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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Andy_Liu Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong leibby.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6787 days ago 255 posts - 257 votes  Speaks: Mandarin, Cantonese*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 97 of 346 20 May 2006 at 6:20am | IP Logged | ||
No, Mandarin has been the official language of China (Qing Dynasty, ROC (on mainland and on Taiwan), PRC, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR) for some centuries. Cantonese should be the second most popular (but the number of speakers of Wu Chinese, i.e. Shanghaiese, is comparable to that of Cantonese). Mandarin (based on Beijing pronunciation) is all the time the most popular in the last 100 years I believe. Cantonese may be a good choice becauase linguistically it maintains the most part of Old Chinese dated some ten centuries ago. However, even in Guangzhou which has been the "capital" of Cantonese (and in fact the true capital of Guangdong Province), the use of Cantonese is declining... I seldom hear Cantonese on the streets. But luckily, the taxi companies there are now relying more on localers who speak Cantonese fluently. Sometimes the taxi drivers coming from the North just don't know where to go ... Anyway, you can't go to Guangzhou without knowing a little of Mandarin. As per my personal experience (through the mass media, Internet usage and newspapers), the above three Chinese languages should be all you need to learn to travel in the most of mainland China. If you have further interest, you may get Min-nan Chinese to understand the Taiwanese culture as well. I always suggest foreigners learn Mandarin first. But if you take Cantonese first, it's all fine. (provided that you are willing to go through the informal usage of Cantonese) Putonghua replacing English in Hong Kong? Not really. Hongkongers tend to put both at an equal status while putting Cantonese as the primary language. (Pretty like treating Putonghua as a "foreign" language....) That's what we call "Biliteracy" (Chinese and English) and Trilingualism (the three languages). And hence, it just leaves little room for other languages in Hong Kong (many of us like Japanese things, but few actually master Japanese) Edited by Andy_Liu on 20 May 2006 at 6:25am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7319 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 98 of 346 20 May 2006 at 9:42am | IP Logged | ||
Depends on what you define as a city, but it seems a bit farfetched for the moment. I don't think any metropolitan area in Canada has that many Chinese people. But around the same percentage of people in Toronto are born in a foreign country and/or a visible minority. But in certain areas of Vancouver and Toronto, it does seem like the Chinese population has gone over 50%. Politicians now do a lot of campaigning in Chinese-speaking areas, particularly Vancouver. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6769 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 99 of 346 20 May 2006 at 10:15am | IP Logged | ||
Richmond is only 40% Caucasian. Nearly all the remaining 60% is Asian, mostly Chinese. Last time I was there, I was suprised (pleasantly) to see cab companies with Chinese as the primary language on their vehicles. Edited by Captain Haddock on 20 May 2006 at 10:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| brumblebee Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6776 days ago 206 posts - 212 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese | Message 100 of 346 24 May 2006 at 10:41am | IP Logged | ||
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If I were to choose the first ten languages that I would learn (as a High School student) these would be them: (besides English)
Spanish Mandarin French German Italian Dutch/Afrikaans Portuguese Swedish Russian or Serbo-Croatian an Indian language (probably Hindi/Urdu) Edited by brumblebee on 24 May 2006 at 10:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Aras Groupie United States Joined 6759 days ago 76 posts - 83 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Ancient Greek | Message 101 of 346 29 May 2006 at 12:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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10 languages I would love to learn:
Arabic Irish Gaelic German Russian Korean Spanish Norwegian Icelandic Polish Welsh 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strings Newbie United States Joined 6754 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 102 of 346 01 June 2006 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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When considering a language I ask myself questions.
a) Is it common in the USA? (Spanish) b) Where will I travel? (Gaelic) c) What texts are written in that language? (German, Japanese, Latin) d) Can I find newspapers in those languages? (Yes!) e) Will it help me find a good job? (Spanish) f) Is it fun? (Esperanto) g) Does it have religious significance to me? (Hebrew, Chinese) h) Will it help me make acquantinces and learn a new culture? (Spanish) i) Will it overlap with my hobbies? (Japanese, every European language) Edited by strings on 01 June 2006 at 1:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6769 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 103 of 346 02 June 2006 at 2:17am | IP Logged | ||
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g) Does it have religious significance to me? (Hebrew, Chinese)
Are you asking rhetorically, or are you a Jewish Taoist? :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arti Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 7013 days ago 130 posts - 165 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: French, Czech | Message 104 of 346 02 June 2006 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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10 languages I'd like to speak fluently:
1. French 2. German 3. Modern Greek 4. Czech 5. Serbian 6. Latin 7. Japanese 8. Thai 9. Turkish 10. Ancient Russian Actually I'd like to add Old English, Hungarian and Arabic as well :))) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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