Learning Mandarin for beginners

[drunkrussian]

lol this is getting good

[DiaoSi]

Yea i agree with ulic. China isnt for everyone. Since i wasnt born to a rich privileged family in china, the only way to make use of my life was to emigrate. I dont look back. Fuck china.

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by Ulic Qel-Droma

you proved my point right, it's about who you know. you know first hand HOW fucking important it is.

To be honest, if you are after the money to be made through *connections*... make sure your friends or their family really do have the power required to be in that game.

Through my experience, I have seen wannabes (fu er dai or guan er dai) that are incredibly rich, but their connection have no real value. In a sense that, they have made their money through the connection, and other investments, but that's where the power of their connections end. They can't bring them any further.

And when you enter that world, they compete in a totally different perspective in ways unimaginable. I was lucky to know people very high up in Beijing, and they literally do what they wish with officials from other places (including Shanghai), so be very careful of that.

[NeoKaze92]

well if anything, let's get the thread back on track, if I may offer some advice. Coming from fluent Cantonese speaker and 12 plus years of speaking mandarin, the thing that I would recommend is to look up Chinese shows/movies that you would find interesting and watch it with subs, then watch it again without subs. And IMHO Mandarin is alot more easier to learn than Cantonese and more practical. If you want to learn conversational Cantonese, I seriously recommend finding a native speaking friend or else speaking formal Cantonese out on the streets of Hong Kong and Richmond will just get you weird looks.