ABOUT SHENZHEN CONTINUED

WHAT WILL WE SPEAK?

Although Standard Mandarin is the standard and official language in mainland China and Taiwan and is spoken by nearly everyone in addition to their native local dialects (which will include Cantonese in Guangdong), Cantonese is one of the main languages in many overseas Chinese communities including Hong Kong, South-east Asia, North America, and Europe. This is because many of the emmigrants and/or their ancestors originated from Guangdong, before the widespread use of Mandarin, or from Hong Kong, where Mandarin is not used. - from Wikipedia

Basically, Chinese, like many other languages, has several different dialects associated with it. Below is a map (also from Wikipedia) that outlines the areas of China that use these different dialects.

As you can see, the official language of Mandarin, or some close form of it, is spoken in the vast majority of the country. But for the part of China we will be living in (that red area near HK), Cantonese is more commonly spoken. All students learn Mandarin in school and it is spoken as a second language throughout the country, so that is what we will be learning. And I suppose we will be "picking up" some Cantonese on the streets in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.