Cantonese is a different animal from Mandarin, unless you are reading it off a newspaper.  A lot of the time grammatically it's not the same and forget about the slangs, D's and La's.... Mandarin speakers heads spin when trying to learn Cantonese.

Both will be the best.
But Mandarin will be easier to learn for the foreigner and more useful.

Okay, the concensus seems to be learn Mandarin and throw in a few Cantonese expressions to show off a little.

No, the emphasis has been on your need.  If you plan on spending time in China for whatever reason, obviously Mandarin is better.  If you plan on doing something in HK outside of mongering, Mandarin will only get you so far.  It all depends on what you plan to do.  In general, Mandarin is certainly more useful, but it still depends on what you're going to do.

i would fouse on mandarin....cause you can communicate  same well in hong kong using it

If you're planning on living in HK I recommend learning Cantonese as it's still the local language. Many locals think they know Mandarin, but believe me, it's only a lucky few who speak it well.

Canto isn't as hard as people tell you once you get your head around the basics, the foul language beats anything spoken by our mainland cousins (his mother's?) And you'll be introduced to the wonderful world of understanding Steven Chow movies

What more could you want?

I subscribe to the theory that in school, especially for match classes, if you do the hardest problems first, everything else comes easy.  When learning Cantonese, watching Stephen Chow movies is like doing the hardest math problems - his Cantonese stretches the limits of spoken Cantonese.  Not in the sense that news broadcasters do by speaking more formal Cantonese that is not used in everyday spoken Cantonese, but by coming up with the most imaginiative ways to describe things.

Also, if you wanted a pretty full vocabulary of vulgar words, you should watch the Naked Ambition HK movie.  People were shocked to see all the things that came out of Louis Koo's and Eason Chan's mouth (as well as Josie Ho's) because generally you don't hear such language unless mongers were talking to each other.

Bottom line, if you don't know either Canto or Mandarin, you're better off learning Mandarin first - learning curve is definitely not as steep.

If you can read Chinese, you stand a pretty good chance of picking up Cantonese if you watch enough TV shows with subtitles.  I've had some northerner friends be able to pick up decent Cantonese simply by watching HK TV shows.  

Having said that, I definitely think it's easier to know Cantonese and try to learn Mandarin than the other way around.  Unfortunately I'm a dolt and haven't had enough drive to really fully learn Mandarin, even though I should have by now.

i thought cantonese was easier then Mandarin.. i have a hard time curling my tongue and speaking.
Sad but true.. seems like Mandarin is the dominant defacto language more and more..
I hope HK will still retain the cantonese as the dominant language for the present and future..
I hate to see the name Hong Kong get replaced with the pin yin crap... Shang Gong... Ughh...

Ever since seeing Kung Fu Hustle I have been a big fan of Stephen Chow. Only seen Shaolin Soccer, KFH, and CJ7, though. Never knew there was something special going on with the language.

Stephen really toned it down with the 3 movies that you just mentioned - mainly because he realized that the target audience would be more Mandarin speakers since the movies were meant more for an international audience.  A good portion of what he says in his earlier movies is not really translatable into Mandarin (much less English), because it loses its humor upon translation.  His form of humor is what they call 'mo lei tau', meaning nonsensical, or humor out of left field.

Here's an easy example: Stephen mentions to someone that he studied at Fukien U. Of course, he was trying subtlely to the person 'fuck you'.  But in Mandarin, Fukien is Fujian, so the humor is lost.

The best movies of Stephen's are all his earlier ones:  All For the Winner (parody of God of Gamblers and the movie that made Stephen into a superstar), God of Gamblers II, God of Gamblers III:  Back to Shanghai, Fight Back to School and Fight Back To School II (the debut of the lovely Athena Chu), From Beijing With Love.  Plus the period funny films which really demonstrate mo lei tau - Hail to the Judge, Justice My Foot, King of Beggars, the two Chinese Odyssey movies, and Flirtong Scholar (yeah on the English export they spelled flirting incorrectily).

