Mandarin or Cantonese (which is mostly....

[dre_doggX]

Which of the two is mostly spoking among immirgrants in the U.S and other countires.

And can someone who speaks Mn understand someone speaking in Ct.

thanks

[Cody]

Don't know about geographic distribution. However, I have heard conversations in which one person was speaking Cantonese and the other Mandarin. I asked about it and was told there was enough commonality to get basic things across.

Cody

[Stacey]

mandarin is mostly spoken and possible to learn if you didn't grow up with it.


Cantoneese has more tones 7 I believe.

Most movies are made in Hong Kong and so are in cantonese, but the majority of chinese/taiwanese/singapore speak mandarin.

Mandarin is one of the most widely spoken languages. Learn Spanish, English, French and Chinese and you've got most of the world covered

[cho]

Mandarin is the national language, so everyone is required to learn it in school, but otherwise, like in HK, they use their local dialect. All official notices from the gov. are in Mandarin.

As far as immigrants in the US, I've mostly heard mandarin speakers, though I think I remember hearing a lot of Cantonese in NY Chinatown.

[rubthebuddha]

what about cities like vancouver's chinatown, or the ct down in frisco?

[Liokault]

In the UK most Chinese speak cantonese.

I am asuming that this is because most come in from hong Kong and cantonese is the dialect there but I could be wrong.

If you could learn to write chinese it wouldnt matter!!

[Former castleva]

As far as my knowledge goes,there can be major problems between two chinese with different style of same language (Maybe it is that some mix better than other ones)
It is funny thing though that I´ve read that mostly spoken/"general" chinese would be that of Shanghai origin but it seems that many are to disagree.

[dezhen2001]

interesting question... being form the UK i would say most chinese around here speak cantonese, ive noticed more mandarin lately in the chinatowns i 'frequent' lol, as well as hakka of course.

Mandarin (to me anyway) sounds very flat, whereas cantonese has more tonal variation. I find it easier to listen and speak cantonese than mandarin personally as the tonal difference in mandarin is very difficult for me to pick up on

it depends what u wanna do... if its for gong fu, then why not learn the language that the style is taught in? Choy lay fut for eg. is cantonese.. in mandarin it would be cai li fo... if its coz of a gal () then why not get her to help ya? lol if its for movies then most are cantonese but ive noticed a lot more mandarin releases of things as well.

if its for general speaking i would say most chines ebusinesses would speak mandarin as it's 'putonghua' - the national spoken language. Most businesses and things usually have some knoweledge of both ime

hmmm... hope it helps,
take care,

dawood

[Sho]

Cantonese is spoken most widely around the world (outside of China of course) and is considered as the main language in Chinatowns. But as dezhen2001 already told, Mandarin is the standard dialect of the Chinese language.

[Sho]

Oh, and I feel that Mandarin is more simple in the terms of learning, but actually Cantonese is easier to pronounce. But generally speaking, Chinese (in my opinion) is one of the easiest languages to learn due to its simple grammar.

[Kristoffer]

Cantonese is horrible to pronounce! I feel mandarin 'simpler' cant. has like 7 notes, mandarin only 5.

[dezhen2001]

i find mandarin harder coz the tones r all so close for me anyway. cantonese has a wider tonal variation. hakka confuses me

dawood

[Former castleva]

"Chinese (in my opinion) is one of the easiest languages to learn due to its simple grammar"

That´s a relief.

[Prairie]

The most common chinese language in western Canada is cantonese. This is due to the large wave of immigration to Canada from the Hong Kong area.

Mandarin is by far the most common (by population) chinese language. It's just that most mandarin speakers are in mainland China.

[rubthebuddha]

prairie,

what part of the great white north are you stashed in, if you don't mind my askin?