learning cantonese or mandarin?

[Fluxy]

Hello all. I am new to this board, and this is my first post. My name is Manuel and I am 2nd generation chinese. My dad is creole and my mom is cantonese so yea i know that is a very crazy mix lol. If you want to see what i look like please feel free to see my myspace profile. The reason i signed up on this forum is to ask a very hard question. I am really dissapointed i did not begin to learn chinese when i was younger, as i want to start learning now outside of hello, happy new year and do you want some milk, yes and no i cannot cant say anything else in chinese. Currently i am only fluent in english but i can get by in spanish also. I know this language would be one of the hardest to learn but i am a very good student and with my determination im sure i can start to pick up the language after some time. I have this nack for pronouncing foreign words almost as if it was my native language like when i was reading french or spanish in school. Now here is the big question i have. I have been doing some research and i cant seem to make up my mind. Each dialect has their own strengths and weaknesses to me, for instance, If i decided to learn cantonese i could practice with family members on pronunciation and overall practice of that sort, Deep down i want to learn cantonese because it is my heritage, but ive been hearing alot about how Mandarin is the more predominant dialect in chinese language and if i would just be wasting my time with cantonese. Basically, i am trying to learn this language to expand my knowledge of different cultures, mainly chinese. I am not too worried about reading and writing chinese characters, even though im not going to be able to avoid it i think speaking and understanding it is the main thing im after. Eventually i would like to spend alot of time in China, most likely Hong Kong and maybe some other cities you can suggest? Maybe to study? Down the road i would like to meet a woman from China, because I am only 2nd generation and already i know nothing of this culture, i would like my kids to be fluent in chinese and have a general understanding of their origins. I apologize for the long post but i had to let it all out. I appreciate any information you can give me.

[Ncao]

If you're planning to travel around China you have to learn Mandarin. Cantonese is only understandable in HK , Macao, Guangdong, and eastern part of Guangxi. Mandarin is easier to learn,also Cantonese would be easier to learn if you know Mandarin.

[yingguoguy]

Fluxy, my advice is this: The single most valuable thing any language learner can have is someone who is eager and enthusiastic about helping you learn. Someone willing to spend hours working with you and someone you enjoy talking to. These people are very hard for most of us to find, but if you are lucky enough have someone, you will be far more motivated and your progress will be far faster than if you just study from a book or do weekly evening classes.

I get the feeling from your post that you really want to learn Cantonese but feel that you *ought* to learn Mandarin as it is more 'useful'. That may well be true for the 'average' learner, but it sounds like the fact that you want to explore your heritage and talk to your family make Cantonese far more useful for you.

So I'd say start with Cantonese and see how you get on. Although they're really different languages, time spent studying Cantonese will help you if you do decide to switch to Mandarin later, as you will learn about tonal languages and the characters.

[Fluxy]

ying you basically read my mind. I know also that by not being in an environment of everyday exposure to a foreign language my progress would be significantly slower, but having some close cousins that would be willing to spend time on something like this is always a plus. My mom used to be very fluent in chinese but im sure its broken quite bad now and could probably not formulate sentences even if she really wanted to

[atitarev]

The thing that confuses me most is that written standard Mandarin is the proper language for Cantonese speakers, so every educated Cantonese speaker can read and write in correct Mandarin (pronouncing words in Cantonese way), even maybe before learning how to read and write in vernacular Cantonese (using Cantonese grammar and words).

[mike25]

im in the same situation as fluxy...my mother is australian and my father is chinese (from hk). I too made the mistake of not properly learning chinese when i was little and now i want to change that. my father doesn't speak mandarin (only cantonese), but i am intent on learning mandarin because i wish to work overseas when i am older..and also my fathers family lives in south east asia (speaking mandarin). although i live in australia and could learn cantonese from my father, i think mandarin would be a better option due to family/business..what do u guys think?(sh)

[atitarev]

Go to China town in Sydney and you will hear 99% Cantonese.

I don't think it's true. It's changing all over the world. There's simply much more Mandarin speakers out there than Cantonese. I understand, you're biased to Cantonese. I agree that in Hong Kong you need just Cantonese but IMHO you can also get by with Mandarin there if you're there temporarily but you also want to visit other parts of the Chinese speaking world as HKers Mandarin skills are improving.

It's getting close to 50/50 Cantonese/Mandarin ratio in Australi speakers (if you include other dialects speakers being able to speak a language) thanks to mainland and Taiwan immigration.

[atitarev]

God I hope not. I put too much time and effort into Cantonese that I hate to see it go wasted due to over-population. There needs to be a breeding program :-)

I am sure you'll find use of Cantonese for a long time still.

Used to be a time when I would get angry that all these migrants could not speak English, now I wished everyone would speak Cantonese. Though, I hate it even in Sydney when you talk in English and they look at you like you are in the wrong country - haha.

I am glad I can find practise with Mandarin easier. Come to Melbourne, it's more cosmopolitan and user-friendly. Is it really that people feel antagonised in Sydney because of the racial prejudices?

[atitarev]

However, bit concerning the Government let in an African family into Australia who had ZERO english skill level and baby son dies because father couldn't speak to the 000 operator. Should be a language assessment otherwise you will get these sort of problems.

It's a sad story, I heard about it. Well, he was a refugee, they are not assessed for language skills, a grown up person should have been able to communicate to other people that his child is sick (in the street, not on the phone) and he needed some help - ambulance, doctor, the social worker shouldn't let them stay like this too. The trouble with the man he not only knew no English at all but he didn't know how to use a phone, as it turned out. Yeah, this was an accident, a sad lesson to all going to overseas without any language at all and essential skills - how to use a phone.