You don't need to learn Mandarin....

[889]

Just like some Hong Kong people avoid Mandarin on political grounds, schools often teach it now also on political grounds.

 

The relationship between Hong Kong people and things Mainland is a complicated one, filled with contradictions and opposing views.

 

If you really want to understand Hong Kong, then learning Cantonese would be invaluable.

 

But otherwise, stick with Mandarin.

[Flickserve]

@889

Contradictory is a good description.

[skylee]

Re #21 and #22, it is a good description? I don't understand.

If you speak English, of course you don't need to learn Mandarin, unless you live in Mainland China.

It is kind of sad that on this thread Cantonese is regarded as a dialect. I thought many people on this forum said it was a language (don't take this comment too seriously as I have heard my previous boss call it a dialect and I said nothing.)

[Flickserve]

Re #21 and #22, it is a good description? I don't understand.

If you speak English, of course you don't need to learn Mandarin, unless you live in Mainland China.

Thanks Skylee. Presumably HK persons who live in HK and speak English don't need Mandarin either.

I note from previous posts that you live in HK and possess some proficiency in Mandarin - why (not how) did you learn ?

[lips]

Well, in Hong Kong, if you know Cantonese, you don't need to know English.  Heck, if you know only Putonghua you can get by, albeit with some minor difficulties, so you don't *need* either Cantonese or English.

[abcdefg]

Seems to me her opinion was not very representative of the mainstream. Also, in a social setting such as the one you describe, there's always the possibility that someone is trying to be contrarian just to stimulate conversation, to be mildly provocative.

[li3wei1]

or she's just an ignorant fool, and we're wasting too much time trying to figure out what she meant. If you hung around, she'd probably tell you that Mandarin has no grammar.

[lips]

Mandarin has grammar?  :-O  ;-)

[Flickserve]

Seems to me her opinion was not very representative of the mainstream. Also, in a social setting such as the one you describe, there's always the possibility that someone is trying to be contrarian just to stimulate conversation, to be mildly provocative.

Then again, Skylee also holds the same opinion. Why learn a language of a country you don't live in?

[Friday]

Has anyone here found good employment in China or elsewhere and obtained this work as a result of their knowledge of Chinese?

[Lu]

@Friday: I have, on several occasions. Not only because of my Chinese of course, but in every case I wouldn't have gotten the job if I hadn't known Chinese.

 

@Skylee, I hope you don't take it to heart, I think many people don't call Cantonese a dialect out of a strong conviction that it's 'lesser', but just because that's what it's often called and they haven't put that much thought into it.

[yueni]

@Friday I have, though as @Lu said, my Chinese abilities were only one part of the equation. My other qualifications also mattered as much as my Chinese abilities.

 

But I think that's also true for any position. Nobody hires somebody just because they know Ruby on Rails, or how to use AutoCAD. A lot more goes into a hiring decision than just one thing. When you look for a "legit job", the hiring manager is usually looking at a whole slew of criteria to make sure you are a good fit for the team. (And so should you!) And this is true not just in China, but everywhere else.