My daughter is 8 years old and wants to learn chinese. Which is easier to teach her cantonese or mandarin?

Question

Her Grandparents and father and sister speak both but more Cantonese.

Answer 1

Teach her Cantonese and make sure the learns the complex characters, then she will have an easy time learning Mandarin later.

Answer 2

Personally, I think learning Mandarin would be easier for an 8 yr old. There are a few reasons, one being that Cantonese and Mandarin are both tonal languages; which means she will have to learn how to inflect her voice differently for every word. Cantonese has eight different tones, whereas Mandarin only has four. Also, Mandarin Chinese has a standardized Romanization called pin yin, but Cantonese is spelled differently with the Roman alphabet depending on what area you are in. Lastly, if she will be using her Chinese to communicate with others later, the Mandarin-speaking population of the world out- numbers the Cantonese speakers by a huge amount. Mainland China (Mandarin speaking) has a popuation of over 1 billion!
I myself have learned Mandarin, and find it to be more pleasant to the ear, and easier to pronounce. Also, like her grandparents, even Cantonese-speakers know some Mandarin, but not many Mandarin speakers can communicate (speak or understand) Cantonese. Hope this helps!
Jen

Answer 3

it's not about a question of easier.. she should learn mandarin first because most chinese understand mandarin.. aside from that mandarin has TSU IM.. it's for phonetics.. each chinese character has a corresponding sound illustrated thru TSU IM. while learning Mandarin,it is important that she learns how to write chinese. u see the good thing about chinese.. whether it's mandarin or cantonese.. they're all written the same! just the sound differs. and usually even with chinese people they're usually taught in mandarin first..

i was taught mandarin first in school then later they try to translate in fukien sound. but basically we use mandarin for our lessons.. then fukien is used for conversations.

i hope this helps..

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Answer 4

Mandarin..it's the widely used Chinese dialect in the world...honestly...
Why learn Cantonese when she can just pick up from fellow family members?
Mandarin really does sound better....

Answer 5

well i think u should teach her mandarin...so that she would know 2 kind of chinese language i think........mandarin r more easier to teach n let her learn cantonese from her family specially from her grandparent......well i know some one that r chinese but doesn't know how to speak any and that's pity isn't it.so,better than none....

Answer 6

At age 8 she can learn both, and be able to do it without an accent. No reason not to if she's got relatives who speak both. No reason to choose between them.

But if you feel compelled to choose only one, Mandarin is the more useful one in the long run.

Answer 7

If she wants to learn it to learn more about her culture, stick with Cantonese.

If she wants to use it to be conversant (especially as an adult), Mandarin is more widely used - so that might be better.

Answer 8

ask a chinese people

Answer 9

Theach her both