 80% mutual intelligibility, they are dialects of the same language. If they have a lower rate of mutual intelligibility, they are different languages.

However, take Chinese--Mandarin and Cantonese aren't anything alike, but politically declared as the same language. French and Italian are very similar, but different languages.

Basically, it's arbitrary.

User Avatar

Wiki User

16y ago

What else can I help you with?