I'm going to China and want to learn a little Chinese - Should I learn Mandarin or Cantonese?
99034
Mandarin is the common language used throughout China. Cantonese is limited to the Guangdong province only. Go with Mandarin.\n\nBtw, all Chinese languages and dialects are tonal. Cantonese have seven tonal differences in itself and Hokkien has 12. Mandarin only has 4.\n\nWith the above, you can choose for yourself.
839921
Sainsburys is a good starting point, as they get a lot of customers. But a small ad in the local paper can help, too. Check out tutoring companies as they get a lot of requests for such things. \n\nHere in Torquay there are a lot of language schools. Their main function is to take the kids of wealthy Europeans and teach them English - but if there are language schools in your area get in touch with them (try your Yellow Pages)\n\nTry these web-sites too\n\nwww.talklanguages.net\n/www.fleet-tutors.co.uk\n\nYou could also make a 'myspace' or Yaho 360 site about teaching chinese and have people contact you from that.\nThe more varied your approach the more likely you are to find ways that work.\n\nYou could start with teaching me Mandarin???>>>\n\n                                   ;-)
763290
me too i would like to learn chinese becouse i am in beijing now
13153
I'd say Mandarin Chinese. Not only do you have to learn words ... inflection is also key ... and there are four inflections you can put on any word/syllable. And some of the words are best pronounced in a sing-song sort of tone. \n\nJapanese is definitely easier because it is not so heavily dependent on inflection. \n\nFrench, Spanish and German are all a piece of cake compared to Mandarin Chinese.
449939
mandarin??  hahaha\nno, the majority of chinese americans speak cantonese, because back during the days when america was seeing a large influx of chinese immigrants, they mostly came from the more southern regions of china.  here's a link about chinese language in general, dialects, and other fun stuff if you're interested:\n\nhttp://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/hbchilang-u.html
540423
take up a beginner's course.\nsing (as you learn) along to some pop chinese songs, with your limited mandarin.\nhonest.\nhave fun, & good luck :)
816020
Great. Find a Fil-Chinese in the Philippines. You learn English more from a Filipino than any other.
343372
No, I think you can take Chinese
568059
I'm in Taiwan currently and started out learning Chinese using the lessons on this website\nhttp://edu.ocac.gov.tw/home_en.htm\nClick on Chinese in the left hand collumn and then choose the level you desire - Primary, Intermediate and high level. Most of the Primary level recources include sound files. \nIf you're not interested in starting out with the "baby" stuff, you can try the intermediate level book "Speaking Chinese in 500 words" It also has sound files, but they are only for the conversation parts. It has, though, very thorough explanations and examples of the vocabularies used in the conversations. I worked through the book and can help myself pretty well!\nHope it helps!
384831
Chinese is a family of closely-related but mutually unintelligible languages. These languages are known variously as fāngyán (regional languages), dialects of Chinese or varieties of Chinese. In all over 1.2 billion people speak one or more varieties of Chinese. \n\nAll varieties of Chinese belong to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages and each one has its own dialects and sub-dialects, which are more or less mutually intelligible. \n\nAll varieties of Chinese are tonal. This means that each syllable can have a number of different meanings depending on the intonation with which it is pronounced. For example Mandarin has 4 tones, Cantonese has between 6 and 9 (it depends who you ask). \n\nMost people in China and Taiwan who don't speak Mandarin as their first language, can speak or at least understand it a bit. However in Hong Kong and Macau few people speak Mandarin, so they tend to use English to communicate with people from other parts of China or Taiwan. \n\nCantonese is spoken by about 66 million people in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and Hainan island in China, and also in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and many other countries.
277952
I've looked at cantonese on the net before and found these sites:\nhttp://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/index.htm\nhttp://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/7239/start.html\nhttp://www.mycantonese.net/classrooms/\nhttp://www.soas.ac.uk/\n\nNot tried mandarin though.\n\nJim
677050
Cantonese and Mandarin are different dialects. Cantonese is a musical dialect and Mandarin is like a mouthy dialect. Cantonese has Traditional Chinese writing and Mandarin has mostly Simplified Chinese. ~^_^~
799249
Trust me, it is. China is growing and mandarin can get you through with many people. I've studied Mandarin before, but then again, I am Chinese and speak Cantonese, so it would be so much easier for me to get the hold of the langauge, anyway, we were forced to learn it at school.
667110
Latin is great from an intellectual standpoint. But if you want to learn an alternative language for productivity and business purposes, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish are probably the best languages right now to learn and each has its own reasons. Spanish obviously for businesses based in the southern part of the US, Japanese for big and well established businesses, and Chinese because the economy over there is exponentially expanding and upstart businesses there will probably become fortune 500 within 2 years. Its a matter of opinion really.
897392
I am learning Chinese (Mandarin). I have already studied for five years, with about half of that time spent in Taiwan or China. I enjoy it a lot!
681560
i think your best bet is to find a newcomer so that you can teach him english and u can teach him chinese. that way you can both benefit.
173951
i had a patient once whose son was white, but learned chinese. he took it in HS and college. he is now a vp at a company in china. he lives 6mo in china and 6mo in the US. apply for internships with international companies. or, if you are experienced enough, apply for a job. work your way up the ladder.