Zhangjiagang

aranagazoo
 April 21, 2011 at 07:38 PM posted in General Discussion

Dear 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!

Profile picture
aranagazoo
 April 28, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Thanks so much John!  I will take a second look at the Shanghainese lessons to get a better feel for things!

Profile picture
johnb
 April 22, 2011 at 01:41 AM

People 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.