Zhangjiagang
aranagazoo
April 21, 2011, 07:38 PM posted in General DiscussionDear Chinesepod community, I have just been accepted to teach English at the Zhangjiagang Foreign Language School. My question is, I was reading about the city and is it true that the Wu dialect is spoken there, and if so, how different is it from Mandarin and how frequently spoken? I was a little crestfallen when reading that because my main goal in coming to China was to practice my Mandarin skills....Any input would be wonderful, thanks so much!
aranagazoo
April 28, 2011, 12:30 PMThanks so much John! I will take a second look at the Shanghainese lessons to get a better feel for things!
johnb
April 22, 2011, 01:41 AMPeople in Zhangjiagang definitely speak a Wu dialect, and it's completely different from Mandarin (to get an idea, you can listen to our Shanghainese lessons -- the Wu they speak in Zhangjiagang will be different, but the distance between it and Mandarin is similar). Of course, most everyone will also speak Mandarin, especially to a foreigner.