[lowlight]

If you're going to live in HK and not learn Cantonese, I'd pick Tagalog over Mandarin.

[HKChigger]

Originally Posted by lowlight

If you're going to live in HK and not learn Cantonese, I'd pick Tagalog over Mandarin.

Uhhh more locals are going to understand Mandarin over Tagalog. In fact a lot of immigrants from China live in Hong Kong and many people speak Mandarin, they just don't like too. Filipinos on the other hand can pretty much all speak English. So why learn Tagalog?

[geo-seb]

In fact i believe that it is easier to learn Cantonese than Mandarin, because:

1.) For English speakers, it is easier to produce the Cantonese sounds.

2.) Cantonese has far more sounds than Mandarin, so even if you don't get the tones right, ppl are still likely to understand you.

3.) Most Hong Kong people speak the same style of Cantonese. So once you learn it, you will understand the locals here. However, Mandarin pronunciation varies extremely in the different provinces of China. So even if you learn Mandarin (Beijing style pronunciation) you are very likely to come across a lot of Mandarin speakers that you can not understand at all.

4.) Learning tones is a pain in any case. It does not make any difference whether there are 4, 5, 6, or even 9 tones. If you have never spoken a tonal language before, it takes a lot of time to properly learn it. Mandarin' tones are not easier to learn, just because there are less.

5.) And as other people said before, in Hong Kong you are primarily exposed to Cantonese, so there are much more opportunities to practice.

[Chocoholic]

Hey,
If your company with local coworkers and live in local area (some people live in Central and farest area they go would be taiko and all the time with english speakers, then really no need to learn Cantonese) plus not always need to deal with mainland china, I would suggest you to learn Cantonese.
Cantonese with 6 tones as if people said that's 9tones because of unaspirate final make 3 tones in 6 to specify to 7-9th tones. That's why people always says Cantonese with 9 tones.
I agree that if you never learn a tonal language, honestly, 6 tones or 4 tones don't really make a BIG difference. Plus language environment is quite important. I do agree that more and more locals can understand or even can speak mandarin a lot better than 10 years ago. However, still local are speaking Cantonese.
People would appericate that if you would like to understand and learn the culture here. Language and culture just can't seperate.
However, if you have to go Mainland China very often, then for sure mandarin is much more useful. The world trend is to Mandarin and sure that's good tool to have more and better job opportunties in future.
Good luck

[ChatChat]

Learn Cantonese if you want to get around Hong Kong with ease unless you have lots of money and only visit expensive places where they speak English. Locals are generally friendlier to foreigners who can speak a bit of Cantonese coz it shows that they: (1) respect the local culture; (2) have at least tried.

It is easier for your to pick up Cantonese when you are in Hong Kong and interact with locals, especially with the tealady in your office!

[alexpwhite]

I'm going to be moving out on the 27th feb, are there any places (i.e. late night schools) where you can go and get taught either language?

Thanks

[timklip]

Originally Posted by alexpwhite

I'm going to be moving out on the 27th feb, are there any places (i.e. late night schools) where you can go and get taught either language?

Thanks

literally hundreds and hundreds of language schools here, most teaching adults at night since we're working during the day, check out the local Eng papers like SCMP Sunday, Weekend Standard, HK Magazine for ads in the back pages, or search this site for recommendations
Good luck and Gung Hei Fat Choy!

[lowlight]

Originally Posted by HKChigger

Uhhh more locals are going to understand Mandarin over Tagalog. In fact a lot of immigrants from China live in Hong Kong and many people speak Mandarin, they just don't like too. Filipinos on the other hand can pretty much all speak English. So why learn Tagalog?

In case you couldn't tell, I was being facetious. It doesn't make sense to me for someone to move to Hong Kong and want to learn Mandarin... It would be like moving to USA to learn French... Sure, some immigrants from Quebec and France may speak it, but the only time you're going to hear it is during language class, or if you happen to live with one of the immigrants.

In my experience, the only people who speak Mandarin in HK are the people who clean take out our garbage at the complex where I live, some maids from China, and the odd street-side vendor/illegal goods hawker.

If you want to learn Mandarin, move to China or Taiwan. You'll be able to use it every day, not just during class.

[Cat_Lau]

Mandarin is more popular and easier for foreigner, but it will be easier for you to learn Cantonese if you stay in HK. I am good for both may can teach you some ? ;-)

[neither3nor4]

The number of books and other materials available make Mandarin easier to study indepedendently, but I wouldn't say Mandarin is easier to learn than Cantonese based on number of tones. Once one can identify the three level tones the rising and falling tones are readily recognisable.