Originally Posted by
bobes
Totally agree. With limited mandarin, when comparing Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei, I understand lots more in Taipei than the other two cities. They just speak mandarin 'clearer'. Less slurs, and 'ar's.
I'm still trying to find a learning conversational chinese audio cd that's made from Taiwan. All the ones I can get in the states are from China and use the Beijing mandarin.
and just to be on topic, Taipei reminds me of HK in the 80s. It's just not as modern as HK today.
I know what you are getting at but most of the Universities and Mandrin languages classes teach "Beijing hwa". Most of the universities use one of two textbooks "Practical Audio Visual Chinese" and / or "Far East Mandarin" Both are of Taiwan orgin. If speaking and listening is more important to you then Far East Mandrin is a better bet but if you want a comprehensive understanding of grammar, sentence structure, tones and vocab "Practical Audio" is great.
If you actually go to the Mandrin schools here, they all teach "Beijing hua" but good teachers actually diferentiate the difference between Mandrin in N China, South China and Taiwan. You are right that Beijing hua sounds harsher but all is acceptable in the end.
Personally, I prefer to learn Mandrin in southern Taiwan only because there are significantly less English speakers here. You can get away with speaking English in Taipei I have found but in the south, you can't. You must learn. However there is a Taiwanese language element that is not as prevelant in the north.