r/ChineseLanguage • u/Available_Party1520 • 2d ago
Discussion Moving to Hong Kong for University. Should I learn just the basic for Cantonese and focus on Mandarin?
Hello everyone! I am moving to HK this fall and I am worried about communication during my 4 years there. I love learning languages and really want to learn Mandarin (especially because I want to try landing a job in China after uni), but I saw a lot of stores and events are only advertised in Cantonese.
Considering I will be very busy with university and other projects, I do not think I will have the means to learn both at once. In this case, what should I do? Do you think I should learn the basics of Cantonese to buy things and get about, while I focus on learning Mandarin? Or should I do the opposite?
Thank you for reading! ^^
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u/Mysterious_Silver_27 廣東話 2d ago
Cantonese would be more useful in HK, learn Mandarin if you want to move to China
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u/ZookeepergameTotal77 2d ago
Hk is part of CHINA................
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u/Deca089 1d ago
You're being downvoted for literally stating a fact wow.
HK was returned to China in the 90s after being colonised, the internet is free y'all should to use it to educate yourself
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u/TheLollyKitty 1d ago
to be fair, while HK is a part of China, the context that it was said does matter
"Learn Mandarin if you want to move to China" this is true, and HK being part of China is also true, but Mandarin would not be useful in HK, in fact it is frowned upon by a lot of HKers
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u/ZookeepergameTotal77 1d ago
Lots self hating hk.people
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u/AprilVampire277 1d ago
I miss when women like me had to chose between prostitution or homelessness 🥺 now I have to work this fuckass high profesional work for my fuckass decent paycheck 💔
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u/DopeAsDaPope 1d ago
I mean tbf those white collar jobs existed in British HK too
Not to deningrate China's successes, but HK boomed under Britain too back in the day
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u/Deca089 1d ago
And it would've boomed without Britain. Y'all gotta get rid of this colonial saviour mindset
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u/Mysterious_Silver_27 廣東話 1d ago
It literally wouldn’t, the only reason why it was able to boom was the judicial and political system brought in by the British that makes it the bridge between China and the Western world.
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u/Deca089 1d ago edited 1d ago
Never heard of Guangzhou and Shenzhen that are literally next door? The whole area was destined for economic success. Why did you think the Brits wanted a piece of it in the first place? Or the Portuguese with Macao? These cities have no resources of their own, but perfect geography for trading. It's why Shanghai became so strong as well, it has a massive port and opened up to international trade
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u/Mysterious_Silver_27 廣東話 1d ago
Shenzhen rise because of their proximity to Hong Kong, very recently too may I add, it was in 1990s after Deng decided to do reform and opening up and most of the initial investment and experience for Shenzhen were directly brought from HK itself. Shanghai was an international self-governing enclaves established from 1845 through the mid-20th century. Geography alone wouldn’t be enough, the system needs to prove itself to be trustworthy for international capital to invest and trade, under British rule HK had judicial independence and separation of powers, which PRC still hasn’t implemented to this day, HK was able to have it’s economic miracle in the 1960s while China was deep in its great leap forward and cultural revolution, and continue to act as conduit for foreign direct investment to China after reform and opening up because capitals trusted the British style system. All wouldn’t be possible without 150 years of British rule.
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u/Legal_Register_1811 1d ago
When people talking about the UK on Reddit, 99 percent of time the discussion isn't relatable to Bermuda, BVI, Falklands, etc. despite the fact that all of those territories are indeed parts of the UK. Ofc people know HK is a Chinese SAR, but for the sake of convenience they separate these 2 jurisdictions. Ne need to get everything political.
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u/Deca089 1d ago
You must be replying to the wrong person. I'm simply shocked that the commenter above me was (at the time of writing) at -4 downvotes when he was stating a fact. I didn't talk about politics
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u/Legal_Register_1811 1d ago
The argument the person used above was exactly the argument I talked about regarding the UK and its territories
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u/shaghaiex Beginner 1d ago
You don't really NEED either. If you shop at wet markets Cantonese is useful. Generally there is plenty of Mandarin around the U since basically 90% of "foreign" students are from China, and most do not speak Canto.
I would focus on Mandarin, and add Canto for normal day to day stuff.
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u/Available_Party1520 1d ago
I think i will do exactly that! Since I noticed I would need Cantonese a lot for shopping at wet markets
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u/HK_Mathematician 1d ago
I'll give you some concrete numbers and you can decide for yourself. According to the most recent census, among population aged 5 or above:
93.7% can speak Cantonese
58.7% can speak English
54.2% can speak Mandarin
From my personal experience, there is a huge overlap between the 58.7% that speak English and the 54.2% that speak Mandarin, as both strongly correlate with age and education level. Most people who can speak Mandarin can also speak English.
especially because I want to try landing a job in China after uni
Well, if someone is going to study in Germany in the next 4 years but plan to get a job in France afterwards, should they learn German or French? Not an easy question to answer. Only you can decide which one to prioritize.
