Most importantly, I am a Caucasian person who lives in the USA, first and only language is English. I don't plan on ever living in China, and MAYBE if I visit East Asia in the distant future, it'll probably be Hong Kong.
Here is my situation: I live in a part of the USA with a rapidly growing East Asian population and I'd like to be able to converse with them and perhaps even make some friends or acquaintances (Honestly, most people are Korean near me, but I like the Chinese language much better and it's easier to pronounce for me. ^_^ ). I am not learning Chinese for any career opportunities. It just seems like a fun and useful language.
I'm really torn between Mandarin and Cantonese. What I like about Mandarin is, from what I've seen, it seems pretty EASY (concerning SPEAKING it, not talking about reading or writing), and the grammar seems easier than my native English, LOL. It also is the most popular language in the world, and many of my fellow non-Asian Americans seem to be learning it. There is also a ton of useful learning material online. I'm currently looking at Youtube videos and it seems like there is an abundance of lessons.
What I like about Cantonese is how it sounds. I love the emphatic "AH"s at the end of almost every sentence and it just seems like the language is more flamboyant and expressive. Also, most the Chinatowns (especially San Francisco and Manhatten) are apparently very Cantonese-dominant. If most Chinese-Americans speak Cantonese, the choice would be obvious, but people are saying Cantonese is a dying language and it's not being passed on from generation to generation and pretty soon, most of the Chinese-speaking areas of the US will become predominantly Mandarin. This is just what I've heard.
If you were in my situation, what would you choose?
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