fionamw

Excuse the naff thread title, but for years I've been touting the belief that allowing that English is pretty much the international language, the three others to learn (not necessarily all three!) are Arabic (though many if not all educated Arabs probably speak English), Spanish - on the basis of percentage of the world's population speaking it - & ..... now here comes the question. Chinese..... being ?Mandarin? Cantonese? Do those of you in the area take it as a given that you are going to learn one of these? Did you move there with some language already?

Kooky.

Moved to Singapore speaking not one word of Mandarin; left six years later speaking about half a dozen, and maybe a few more Malay phrases. Thought of learning Mandarin but TBH the prospect scared me stiff. Way too complicated with all those tones and oh so easy to get wrong and offend somebody.

Singapore however is atypical as the official language is English. Also, my Singlish is great.

If I'd had children there I would have signed them up for Mandarin, no problem. Very useful language to have these days (and I'm not sure why French and German are still taught).

fionamw

Roar of applause

(the reason we've been in Spain 2 years, apart from the weather, is so our 6 year old picks up fluent Spanish. Mine's not brilliant but nonetheless improving!)

Kooky.

I'm with you there, on the basis of world population I think Spanish is also a good one. My Spanish is limited to those phrases necessary to get me through a holiday in the Canaries - "dos cuba libra por favor, muchacho", being the most useful, I always found.

Having lived in Asia I know a lot of mixed couples (not always 1 Cauc and 1 Asian, also different European nationalities) and I think one of the best starts in life you can give a child is for them to be bilingual or even trilingual. It amazes me how 3 year olds can switch languages between parents.

Sorry bit of a pet subject of mine - bet you wish you'd never asked.

fionamw

Nah, you must be a restrained lot on Far East if you think one paragraph is a rant - take a look at Spain sometime!!!
Ours won't be bilingual to the extent of a native, because I can only fling a few phrases at him from time to time to tax his brain, but at least he's confident & fluent with neighbours so he must be something approaching bilingual, and that's after 2 years. The teachers say he's not behind his Spanish counterparts.......
Did I gather Mandarin is the 'universal' Chinese (if you dare get over the tones/etc)?

Kooky.

I honestly don't know how the numbers stack up, Mandarin v Cantonese.

Cantonese sounds very guttural to me compared to Mandarin - from when I've been in Hong Kong, at least, but maybe just because I'm more used to overhearing Mandarin.

dunmovin

if you are in Hong Kong or Guandong provincem Cantonese is the local lingo, but mandarin is widely spoken/understood. The rest of China is mostly mandarin.

even after 13 years in HK I only managed a few phrases of Cantonese

fionamw

So an alien landing in any given place in China would hope to be understood in Mandarin? Rather than Cantonese? Or are the regional languages/dialects known to the masses to the exclusion of M & C? (as per folk in Andalucia speaking their own dialect which is pretty incomprehensible to a Castillian BUT the Andaluz would also know Castillian)

dunmovin

there are many dialects, but those two are the most common. My friend from Chungking is fluent in at least three. As for an alien landing there with no knowledge of the language, most people I met in Mainland China were very understanding and those with some english skills were glad of the chance to speak English to a native speaker (in fact, in Beijing, there is a place nicknamed "english speaking corner, wher people go to practise their english)

fionamw

So I was wrong - English, Arabic, Spanish & ....English

Kooky.

An old mate of mine has been teaching English at a uni in Hebei for a few years. It's frightening to think of all those Chinese kids now going around with a mixed up Mancunian-Aussie accent.

fionamw

lynnxa

so if you wanted to learn 'Chinese', Mandarin would be best?

my 12 year old dd - already tri-lingual & just started studying German, wants to learn

Kooky.

I would say so, yes.

lynnxa

thanks