| Does anybody still use this blog? I;m going to travel abroad for about a month and a half during summer 2008. (olympics!) I too am debating whether the majority of my stay and chinese learning should take place in Beijing (Beijing Normal Univ) or Shanghai (East China Normal University). I'm thinking of staying at shanghai since the olympics is going to attract many many many tourists and just visitng beijing before and after my class which would correspond to before and during the olympics. Is there anything else I should take into consideration besides the culture-ness of beijing and cityness/shanghainese of shanghai? I was also wondering... many people friends and teachers alike seem to not like the beijing retroflex (-rrr). What is business Chinese usually like? I have also read that those who speak the different shanghai dialect which is really different from mandarin, when switching over to mandarin have an accent. Is it likely that I will pick up on this accent? I read that beijing accent is most similar to "standard chinese". Would that be just the way beijing residents speak without the retroflex?? Please help! :) |
Where to Study Chinese, Beijing or Shanghai?