Mandarin or Cantonese, what's the easiest to learn?

Question

Or given the amount of Chinese learning English is there any point?

I'm sorry Afallon: maybe dealing with my alcohol problem is more of a concern to me than my punctuation or grammar, you have any problems in life at the moment?

A few critisisms but no corrections, that's puzzling isn't it, drunken idiots on a Sunday night perchance(That's olde English for "perhaps" btw)
"btw"is Internet slang for "By the way" btw

ok numb nuts, so is it ok to say "What is the fastest" or "what is faster", going on your deluded reasoning?

Clint: Why is there no capital at the start of your complaint about my use of the English language, I'm not trying to get picky ut if one finds fault should you, at best be correct in reply?

Answer 1

I've lived in China for 4 years, and only one province in china (Guangdong), less than 10% of the population speaks Cantonese, and most Cantonese people speak mandarin anyway, therefore MANDARIN is the one to learn as in my opinion its also easier than Cantonese.

Answer 2

Mandarin is obviously easier to learn than Cantonese, because you have the pinyin system in mandarin and only 4 tons, but Cantonese has 9 tons or so plus the writing system is harder since they use traditional characters. I have quite a few friends from Hong Kong who are now learning Mandarin, and i should say that they learn it faster than i did (French is my first language), i would advice you to learn Mandarin first though, then Cantonese. I personally think that if you learn one language you'd spend less time learning another language from the same family, because both have some similarities. Good luck!

Answer 3

I'd learn Mandarin !! I live in an area where 90% of the people here are now Chinese !! I grew up here and when I was small it was all Scottish and Italian and Japanese in a matter of 15 years they are all gone I feel like I'm the only one left! The signs are mostly in Chinese and you can't fight them I had to join them . I've had to learn some Mandarin and Cantonese just so I can tell if they are making fun of me!! They don't mix with us they they stick to their own !! I know I sound a little raciest I'm really not it's just a fact here!! They don't need to learn English!! They have their own news paper and even the schools here cater to them and their language! We pay for them to learn English as a second language even the rich ones {never will understand that one} I feel they are the raciest ones they turn their nose up at people who aren't Chinese ! Walk into any school ground and you won't understand a word of what's being said!! I think it time for me to move on where my son can understand what's being said even though the kids can speak English they don't and their not made too!!huumm!! So if you want to know what's going on you better start learning if it can happen here it can happen anywhere!!

Answer 4

Hey what's up?

Well my advice for you would be to learn Mandarin. Both Mandarin and Catonese are tonal languages, meaning that the pitch of a person's voice affects the actual word that they are saying. This makes both pretty hard. But the one up-side to Mandarin is that there are only 4 tones in comparison to 9 different tones found in Cantonese. Mandarin might also do you more good as it is the official dialect of mainland China (there are some parts that speak Cantonese though), Singapore, and Taiwan. Hong Kong's official dialect is Cantonese but the number of people speaking and learning Mandarin is increasing due to their trade relations with mainland China.
So I guess it ultimately depends on what you plan to do with the language. If you are learning for business purposes or plan to travel to mainland China I'd say go for Mandarin. However, if you just want to learn the harder dialect of you plan to travel specifically and exclusively to places like Macau and Hong Kong then try Cantonese
Have fun

Answer 5

For English speakers, there is no question. Cantonese is much more difficult to learn. There are far fewer textbooks of far less quality for Cantonese. There is nowhere to learn to write Cantonese, except Hong Kong, as most people who write Cantonese just write in Mandarin. Etc. Etc. However, the most important reasons are the much more complex tone structure of Cantonese, 7 versus 4 tones, compared to the much more refined grammar of Mandarin.

Answer 6

About the same. But I'd choose Mandarin as it's their national language...Yes, there is a point. We'll all be speaking it in 50 years...

Answer 7

I'd of said easiest and not easier so perhaps I need to stick to just English before I try to learn another language.

Answer 8

I have no idea which is easiest as I am only learning Arabic. There is always a point. Especially as I see you need to be amused sometimes. Try Sanskrit.

Answer 9

You mean the easier, not the easiest, as there are only two to choose from. Concentrate on your English first, to get it right.

That's alright, Elrik...and ..no, thank goodness, everything in the garden is rosy, thank you for asking.

By the way, Sparkles..you can talk...it's "I'd have said" not "I'd of said"... a case of the saucepan calling the kettle black, methinks.

Answer 10

Mandarin apparantly, I chose Cantonese just to be difficult!