Which region is best for learning Chinese?

[bjgodefr]

Hi

If I want to learn mandarin Chinese by living and working in China, which region would be best for me? I understand that the mandarin spoken in the north and around Beijing is the standard. But in the Southern provinces like Sichuan and Yunnan people also speak mandarin, although in a southern dialect. Since these southern provinces have my preference, I’m wondering if their dialect should be a hindrance for me learning the language?

I know all the schools teach mandarin, so most of the people should be able to switch to Putonghua, but I’m still in doubt.

Maybe you should also know that my Chinese is very basic (I know 200 characters at the moment), so I won’t be having any complicated conversations

So if somebody can point me into the right direction, I would be very grateful.

Bart

[Quest]

Go to the region you like most, you can learn standard mandarin anywhere in China, dont worry too much about the dialects. You will be able to distinguish accented mandarin from "standard" mandarin, if there's such thing that is.

[Tsunku]

I've said it in this forum a lot before, but I do think that people get too hung up on finding the perfect language environment. Actually, learning the different accents and dialects and how to recognize them is really a part of learning Chinese. If you train yourself to only understand perfect Northern accent Mandarin, you're really shooting yourself in the foot.

So like Quest says, choose a region you like. The accent down south (not the actual dialects, but the accented mandarin) is really quite easy to figure out. Is it an added challenge? Yeah. However, if you're going to be spending any amount of time in China, funny accents are something you will come across again and again, and the sooner you learn to cope with them the better in my book. And of course, it's always nice to live in a place that excites and intrigues you, which in turn can be a big motivating factor for practicing the language.

[pazu]

If I were you, I would choose Kunming or Chengdu as my base of study, yes they don't speak perfect Mandarin, but it's no problem.

[quanxie]

It depends on you!!!! Everywhere has it's own Jiashanghua (home dialect). So I suggest a big city like Beijing. There are many school to choice from, mnay part-time jobs to help pay for school and let's face I need to speak my mother-tongue at full speed from time to time. Beijing is it!!!!

Phil

[confucius]

Beijing is best. Dongbei (Northeast) is better than any other region in China if you want an ideal Mandarin speaking environment. I applaud your efforts to locate the best Mandarin environment because your diligent effort to speak like Beijing or Harbin natives will be appreciated by those Chinese in the south who wish their Mandarin sounded as pleasant to the ear as yours.

[Quest]

I applaud your efforts to locate the best Mandarin environment because your diligent effort to speak like Beijing or Harbin natives will be appreciated by those Chinese in the south who wish their Mandarin sounded as pleasant to the ear as yours.

I am from the south, but I do not find Beijing mandarin pleasant. Their tongues twist too much; they talk like they have something in their mouths.

[ChouDoufu]

I am from the south' date=' but I do not find Beijing mandarin pleasant. Their tongues twist too much; they talk like they have something in their mouths.[/quote']

Isn't that what pleasant mandarin is supposed to sound like? I think you should study where you want to study.

Anywhere you study you'll learn standard mandarin in the classroom. You'll also have the advantage of having listened to "non-standard" mandarin.

[Quest]

Isn't that what pleasant mandarin is supposed to sound like? I think you should study where you want to study.

No, Beijing locals (most not all) roll their tongues a lot more. If pleasant = standard, then I guess Beijing dialect is supposed to be the standard, but certainly not the most pleasant.

[Guest oshee]

why not Shanghai?there you could find people from all around china!

[adambsmurf]

I agree, just pick a region you like and go there.

Having said that, though, if you're keen on learning stuff from the streets and not so much in the classroom or in a university seeting and you want to learn Mandarin DON'T go to Guangdong, although Shenzhen would be okay. My experience has been that even though most commoners do speak it they do so horribly. This does not apply, though, to more educated folk.