1. Do Cantonese speakers in HK look down on Mandarin speakers a little?
Yes, especially with their bad habits like spitting, smoking, cutting in line and yelling in public.  There is a rivalry between HK and Shanghai being better. It's almost like the French and the British in Canada. On the other hand, People in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai look down at the Cantonese people.

2. Do most native HK still know some or alot of Mandarin?
Most school in HK now teach Cantonese, English and Mandarin.

3. If I stick with Mandarin, should I sprinkle in some Cantonese as a sign of respect when speaking with Cantonese-speakers?
Not necessary since you know English.


Note, you might have a problem finding classes in Cantonese. Most university only teach Mandarin in the USA and Canada.

[ Last edited by  Weelock at 13-1-2010 07:25 ]

in the San Francisco Bay Area, they do teach Cantonese classes at DeAnza College and at San Jose State University.  Many community centers offer it as well, as well as Adult Education places.  Mandarin classes, of course you can find everywhere.

My experience with Shanghai is that they look down on everyone not native to Shanghai, i.e. who doesn't speak Shanghaiese.

Like everyone asking, what are your goals and reasons for learning Chinese ? It depends on you.  

If you take any classes, either Mandarin or Cantonese at an University, expect to spend hours each week studying and going to the lab.  Don't expect to just take one year and understand everything on the TV.  It takes about 3 - 4 years or more. I took one year. The first semester was fine. The second semester got harder and I barely passed the class. Furthermore, you might have to take the class more than once because Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn.

[ Last edited by  Weelock at 13-1-2010 11:09 ]

I agree, most rich Shanghais people have a reputation of being snobs.  Worst yet, are the girls from Shanghai. They are extremely pretty but are very materialistic and very demanding. Even the guys from Shanghai are worried about them.

The best of the best...   God of Gamblers when he came out and said, 5 tiew yeen!  (Five cigaretttes) LOL... OMG, I think I peed in my pants during that joke.  And when he said he could sing like Jacky Cheung, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth playing the piano in 007.   Those were the days man...  Stephen Chow was king.

yeah, the 5 cigarettes/5 aces joke doesn't quite translate to other languages as well.  Yeah, the hanging cigarette on his lip when singing Jacky's Lee Heung Lan song was hilarious.

Totally do NOT agree with this statement... from personal experience.  

Especially if one only "Knows" Cantonese i/o mastering it.

I am quite fluent in colloquial Cantonese - and that means that most of what I speak has NO translation into Mandarin - and have a hard time picking up Putonghua conversations as most of the words used is more classical and not what I'm familiar with.  Never mind my attempts at speaking it - or my Bai Tonghua as I refer to it.

PLus I'd suggest that Cantonese with the 8 (?) tones is a lot harder to even "know" versus Putonghua with only 4 tones.

My 2 fens

SEAJ

Weelock.... you ain't been around the "regular" guys/gals in China enough.  

Yes, we in Hong Kong long time ago used to sort of look down on the Mainlanders - but things gone full circle and its the mainlanders who now look down on Hong Kongers - dependent on the largesse of the PRC government, no prospects/have to come to China to make a living, negative equity householders, comical Putonghua.... the list goes on.

Just look at the attitude of the gals etc at the KTV's that caters to Mainlanders i.e. Crown Prince, Garden etc.

my 3 fens

SEAJ
edits for spelling

[ Last edited by  SEAJ at 13-1-2010 14:24 ]

OK, you know more on the situation.  It's still kind of funny so why many mainlanders still try to get into HK. It's strange, HK people looking up to mainlanders now ? HK has so much freedom.

I did say there is rivalry's between the big cites like HK/Macau and Shanghai/Beijng but the north out number the south about 12 to 1. In other words, 12 people speaking Mandarin to 1 person speaking Cantonese.

OK, in my opinion, the Northern on the average are more rude and have more bad habits than mainlanders.

[ Last edited by  Weelock at 13-1-2010 15:26 ]