would living in Changsha help my chinese improve?

[hongputaojiu]

Hi guys

I am thinking about moving back to China to really improve my chinese.

My company has given me the chance to move to Changsha, but I've never been there, and am wondering if it would be a good idea, linguistically speaking, as I've read that Hunan speaks Xiang.

So the question is would my daily conversations be in mandarin when out and about?

The other option I have is to decline this chance, but then hope something else comes up, its always a risk!

any advice much appreciated

cheers

hongputaojiu

[Iriya]

Nobody is going to speak their local dialect with an outsider. Mandarin is always preferred at work. You don't really have anything to worry about.

The Hunan accent is pretty strong, though. Usually they pronounce l's as n's, e.g. 脸=nian, 辣=na, etc. Some words are also pronounced differently, especially by the young people, e.g. 哇塞=wasei.

[Daan]

Yes, I'm sure you'd be speaking Mandarin quite often. No one is going to expect you to speak Xiang when you are out and about; they may speak Mandarin with an accent, as Iriya said, but then there's hardly any places in China where they don't. Unless your company requires all its workers to speak English at work, they will speak Mandarin in the office as well. Whether this is useful to you depends, of course, on whether you can use Mandarin on a professional level to discuss your work; if you can barely say 你好 then your coworkers may prefer to speak English, as they are there to get their work done, not to teach Mandarin, of course.

[anonymoose]

I don't think it would be a problem linguistically, but of all the cities in China that I have been to, Changsha is one of the dullest.

[hongputaojiu]

thanks guys this is really useful to know. I really don't want to live in a place where mandarin would not be useful, and as Hunan is kinda in the middle I wasn't really sure.

@anonymoose - is it duller than Jinan?!? if so then I guess I won't be going!

[anonymoose]

@anonymoose - is it duller than Jinan?!? if so then I guess I won't be going!

I haven't been to Jinan, so I can't compare, and I should also say that I didn't spend very long in Changsha either, but from what I did see, it didn't seem very attractive. On the other hand, I think for working and living in a place, comfort and convenience are more important than scenic spots and attractions. After all, you wouldn't be visiting them every day anyway.

If your option is either going to Changsha or not going to China, then I'd settle for Changsha. On the other hand, if you have a chance of going somewhere else in China, then it might be worth holding out.

[hongputaojiu]

thanks yeah i will see how it all pans out. cheers

[tooironic]

Some words are also pronounced differently, especially by the young people, e.g. 哇塞=wasei.

I don't think I've ever heard it pronounced any other way except wasei (despite it being romanised and typed as "wasai").

Sorry I've never been to Changsha so I can't comment but I agree with the other posters - 1) most places in China have accents, so you may as well get used to some of them 2) there is a big difference between an exciting city for tourists and a comfortable city to live in.

[hbuchtel]

FWIW, I've been living in Changsha for the last 5 years, and my putonghua has definitely improved during that time.

You might pick up a bit of the local accent, but as long as you spend most of your time talking with white-collar colleagues, you will be speaking standard putonghua.

I can't really comment on how exciting the city is, as I don't go out much. There are certainly not a lot of foreigners/foreigner-oriented entertainment here.

[hongputaojiu]

@hbuchtel

wow i really appreciate your feedback, thats really good for me to know.

can i ask you your overall impressions of the place? what are the main positives which has kept you there for 5 years? What do you consider to be the drawbacks/negatives of Changsha?

I lived in Beijing for four years, so I guess I am also asking for what you consider to be the main differences between a BJ/SH and Changsha. Is it only the laowai factor that is the main difference? What do you do with your time there?

thanks for you time!

cheers

hongputaojiu

[hbuchtel]

Hi Redwine ;)

I had a specific reason for living here, which is that my wife is Hunanese, and having family and friends around makes a huge difference when raising a child in China. I've been studying my masters degree, and now that I'm done we are readying everything to move to my hometown for a change. ;^)

I don't think it is really possible to compare Beijing and Changsha . . . they are simply too different! BJ has a concentration of talent from all over China, and Changsha is just one of several dozen 2nd tier cities.

I've only lived in Guangzhou and Changsha, also two very different cities, but from my point of view the biggest difference is that I didn't know anybody in one of them, and am surrounded by acquaintances in the other - which is probably not very helpful to you!

To give you a little bit of hopefully pertinent info about CS, there are three Starbucks, several Subways, a couple of really good Western food restaurants, a very nice several-km-long park along both sides of the river, a beautiful island in the middle of the river (Orange Isle - with a music festival every fall), a large hill to the west of the river, a very active night-life (both on the streets/sidewalks and in bars), and many famous TV hosts (it seems that everybody who lives here ends up being on a TV show with Wang Han 汪涵 at least once).

BTW, I'm curious to know what company you work for. There are not that many foreign-owned companies located in Changsha . . .