Learning Mandarin in Chengdu

[Nell]

I’m hoping to come to Chengdu to teach at the end of August, however one of my reasons for coming is to learn Mandarin. From what I’ve read online the Sichuan Dialect is very different to standard Mandarin. I was just wondering to what extent this is the case, and how much harder it would be to learn standard mandarin if I came to live in Chengdu?

 

[lionking062]

Which grade will you teach? If it’s not primary school, then people there usually can speak both good mandarin and Sichuan Dialect. You can talk with them to practice your mandarin. Besides, a good Chinese neighbor can also be a big help.

[Federico]

Welcome to Chengdu Nell, you can learn mandarin without problems and if you want, local dialect… you must find only a right place/people/friends for do this!

Try to check out this website http://www.languageclan.com/en

See you!

[Charlie]

Hey Nell,

You’ll find Sichuan dialect in a few places in particular (restaurants, taxis, etc) but a lot of people here still speak clear Mandarin. Generally college-educated people, professional environments, etc.

Years ago when I started learning Chinese I committed to learning Mandarin and not Sichuan dialect so I have tried to minimize my Sichuan accent. For the most part it’s worked pretty well, and I know a few other expats in the city who have acquired very good, clear Mandarin.

I suggest learning pinyin as soon as possible, and learn how each syllable in Chinese sounds in Mandarin. You will hear a lot of phrases in Sichuan dialect anyway, but if you know how they sound in Mandarin, you’ll be alright. Keep in mind, there’s almost nowhere that you can learn Chinese that doesn’t carry some kind of accent or regional flavor. I know expats in Beijing that loathe the Beijing accent, which isn’t what standard Mandarin sounds like.

[LongWang]

You need to decide what you want more, to live in chengdu or maximise your mandarin proficiency. I agree with the others it is possible to learn mandarin here, and most people can speak it, the problem is they don’t.

Unless you ask people to do so, they usually won’t speak to you in mandarin, and when you are in a group of Chinese the ones I’ve been in don’t all revert back to mandarin for the sake of one person. I found my listening has really suffered from learning mandarin in Chengdu as you can’t practice by listening to people on the bus ect. I only noticed my listening wasn’t too bad when visited nanjing and could follow what people were saying without asking them to slow down or  change their dialect.

Make no mistake, in Chengdu, mandarin is not king!

[alicelilee]

hi ,Nell, welcome to chengdu . as an sichuan chinese people , actually if u wanna learn madarin chinese , u can start with pingyin ,and then u can speak chinese with out sichuan accent , most people speak mandarin chinese in stead of sichuan dialect in work .

having good time in Sichuan .

[Nell]

Thank you all  so much for your help! I did a little Mandarin back when I was at school so know some of the basics (though I’ve lost a lot of my vocab!) so hopefully I can try to learn “standard” mandarin. To be honest I have been so excited by what I’ve read of Chengdu that I think the only thing that could persuade me not to come over would be if it would have a severe effect upon speaking putonghua – which from the sounds of it is not the case 🙂 …now to find one of those elusive creatures known as “jobs” 😛

[Charlie]

Nell wrote:

now to find one of those elusive creatures known as “jobs”

This is just a side note, but if you find a job in Chengdu that isn’t teaching English there’s a fantastic chance that it will do a lot to improve your Chinese. I don’t have any doubt that nothing has advanced my Chinese as much as working in a Chinese language environment every day.

[Nell]

Thanks Charlie, that is something I’d love to do, however I wouldn’t know where to start looking for non-teaching jobs given how limited my mandarin skills are. Is there much demand outside of the teaching sector for native english speakers with so little mandarin?

[Charlie]

Nell wrote:

Thanks Charlie, that is something I’d love to do, however I wouldn’t know where to start looking for non-teaching jobs given how limited my mandarin skills are. Is there much demand outside of the teaching sector for native english speakers with so little mandarin?

Speaking Chinese certainly makes it a lot easier, but it’s definitely possible. I’d check 51jobs.com and look for any listings in English. You’re looking for companies based in Chengdu that provide products or services for people overseas. They need foreigners.

[Author]

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