What language is primarily spoken in zhaoqing?

[Trilogy-09]

As the title says, "what language is primarily spoken in zhaoqing?" I need to know because I speak mandarin and will be going for a year abroad in august. My mandarin tutor said they speak cantonese primarily and this was backed by cantoneseforums where they said about 95% is in cantonese. Please help I dont want to go to china and not know a word they are saying!!

[jbradfor]

Hope springs eternal.....

[Trilogy-09]

good post really helpful...

[Semper]

Cantonese is usually used in Hongkong and Guangdong province, in other province they use mandarin as their primary language.

But in Hongkong you can speak english, so if you study Cantonese, it is only available to communicate with cantonese.

[jbradfor]

@Trilogy-09, you have now gotten the same answer three times. Who do you plan on asking next until you get the answer you want?

Zhaoqing is in a primarily Cantonese-speaking area. As with other primarily Cantonese-speaking areas, you will find some people that speak Mandarin, especially among the younger people, but it is not the primary language there. Maybe it's a bit like going to California to learn Spanish B).

Perhaps if you talk more about your situation and your current level and why Zhaoqing you will get more useful answers.

[Semper]

@Trilogy-09，considering the area that Mandarin used, I strongly recommend you to study Mandarin.

[Trilogy-09]

@ semper You did not read my post. If I speak mandarin why would I need to study it.

&@Jbradfor thank you for your help!

[kiamo]

Hey Trilogy, its the end of September so you must already be here now. Yes, I said "here" because I actually live here, in Zhaoqing.

As no doubt you have noticed a great many people speak mandarin here and you can easily get by with it. I just figured I'd throw in some on the ground info for the sake of any other readers that might come across this post.

[LonnyLee]

Cantonese are used in most area of Pearl River Delta, Hakka and Chaoshan Dialet in Northeast Guangdong Province. And some difficult dialet in some areas along the coast.... That is what we called 鸟语

[zhilaoniu]

Cantonese basically!

[nancy0203]

I think 95% Cantonese. I have many friends they come from Zhaoqing.

[OldDuck]

What if i know only English ?

Can i speak in a shops, with a taxi drivers... etc ?

[imron]

Probably not, but in shops you can point at what you want and the cash register will show the amount you need to pay, and in taxis you can get a written address of where you want to go. Obviously knowing the language makes these things much easier, but even without a common language it's not actually as difficult as many people think. After all, you want to buy something/go somewhere and a shopkeeper/taxi-driver wants to sell you something/take you there. Even without a common language you'll find a way to make it work.

[OldDuck]

Thank you

[monomo]

Although nearly all of Guangdong has Cantonese speakers. ZhaoQing being one of the oldest, and according to many linguists and historians, the first area in China to use Cantonese, in it's most modern form. Anyone under 65 there will speak Mandarin, if they attended school long enough.

[Shirley_Chen]

Agree with @monomo, I'm a native of Zhaoqing and all local people here speak Cantonese except people from other province. Most people in Guangdong who attend school can speak Mandarin..but most Mandarin speakers cannot speak Cantonese as there are no specific rules to learn it..And the feeling for the language is something that you'll get with immersion environment.