| First of all, thanks Jian Shuo for creating such a wonderful & interactive blog on Shanghai. Great job man!
Like Bryan, I'm a S'porean. I was living in Shanghai for about 1.5 years before moving to Guangdong province mid last year. To me, Shanghai is an exciting cosmo city, and it's probably the "closest" place to home for a 1st timer outa Singapore. During the whole time, I didn't speak any Shanghainese. Tried to pick it up once, but could bearly do "1-10". I figured it was due to the teaching in int'l phonetic, instead of "hanyu pinyin"... Anyway, there was no problem getting by without speaking the language. I think the native language (or known to me as dialect) is something very "personal" to the Shanghainese. I'll like to quote a Shanghainese friend as an example. She has returned to China after living for more than 10 years in the US, and could speak excellent English & Mandarin. However, when it comes to meeting another Shanghainese, even in a group, they'll just take off in their own dialect. It seemed a little awkward at first, but I realise the language makes them feel "closer", and identify each other as fellowmen. Eventually, they'll all come back to the group and speak the common language, be it English or Mandarin. It's sorta like speaking "Singlish"... Mandarin, on the other hand, is a must-know for smoother adaptation. Knowing how to read and write Chinese would be a plus. While more Chinese (people) could speak English today, it's still a foreign language to most of them. You will get more information and communicate better if you know mandarin/chinese well. Lastly, language is only one of the many elements needed in order to adapt in a foreign land. Culture and habits are very important too. Always look at things from different perspectives and go with an open mind. Shanghai is a great city, love it! p/s: I'm going there for the weekend, can't wait to see it again. |
Learn Shanghainese