Should I learn Mandarin or Cantonese?

Question

I'm an American attorney and want to be able to do business in China. Would it be better to learn Mandarin or Cantonese?

Also, does it make a difference if I want to work in Hong Kong?

Answer 1

Mandarin first.
In China, everybody can understand you when you speak Mandarin, it's official language. But if you speak Cantonese, you will be understood only in Canton Province and Hong Kong, Cantonese is a dialect used by people there. U should know that each province has its own dialect in China. If u only learn Cantonese, u will be in trouble in other areas.

If u want to learn Chinese, I think u'd better learn Mandarin first, cuz the pronunciations of most dialects are based on Mandarin.

I'm Chinese. Welcome to China and good luck!

Answer 2

Mandarin is probably better. Hong Kongnese people mainly speak Cantonese, but I think that trend has been decreasing somewhat lately. Mandarin is the official language of China, so Hong Kong is probably required to know that too. Anyway, mandarin is much better for you in the long run. Only a few places speak Cantonese.

Answer 3

If you are planning to work only (or mainly in Hong kong), Cantonese is your best bet.
However, if you are planning to do a lot of work in other parts of China, or even half in Hong kong, and half in the rest of China, Mandarin is your best bet. Mandarin is taught and understood all over China, it is even beginning to be so in Hongkong - just in Hong Kong, not many people would speak it. Decide where you want to spend most of your time, then take the language. Learn some basics of the other one as well - that way if you need to do some elsewhere, you ask to get someone who speaks the dialect you learnt.

Answer 4

There are many languages spoken in China, but Mandarin the language of official business and governmental work, so that would be the one to learn if you are working there.

In Hong Kong you should speak Cantonese. That's the majority language there. Perhaps some people in Hong Kong might understand Mandarin, but I doubt it.

In Taiwan, use Mandarin.

Answer 5

Yeah, it depends on where you're planning on working. Mandarin is the official language there, but a lot of people speak Cantonese as well. I suggest Mandarin because that *is* the official language, and in my two years in China I got by fine with only knowing Mandarin. Then again, I wasn't an attorney... =)

Answer 6

Mandarin. Mandarin is the official langague of China. Cantonese is only good for the provinces in the southern part of China. And also, it is easier for you to learn Mandarin than it is for you to learn Cantonese. Mandarin has 4 tones while Cantonese has 9.

Answer 7

Mandarin Chinese is spoken in all of China, as well as Taiwan.
Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong and in the South of China, next to Mandarin. It sounds quite different (although native Mandarin speakers can often understand it pretty well) . Nearly everyone in Southern China also speaks Mandarin. About 75% of the people in Hong Kong today can speak Mandarin too.
Other countries that speak Mandarin include Singapore, which also uses simplified characters as their standard.
From that the conclusion seems to be to learn Mandarin Chinese and to learn simplified characters. My recommendation to you would be to NOT bother with handwriting characters, just learn reading them and what they sound like. If you know this, you can use a computer to write them very easily, much more easily than when you have to memorize every last detail in order to hand write them from memory. If you write on a computer you must know what they sound like in order to type their pinyin, and then the computer will give you around 10 options of characters sounding similar and you just have to recognize the one you want.
Hope this helps.
For more about how to learn Chinese, visit www.gurulu.com/en
Best regards,
María J

Answer 8

mandarin, bcuz when u learn mandarin first your going to probably be able to understand what theyre saying and probably after a few weeks youll be able to talk to them in cantonese. you should probably learn both because most work places need people who can speak english, mandarin, AND cantonese

Answer 9

If you want to find out Mandarin but you have no clue exactly where to start off then a course for Mandarin is the ideal on-line program for the newcomers simply because it genuinely starts with the basis.

Answer 10

If they have trouble with their L's, you can tell them that you play the mandolin and they might think you already speak Mandarin.