Chinese languages

And I thought things were complicated enough! In 2008, I and eleven other students from my High School are going on a month-long expedition to China. I am the supposed "language expert" (i.e. I can say hello, how are you, thankyou and please in Mandarin!), and since we are landing in Hong Kong and spending a week there I have been trying to learn a little Cantonese as well as improving (drastically!) my Mandarin. Now, we were originally supposed to be leaving from Beijing, but due to the Olympics this has had to be changed to Shanghai... and now I learn there is another language to be learnt! So my question is;

a) How different is Mandaring from Shanghainese?
b) Is communication still possible through characters (as it is between Cantonese and Mandarin)?

and c) Do many Shanghai people know Mandarin well enough to communicate with a foreigner via. it?

Looking forward to any help!

快乐圣诞!

HoVis

HoVis wrote:And I thought things were complicated enough! In 2008, I and eleven other students from my High School are going on a month-long expedition to China. I am the supposed "language expert" (i.e. I can say hello, how are you, thankyou and please in Mandarin!), and since we are landing in Hong Kong and spending a week there I have been trying to learn a little Cantonese as well as improving (drastically!) my Mandarin. Now, we were originally supposed to be leaving from Beijing, but due to the Olympics this has had to be changed to Shanghai... and now I learn there is another language to be learnt! So my question is;

a) How different is Mandaring from Shanghainese?
b) Is communication still possible through characters (as it is between Cantonese and Mandarin)?

and c) Do many Shanghai people know Mandarin well enough to communicate with a foreigner via. it?

Looking forward to any help!

快乐圣诞!

HoVis

1)Shanghainese is dialece used in shanghai area but Mandarin is national language through the whole china(some people may do not speak Mandarin,but they understand what you means) I can speak Mandarin,but I don't know how to speak shanghainese,even I don't shanghainese.
2)yes.Mandarin is not only an offical language but also national language.In shcool ,teathers use mandarin to teach.people from different areas in china may say different dialect,but mandarin is the main (even the only one )tool to communicate
3)of course.I don't know how to speak shanghainese,but I still travel to shanghai just at home





















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I've heard that people in different places in china speak different languages, and they can not understand each other's language. It's interesting. But the mandarin is the common language and most chinese can communicate in this language without any problems. So I think if we learn mandarin well ,we can communicate with people live in shanghai easily.