What Chinese language should I learn when I move to the West Coast? Mandarin or Cantonese?

6 Comments

1. Yl says:

   November 17, 2009 at 2:19 am

   Currently there might be more cantonese speaking population than mandarin speaking ones. This is because in the early years, Chinese immigrants were mainly from Hong Kong and Guangdong province, where Cantonese is widely spoken. However, start from 1990’s, more and more people from non-cantonese-spoken areas moved to the US and thus increased the number of mandarin speakers.

   If you’re sure you have a strong interest to visit or even work in Hong Kong, Macao or Guangdong province in China, then go for Cantonese. If you just want to grasp a language relating to China and communicate with Chinese people, then go for Mandarin, which is the official language of China.

   Good Luck!
2. lunelumiere says:

   November 17, 2009 at 2:19 am

   It honestly depends where in California you are going to be.

   Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in China, and out of the two. However, a lot of Cantonese communities sprang up in California. Chinese from Hong Kong regularly came over to California. However, Mandarin is the fastest growing out of the two.

   I would go with mandarin for the simple fact that is is spoken more, younger Chinese learn it more, and most people who can speak Cantonese can also speak English mostly due to the Hong Kong roots.

   Cantonese and Mandarin share a lot in common as well.
3. :) says:

   November 17, 2009 at 2:19 am

   Actually, you should learn Mandarin because it’s more international as it is used more in the world nowadays, I speak Mandarin and Cantonese and I tell you, it’s better to learn Mandarin first than learn Cantonese first, I learnt Mandarin first and it’s easier to pronounce Cantonese when I learnt it later, most of my Cantonese friends grew up speaking Cantonese and now they’re pronounciation of Mandarin is not that accurate because of the dialect they speak (Cantonese). So i think you should learn Mandarin, even though you want to know which is more used in the West Coast, it’s still better to learn Mandarin. Some people who speak cantonese may still understand what you are saying in Mandarin because they are almost the same. Hope I helped:)
4. Elena S says:

   November 17, 2009 at 2:19 am

   Cantonese…
   it’s spoken by 90% of Chinese population abroad…
5. aimiemw says:

   November 17, 2009 at 2:19 am

   mandarin is the most widely spoken, so i’d say go with that one.
6. Brian A says:

   November 17, 2009 at 2:19 am

   Learn mandarin.