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Good city to study in China? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| eoinda Tetraglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5757 days ago 101 posts - 113 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, Spanish, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 1 of 13 14 April 2011 at 12:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi,
I'm going to China in approximatly a year and a half and I'm looking on cities to study mandarin in. I don't want to go to Beijing it is probably wonderful in many ways but I want to be in smaller city with less foreigners. My other recuirements are that mandarin be the predominant language and it can't be to polluted 'cause I'm quite sencitive to polluted air. I've gotten a few suggestions earlier but if you could give me some more I would be grateful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| OneEye Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6659 days ago 518 posts - 784 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, Taiwanese, German, French | Message 2 of 13 14 April 2011 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Harbin has quite standard Mandarin pronunciation. Most of the foreigners there are Russians and Koreans, so you won't need to worry much about being distracted from speaking Chinese. I wouldn't say it's a "smaller city," having 10 million people, but it certainly isn't Beijing or Shanghai. I might actually end up there myself this fall.
On the other hand, it does get brutally cold there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Leftcoaster Diglot Newbie China Joined 4840 days ago 22 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Russian | Message 4 of 13 14 April 2011 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you are sensitive to polluted air then DO NOT come to Beijing, at least during the winter.
For other people considering coming to Beijing to study Mandarin, keep in mind that native Beijingers speak with a fairly heavy accent. If you want a more standard accent, then it might be best to go somewhere else. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Nguyen Senior Member Vietnam Joined 4902 days ago 109 posts - 195 votes Speaks: Vietnamese | Message 5 of 13 22 April 2011 at 10:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Perhaps you could try Taiwan. They speek the best Mandarin and pollution is not like China.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cthulhu Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7032 days ago 139 posts - 235 votes Speaks: French*, English, Mandarin, Russian | Message 6 of 13 22 April 2011 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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The problem with your criteria is that to a large extent they're mutually exclusive; in the north where the pollution is extra bad is where Mandarin is the predominant language, and in the south where the pollution is not so bad (Still nowhere near good) they speak other dialects. Taiwan's not bad, if you consider it part of China, but if you're used to studying standard Mandarin it'll probably take you a while to get used to the way they speak.
If your heart is set on the People's Republic, you might want to look at cities in Sichuan (Not Chengdu though) or Yunnan (My personal favorite). And, if clean air is really important to you, you might also consider biting the bullet and going to a region where Mandarin isn't the native dialect...You may not hear Mandarin on the streets quite as often, but anyone you want to talk to will speak it, generally just as well (Sometimes worse, sometimes better) as people in Mandarin-speaking China. Plus, getting used to accented Mandarin is crucial anyway, since so few speak it accent-free. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5768 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 7 of 13 22 April 2011 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | ||
On that note, a native Mandarin speaker whom I work with says that Taiwan has the coolest Mandarin slang. I take that as a reflection of his age and the fact that he is from SE Asia. I'm unsure whether the younger mainlanders have the same sentiments. Edited by Snowflake on 22 April 2011 at 5:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6103 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 8 of 13 22 April 2011 at 7:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've heard Dalian is very nice. Xiamen (aka Amoy in the old books) is supposed to nice too. Sadly, I haven't been to
either city yet. Qingdao DOES have the Tsingtao brewery though... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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