I get a feeling that this thread is A ONE BIG ADVERTISEMENT
Alot of ppl in shanghai speaks shanghai dialect.!Yeh Beijin is good. I would also recommend Shanghai.
Most a major cities speak mandarin. The stranger dialects are found in rural country sides and more remote and less deveoped places.
Having said that, most cities have their own accent. The Beijin accent is very strong and easily identifiable
Truth be told, learning Chinese is useless. Unless you are Chinese or you know people in China who are affluent or at least influential there is no use. My dad for example (who is Shanghainese) got scammed by Shanghai people who he knew after investing a few million in a supermarket chain... The only way to guarantee success is to know people in the Party and then you need not do anything. My dad's cousin for example does nothing and has a coal and steel empire for nothing but being in the Party and knowing others there. Sad China's corruption is just shit, of course there are some exceptions, but the majority of people I know who are very successful accord more to contacts in the Party or people who can help them. Also, a lot of people can tell if your local or not in China so... More scamming to them. Gay Chinese scammers.
If you want to learn Chinese though, just go to somewhere more relaxed i.e. Malaysia, HK or Taiwan. Or you can always go to Tsinghua... or Omegle
That's why you avoid being scammed in the first place, to make big bucks. China's market is huge.Truth be told, learning Chinese is useless. Unless you are Chinese or you know people in China who are affluent or at least influential there is no use. My dad for example (who is Shanghainese) got scammed by Shanghai people who he knew after investing a few million in a supermarket chain... The only way to guarantee success is to know people in the Party and then you need not do anything. My dad's cousin for example does nothing and has a coal and steel empire for nothing but being in the Party and knowing others there. Sad China's corruption is just shit, of course there are some exceptions, but the majority of people I know who are very successful accord more to contacts in the Party or people who can help them. Also, a lot of people can tell if your local or not in China so... More scamming to them. Gay Chinese scammers.
There was a bandwagon for Japanese back in the 80s too loli'm not an expert on this, but my sister is, and in the business world, being able to speak another language is always a bonus. there's a huge fuss about china especially now, so why not jump on the bandwagon? even if you don't actually use it, i can tell you that it can be a great hook on your CV.
in any case, not only is bilinguality a good skill, overseas studies are always a great opportunity for more than just language improvement. good luck!