Chinese Language - You Have Only Heard The Ugly Version

There are hundreds of ways to speak Chinese. Two of the most popular dialogues are Mandarin and Cantonese. As a foreigner who has learned Chinese for the past 10 years, here are some tips for you who wish to learn: - Learn Mandarin, this is the only language which can be spoken by 99% of the entire Chinese population, if you choose Cantonese or any other dialogue, you will realize you have been wasting your time when you actually visit China. - Cantonese is the kind of Chinese which has been mocked constantly by westerns (e.g. in South Park cartoons), because it indeed sounds harsh and (kinda) funny, it is usually high pitched and it sounds like your knife and forks have dropped on the kitchen floor when people speak it…. However, it is a mistake to think Chinese is a ugly language based on Cantonese. Cantonese is only spoken by people from Guangxi, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. That's only a small part of China. The real Chinese is Mandarin, which is actually very soft and nicely tuned. You can find people in Taiwan speaking it as well - they speak it even softer. Which is very nice. The reason foreigners always make the mistake by thinking Cantonese is the way how Chinese sound is that almost all the early immigrants from China come from Guangdong or Hong Kong (that’s where the Chinese food “Dim Sum” comes from). So Chinese people who live aboard often refer Cantonese “restaurant Chinese". Nowadays it is only handy to know if you want to work in Chinese restaurants. - Writing in Chinese is different, there are 2 different versions: Simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. The latter is way more complicated than the first one. You can test it in Google Translator. I can only read some of the Simplified Chinese, but I know for a fact that Chinese people (no matter where they are from) can read both traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese - but if you are from the main land, it is difficult for them to write traditional Chinese. Same applies the other way, people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are used to write the complex version. So they cannot write simplified version very well. I encourage people to learn Chinese Mandarin, obviously Mark Zuckerberg is not learning it because he has plenty of time. And once you can speak Mandarin, it is incredibly how extended and beautiful this language is - not to mention it will get you throughout the entire China. EVERYONE is impressed with a foreigner who speaks Chinese. I know that for sure :) :)

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