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Exactly, it's a different language. Dialects would share the same words although pronunciation is different. The many Chinese languages have different words, some even have words not found in other Chinese languages. Grammar might be slightly different too.

I've heard the argument that because they all use Hanzi, they're the same language. That's like saying English and German are the same language because they both use the Roman alphabet.

If Spanish and Portuguese can be considered different languages even though they are somewhat mutually intelligible what more Chinese languages.

from Wiki:

[Chinese languages] are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties (especially Min) are themselves composed of a number of non-mutually-intelligible subvarieties. As a result, Western linguists typically refer to these varieties as separate languages. For sociological and political reasons, however, most Chinese speakers and Chinese linguists consider them to be variations of a single Chinese language, and refer to them as dialects,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese

_____________

DEFINITION OF DIALECT:

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers.[1] The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns...

The other usage refers to a language socially subordinate to a regional or national standard lang.age, often historically cognate to the standard, but not a variety of it or in any other sense derived from it"

...

Modern-day linguists know that the status of language is not solely determined by linguistic criteria, but it is also the result of a historical and political development. Romansh came to be a written language, and therefore it is recognized as a language, even though it is very close to the Lombardic alpine dialects. An opposite example is the case of Chinese, whose variations such as Mandarin and Cantonese are often called dialects and not languages, despite their mutual unintelligibility, because the word for them in Mandarin, 方言 fāngyán, was mistranslated as "dialect" because it meant "regional speech"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect

Ms. Bubble Tea has given a fantastic answer, but in light of all the other misinformed answers here, I feel the need to weigh in as well.

The next time someone tells you "Cantonese is a dialect of Chinese", politely inform them that there is no such language as "Chinese". You can also direct your friend here [1], where this common misconception has already been addressed. I would also like to make two points:

(1) The division between language and dialect is very often a political issue, not a linguistic one. Max Weinreich, an established linguist, proposed wryly that "A language is a dialect with an army and navy."[2],

And that's precisely the point. In light of historical linguistic chauvinism (historically, any language other than that spoken by the emperor's court was considered "just a dialect"), and the current Chinese government's strict policy of uniting all of China under one national language, all languages other than Mandarin are officially reduced to "mere dialects".

(2) It is ironic, and sad that linguists (who devote their careers to the study of language) define their terms so sloppily. "Dialect" in its most narrow sense can mean any pattern of differentiation within a language (several "dialects" of English exist in America alone), and in its most broad sense EVERY language is merely a "dialect". Making the term virtually useless.

Ignorant Westerners often refer to the "Chinese" language (no such thing) and see "China" as one monolithic place, with one monolithic culture. Where historically, China was more like Africa, dozens of countries, each with their own language and culture, and currently China recognizes more than 50 different ethnic minority groups.

Now that they have all come under the same political hegemony, all of that has been swept quietly under the rug, an no one wants to buck the system by claiming the current "one harmonious China" is anything but. On the contrary, the PRC is more than happy to refer to the "Chinese" language (hanyu/ zhongwen), which also conveniently reinforces its (false) claim that the vast majority of all Chinese citizens are of Han ancestry.

As a final word: Cantonese and Mandarin are easily as different as Italian and Spanish, or even French and English. Anyone who believes different is either:

(a) ignorant or misinformed (mostly Westerners who know nothing about China or linguistics)

(b) intentionally perpetuating this misconception (see: Chinese government)

(c) unintentionally perpetuating this misconception (see: brainwashed Chinese citizenry)

I wonder when the day will come when the Tibetan family of languages are also "just a dialect".

It isn't a loss of life language. Hongkong was once the gateway to China for trade. Cantonese is the predominant dialect spoken in Hongkong that is why plenty of men and women study Cantonese. Nowadays each person offers straight to China or Beijing which talk Mandarin being the National Language. So Mandarin is the favored language

The difference between "language" and "dialect" is more political than anything. There's no political will to see China as anything but one big undifferentiated blob; therefore "Chinese" is a language, even though the differences between Chinese "dialects" are bigger than the differences between, say, Spanish and Italian...

wikipedia says

The Cantonese language is also viewed as part of the cultural identity for the native speakers across large swathes of southern China, Hong Kong and Macau.

this probs doesnt hel SOZ :/

It's not a separate language. They have the same writing system but they have different pronunciations than each other. A dialect is like a way of speaking spoken by people in different parts of the same country but each different part uses the same writing system.

It's a dialect of Chinese. If you ask someone in the south of England to listen to someone speaking the Yorkshire dialect of English (not just with a Yorkshire accent) then there's a good chance they won't understand a word of it either! Occasionally my husband or my mother-in-law will say something & I have honestly no idea what they're talking about. Likewise, my Mum occasionally will still say a Geordie word which I don't understand (she was born in South Shields and lived in Newcastle but hasn't lived there since she was 10).

They are probably defined by sentence structure and grammar. They are accepted as both "Chinese" though.

Cantonese is a *spoken dialect*. It is NOT a language.