What Language Should I Learn?

[simon43]

I can speak/read/write reasonable Thai. (That gets this post on-topic...)

But I have a new business where I will be conversing with people primarily from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Not really anyone from mainland China, except HK.

Of course, English will help a lot. But what other language would it be useful to learn? I cannot identify if the Chinese that is spoken in Singapore and Malaysia is Cantonese or Mandarin, or another dialect. (I previously learnt some Mandarin, written and spoken, and found it easier to learn than Thai).

Hopefully, some of the language experts can give some advice

Thanks

Simon

[Thaddeus]

I can speak/read/write reasonable Thai. (That gets this post on-topic...)

When did it go off topic?

(just helping it up the topic tree a little bit )

[meadish_sweetball]

I believe the most commonly spoken local dialects of Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore are Hakka, Hokkien and Teochiu.

But the largest Chinese dialects overall are Cantonese and Mandarin - Cantonese is what is spoken in Hong Kong.

Even among non-mainland Chinese, Mandarin *is* considered the main lingua franca, and from what I hear most Chinese in business learn Mandarin for basic communication purposes even if it isn't their mother tongue.

If I were you I would go for Mandarin, especially since you seem to already have a bit of a foundation.

[onebir]

I believe the most commonly spoken local dialects of Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore are Hakka, Hokkien and Teochiu.

i think there are a lot of native cantonese speakers in KL too.

although the southern dialects mentioned above are probably the commonest mother tongues for chinese malaysian/singaporeans, many chinese malaysians speak mandarin too, picked up from media or study in chinese schools. and the singaporean government has been promoting mandarin recently.

i also understand that since 1997, mandarin has become much more widely spoken in hong kong.

on top of this, it's the most widely studied chinese dialect, so there's much more study material available. and there are only 4 tones (+ a neutral tone) - less than the other dialects i think. but maybe not much of an issue for a thai speaker ;-)

so i'd second the previous post.

see/post in the learning chinese section in www.chinese-forums.com for more info...

Edited October 13, 2006 by onebir

[Ta22]

Well Bascially , i speak thai , english , chinese ,japanese

& 4-5 dialect ( hokkien , teachow , cantonese , yunnan slang )

I suggest CHINESE . is very common , . of cso English is helpful also .

- with a mix and macth of english & chinese this should get you around easily .

Like learning anything .. more or less if you take note .. you are using about 500 words - 2000 words daily .. notthing fancy . all the best .. i am trying to pick up burmaese , thai lanna slang , laos ,

i want to pick up more dialect , from hilltirbe also . speak like the mountian people whhah

o need a kool doi