Huizhou, Guangdong...

[nickr91]

Going to be staying in Huizhou for a while had a look around on the internet and the messages are mixed on whether the city speaks Cantonese or Mandarin... Just wondering if anyone living there knows what the official language is??

I'm currently learning Mandarin and feel like Cantonese is going to be too hard/ not useful in the long run.

Also any advice on what to do when I get there from current/ former residents or visitors would be great.

Thanks

 

[abcdefg]

Since your question has gone unanswered for several days, please allow me to supply a somewhat generic answer that I've found useful when moving to and living in parts of China where the language mix is such that Mandarin does not predominate.

 

I just continue with Mandarin, 普通话 as best I can. Have found that most people, especially those under about age 40, have some Mandarin stored away from school days that will allow them to understand and respond, even if they don't use it frequently with family and close friends.

 

In Kunming, all the locals speak Kunminghua 昆明华 as the preferred language among themselves. But they can interact with me briefly in Putonghua 普通话。 Over the years, I've leaned some phrases in Kunminghua that I mainly use as "ice breakers" and ways to show them that I'm not just a tourist who arrived yesterday, passing through on his way to Lijiang or Shangri-La.

 

The downside of using the little dialect that I know, is that they then reply in a stream of rapid dialect, which is incomprehensible to me, instead of continuing to stagger along in their "from-school-days" Putonghua.

 

Your situation likely will not be the same, since many more people speak Cantonese than Kunmingese. Once you are well grounded in Mandarin, you might want to take on learning a little Cantonese as well. Your situation might also be different if you are someone who learns new languages fast and easily; just sort of absorbs them like a sponge. (I'm not.)

 

I've observed over the years that the people who pick up the local dialect, the local hua 话, the best are those with a local girlfriend or spouse who speaks no English and prefers to use dialect at home instead of struggling along in Mandarin, which for her is after all a second language.

 

 

[Takeshi]

I believe Huizhou is around a Hakka region. So the local language there is either Hakka or Cantonese, depending on each family. Some people may be able to speak both. Of course, Mandarin is also going to be used by everyone educated in it.

 

I have never been to Huizhou, so I actually don't know anything though. I have one friend from Huizhou who is Hakka and speaks all Hakka, Cantonese, and Mandarin.