Is there a difference between Mandarin in China and Taiwanese Mandarin?

The answer is “yes!” Taiwanese Mandarin is different than Mandarin in China. 

The difference between Mandarin in China is Taiwan is pretty much just like the difference in English between two different locations.

Mandarin Accents, Mandarin Dialects, and Taiwanese Mandarin

Even within English, there is British English, American English, and Australian English. In different regions, you have different accents and some different regionalisms and localism. That’s why we say there’s Taiwanese Mandarin which is different than Mandarin in mainland Chinese. These two forms of mandarin are mostly mutually intelligible but some of the phrases are a bit different as well as the accent. 

Differences between Mandarin in China and Taiwan

Native English speakers can, for the most part, understand each other. However, there are some phrases, accents, and localism that are different. For example in British English, you may use “rubber” whereas other places may use “eraser.” Heck, “rubber” might mean something totally different in America!

Generally Chinese and Taiwan or and Mainland Chinese are mostly mutually intelligible. But some phrases that use or the tones of the characters and maybe different. The word “week” 星期 (Xīngqí) 我星期 (Wǒ Xīngqī) is an example. 星期 (Xīngqí) we pronounce “qí” as the second tone in Taiwan but in mainland China, it pronounces the first tone, it’s 星期 (Xīngqī).