How similar is the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan vs. Beijing?

They have different accents. But that will be the least of your concern because the chances are, you will have an accent of your own. However, they do have different ways of saying certain objects. read more

The Beijing accent and the Taiwanese accent are perhaps the two most sought-after accents in Mandarin Chinese. Just as many Chinese students want the American accent (for its accessibility and application), I recommend that Chinese learners learn the Beijing accent. read more

The Beijing accent is identifiable by 儿话音 (èr huà yīn), which is where certain words have the “儿 (ér)” sound at the end. For example, “baby” in Chinese: 宝贝 (bǎobèi) VS. 宝贝儿 (bǎobèir). The former accent is spoken in southern China and in Taiwan. read more

On today's Taiwanese TV, you can find every news anchor is speaking Taiwan style Mandarin. However, to be precise, “Taiwanese Mandarin” implies a new subdialect of Mandarin, like Beijing Mandarin, Jiaoliao Mandarin, Southwest Mandarin etc. while in fact there is not. “Taiwanese Mandarin” is just an accent. read more