Mandarin is considered as the "official" language for the chinese; on top of that, there are many dialects, for example: Cantonese, Hakka, Teo Chew, Hokkien, Hainan, Hock Chew and etc.
But to dine in a Chinese restaurant, being able to speak mandarin and cantonese is suffice. Luckily for me, I speak more that one of those dialects.
