Mandarin in Hong Kong???

[Guest Sliver]

New arrival to HK... no past Chinese experience..

Want to begin the first few steps on the long road to learning while I am here in Hong Kong working for the next year or two.

Any suggestions on the best place to learn Mandarin in Hong Kong?? What should I be careful of in terms of accents...???

Help appreciated.

Sliver

[smithsgj]

Why don't you learn Cantonese? Can't really see the point of learning Mandarin if you're staying in Hong Kong...

[Guest Sliver]

even a lot of HKers are learning Mandarin.

HK is just a stepping stone for me.

Any help from ppl???

[atitarev]

I found this Mandarin training program and revived this dead thread.

I wonder, if anyone here used their Mandarin immersion program. It's actually in Shenzhen, not in Hong Kong. The company is based in Hong Kong. Unlike other Mandarin courses in Hong Kong, they teach simplified characters.

http://www.newconceptmandarin.com/default.asp

[flameproof]

>Why don't you learn Cantonese? Can't really see the point of learning Mandarin if you're staying in Hong Kong...

Good point! Mandarin is not really spoken in HK. But if one also wants to learn reading/writing then Mandarin should be much easier.

Why not study in China? Mandarin is more spoken there, schools and general cost of living is much lower.

(but there are PLENTY of language schools offering Mandarin, incl. ALL the universities of HK)

[atitarev]

I am not planning to go Hong Kong and this immersion program is not in HK but in Shenzhen, PRC where Mandarin is widely spoken. The prices looked reasonable. If I ever go to China for studies, Shenzhen is one of my preferred locations. For cultural things it's better to travel somewhere else but in terms of weather, conditions (services, etc) and availability of spoken Mandarin Shenzhen seems like a good choice to me. It's also close to Hong Kong, which I would like to visit, not for linguistic purposes but to go sightseeing.