| Question: | Mandarin or Cantonese |
|---|
Mandarin
Cantonese won a poll for the next beta language on LingQ, but wasn't added due to text splitter difficulties with traditional characters.
http://lingqcentral-en.lingq.com/change-in-beta...
Is learning Cantonese and interest or necessity to you? Because basically everyone you will need to communicate with in HK speaks English anyway.
http://lingqcentral-en.lingq.com/change-in-beta...
Is learning Cantonese and interest or necessity to you? Because basically everyone you will need to communicate with in HK speaks English anyway.
They are two different languages. They are not mutually intelligible.
Most of the inhabitants of HK have a basic knowledge in English.
But are they able to hold serious and elaborated discussion ? I really don't think so.
But are they able to hold serious and elaborated discussion ? I really don't think so.
Well, I did say everyone you will "need to" communicate with. I don't know about the average person on the street, but taxi drivers, restaurant workers, hotel employees, etc. all speak good English when I go there every few months. Last time even a street cleaner helped me find my hotel in the area, speaking pretty comfortable English.
The quality of English in Hong Kong is not great. The most commonly heard language is Cantonese, but nowadays more and more people speak Mandarin as well. If you speak Cantonese in Hong Kong you will certainly enjoy your time there much more.
The languages have about 90% or more the same vocabulary and are mostly written the same way. However, the words used in colloquial every day speech can be quite different in the two languages, and the pronunciation of the common vocabulary is quite different.
I would learn Mandarin for now, since this is the most useful language in the long run. In any case this gives you a good based for Cantonese. Once you are in Hong Kong you will find which language you are most motivated to learn, and then you should go for it.
The languages have about 90% or more the same vocabulary and are mostly written the same way. However, the words used in colloquial every day speech can be quite different in the two languages, and the pronunciation of the common vocabulary is quite different.
I would learn Mandarin for now, since this is the most useful language in the long run. In any case this gives you a good based for Cantonese. Once you are in Hong Kong you will find which language you are most motivated to learn, and then you should go for it.
Your comments on the common vocabulary are very interesting to me, Steve.
If English, French, German, Dutch, etc, were written with the same characters (Chinese style), would we say that the vocabulary is the same but with different pronunciation? (for those words which match in meaning) Well, having experienced those languages as they are, our answer would have to be no. However, because the languages of Chinese share the same script and it's the script which unifies them, the languages there are, in a way, seen as deriving from the writing system. Also, the fact that they are considered by most as 'dialects' of the same language, which isn't true at all, contributes to this perception.
The writing system within China, has been far more influential on languages in East Asia (and part of SE-Asia) than other scripts around the world.
If English, French, German, Dutch, etc, were written with the same characters (Chinese style), would we say that the vocabulary is the same but with different pronunciation? (for those words which match in meaning) Well, having experienced those languages as they are, our answer would have to be no. However, because the languages of Chinese share the same script and it's the script which unifies them, the languages there are, in a way, seen as deriving from the writing system. Also, the fact that they are considered by most as 'dialects' of the same language, which isn't true at all, contributes to this perception.
The writing system within China, has been far more influential on languages in East Asia (and part of SE-Asia) than other scripts around the world.
From Imy :
"If English, French, German, Dutch, etc, were written with the same characters (Chinese style), would we say that the vocabulary is the same but with different pronunciation? "
I think we could do so with the German/Dutch pair, or the Spanish/Portuguese pair.
And aren't the numbers 1, 2, 3, .... 10 sort of "ideograms" with different pronunciations ?
"If English, French, German, Dutch, etc, were written with the same characters (Chinese style), would we say that the vocabulary is the same but with different pronunciation? "
I think we could do so with the German/Dutch pair, or the Spanish/Portuguese pair.
And aren't the numbers 1, 2, 3, .... 10 sort of "ideograms" with different pronunciations ?