<p>(This may not be a proper answer.)</p>

<p>I don't know if there is any study about that. </p>

<p>The relative difficulty is based on learners.</p>

<p>For nonnative speakers, they may find learning Cantonese is as difficult as learning Chinese. For Mandarin speakers who were born in the north of China, they may consider Cantonese as difficult as a foreign language. But for people who were born in Fujian Province, they may learn Cantonese easier than others.</p>

<p>There are a wide variety of dialects in China. Usually, people from the same region may understand each other's dialect well. But this is not true in Guangdong Province.</p>

<p>For most Mandarin speakers, they may find Northeast Dialect, Henan Dialect, Tianjin Dialect and Sichuan Dialect most easy to understand.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-19T17:24:26.533Z
I would agree with this. I am not a native speaker, however my wife is. She has learned Mandarin, Shaanxi-hua, and a couple other dialects. Then she went to Uni in Hong Kong and found learning English (and even French) was easier than learning Cantonese.
J Crosby
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-03T12:59:39.500Z
2019-04-03T12:59:39.500Z
U2647
<p>I wonder if there is any research conducted in China, on the relative difficulty of Chinese speakers learning different dialects. I'm looking for something like <a href="https://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the research by the Foreign Service Institute</a> (this is the relative difficulty of learning a foreign language for English-speakers). </p>

<p>I'm especially interested in how hard it is for Mandarin speakers to acquire Cantonese. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-20T05:58:41.677Z
Have you seen this answer here: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/28876/4136? There's a graph of intelligibility tests between different topolects, I'm not sure if it answers your question or not though.
Mou某
<mandarin><cantonese><topolect>
Is there any study on the relative difficulty of native Chinese speakers with different dialects learning another dialect?
# Is there any study on the relative difficulty of native Chinese speakers with different dialects learning another dialect?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-04-03)

I wonder if there is any research conducted in China, on the relative difficulty of Chinese speakers learning different dialects. I'm looking for something like [the research by the Foreign Service Institute](https://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty) (this is the relative difficulty of learning a foreign language for English-speakers).

I'm especially interested in how hard it is for Mandarin speakers to acquire Cantonese.

**Tags:** mandarin, cantonese, topolect
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Have you seen this answer here: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/28876/4136? There's a graph of intelligibility tests between different topolects, I'm not sure if it answers your question or not though.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-04-03. Score: 2

(This may not be a proper answer.)

I don't know if there is any study about that.

The relative difficulty is based on learners.

For nonnative speakers, they may find learning Cantonese is as difficult as learning Chinese. For Mandarin speakers who were born in the north of China, they may consider Cantonese as difficult as a foreign language. But for people who were born in Fujian Province, they may learn Cantonese easier than others.

There are a wide variety of dialects in China. Usually, people from the same region may understand each other's dialect well. But this is not true in Guangdong Province.

For most Mandarin speakers, they may find Northeast Dialect, Henan Dialect, Tianjin Dialect and Sichuan Dialect most easy to understand.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I would agree with this. I am not a native speaker, however my wife is. She has learned Mandarin, Shaanxi-hua, and a couple other dialects. Then she went to Uni in Hong Kong and found learning English (and even French) was easier than learning Cantonese.  

---

