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Thread: Comparing languages
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[quote=TOMSPENCER,258958]Ok, I'm sorry for the confusion. I don't know any foreigners who learn Cantonese, so I just assumed you'd be learning Mandarin. In China, Cantonese is spoken mostly in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. People will tell you that it is spoken widely in Guangdong Province as a whole, but I've lived in Guangdong Province for nearly three years, and of the five dialects I've heard, Cantonese hasn't been prominent outside of the two cities I've mentioned. An important difference, however, between hearing Cantonese in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and hearing other dialects in other parts of Guandong Province, is that in the wider Province, Mandarin has been successfully established as the standard dialect and it is used for just about all business transactions from taking a taxi to ordering dinner to buying a house. Outside of Guangzhou and Kong Kong, Cantonese sits alongside other dialects that are used just within families or between friends. In Guangzhou and Hong Kong, however, Cantonese has retained its position as the dominant day-to-day and business dialect, with total strangers assuming that everyone they meet will be able to speak Cantonese and conducting their lives accordingly. Foreigners normally learn Mandarin because, although there are dozens of regional dialects, Mandarin can be used anywhere in China, and can also (obviously) be used when talking to a group of Chinese people who come from several different Provinces. It also has fewer tones than Cantonese and is considered to be a bit easier to learn. Having said that, I believe Cantonese is more widely spoken around the world, due in no small part to Hong Kong and Guangzhou being the source of much of the Chinese overseas population. China Towns all over the world tend to speak Cantonese (though I heard a surprising amount of Mandarin the last time I was back in London). To sum-up, if you are planning on learning Chinese in a way that will bring you socially closer to your Cantonese-speaking girlfriend (and her family) then this may be one of those rare opportunities to do something that most foreigners simply dismiss for practical reasons. If I could get by without Mandarin, or if I could master Mandarin already, then I would love to learn one of the other dialects, like Cantonese.[/quote]
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