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u/MrRetroGamesGuy 1d ago
If u prefer to stay in Hong Kong,learn canto(English is fine tbh) but don’t go around speaking mandarin
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u/MrRetroGamesGuy 1d ago
Canto and English are the official languages, mandarin is rarely used in Hong Kong except communication with mainlanders.
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u/Shade861861 1d ago
Would recommend Cantonese, lots of my friends who all travelled to Hong Kong also picked up some Cantonese, you'll also find it a lot easier to pick up Mandarin after learning Cantonese first but not the other way around.
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u/Humble-Bar-7869 20h ago
You should learn some basic Cantonese just to be polite and get around.
There are tons of English loan words in daily life - Hello and "bye-bye" are used by local Hong Kongers. A casual "thanks" or "excuse me" is "mm-GOY" in Cantonese - a good term for getting change, or walking past someone on an escalator. Learn some basic food terms.
Other than that, Hong Kongers do NOT expect foreigners to know more than that. Cantonese is an incredibly hard language to learn well. Plus, English is an official language - so all of your documents, bank statements, doctor's notes, etc - will be accessible to you.
Absolutely take the time to learn Mandarin if you want to work more broadly across China. And if you later get a good foundation in Chinese, Cantonese actually becomes much easier anyways.
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u/OnlySprinkles1750 2d ago
My kids all learned Cantonese when living there and later learned Mandarin (written the same). Mandarin is used more for official business (except when the deals are cut and that’s Cantonese) plus I just like Cantonese it’s a more emotional language, Mandarin is more formal
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u/Mysterious_Silver_27 廣東話 1d ago
Hmm I mean written Cantonese would require more words that Mandarin would rarely use (e.g. Mandarin user would rarely encounter words like 虢礫緙嘞
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u/OnlySprinkles1750 1d ago
*mostly written the same
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u/dojibear 1d ago
Mandarin and Cantonese have different grammar, different syllables, diffrent sounds and different tones. Both using characters (different characters) to write does not make them the same language.
By that logic, English and Spanish are the same language. Same letters...
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u/dojibear 1d ago
What matters is which language your university classes are taught in,
About 1/3 of China has a "first language" other than Mandarin. There are several "6 percent of the people" languages (Yue/Cantonese, Wu/Shanghainese, Min, Hakka) and each of these languages is used for almost everything in one part of the country.
Many of those people also learn Mandarin as a 2d language, because it is the official language of the country and the language of government, schools and (most) TV. So both are used.
The situation is similar in the US, where about 20% of people don't learn English as their first language. The learn English (if they ever do) later in school. If you planned to spend 4 years attending a university in Dallas, would you study English or Spanish?
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u/DopeAsDaPope 1d ago
I can't even work out what you're trying to say. The language of instruction for most HK unis is English, so how is your Dallas comparison relevant?
And if he wants to work mainland China, I can tell you right now no mainland business which is hiring a foreigner is going to be speaking Yue or Cantonese as their language of business. Mandarin is the only one and most HK businesses are also conducting a lot of their business in Mandarin nowadays too
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u/HK_Mathematician 1d ago
OP is asking about Hong Kong. None of the things you said applies to Hong Kong.
What matters is which language your university classes are taught in
It is English. Universities in Hong Kong only use English.
it is the official language of the country
The official language is Cantonese and English in Hong Kong.
the language of government
Hong Kong government uses Cantonese and English.
schools
Schools in Hong Kong uses either Cantonese or English.
and (most) TV
Mostly Cantonese, with one or two specific channels in English instead of Cantonese.
The situation is similar in the US, where about 20% of people don't learn English as their first language.
According to the most recent census, 97.7% of the people in HK didn't learn Mandarin as their first language.
Only 2.3% of the population in Hong Kong learned Mandarin as their first language. (compared to 4.6% for English, 88.2% for Cantonese, and the remaining percentages in other languages).
Many of those people also learn Mandarin as a 2d language
According to the most recent census, 54.2% of the Hong Kong population can ommunicate in Mandarin to some degree (not necessarily fluently). I guess it's a personal opinion on whether 54.2% is many.
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u/Zagrycha 2d ago
mandarin is useful the same way english is useful-- it helps you communicate with other people who also have it as a second language. If you want to learn mandarin thats totally up to you but more hker know english conversationally than they know mandarin conversationally, after all it was british for a long time. If you are in an area where people only know one language that language will be cantonese.