Seannea asked Lisa See:

How much do you know about Chinese dialects? If I learn one dialect such as Mandarin will I be able to understand people of other dialects. I heard various things about dialects online but it's confusing.

Lisa See I grew up in a Cantonese-speaking family, specifically the Sze Yup dialect. I studied Mandarin for four years and I got pretty good, but the minute I stopped studying it went right out of my head. I can understand a fair amount, but I can’t have much of a conversation anymore. But there are more English speakers in China than there are altogether in the United States! It’s not hard to get by in a big city. When I go to the countryside, I always hire someone who speaks that particular dialect. (Remember, there are a lot of dialects in China. In Guangdong province alone there are 1,200 dialects.) All the Mandarin or Cantonese in the world wouldn’t have helped me very much in Jiangyong County in Hunan province (where I did research for "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan"), where even today the dialect changes from village to village. I could understand some of what was said, but not everything. I hope this helps!

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