Originally Posted by
Taiwaned
Actually there are differing opinons on this.
Personally I feel that instruction at a school is important but constant pressure to use what you are learning is what helps you to learn faster. I have learned as much outside the school as in.
I was making two points, one re putonghua instruction, second re whether south was better than north for studying.
Re latter, if we adopt your logic, then best place to learn would be outside of any urban setting, whether Taiwan or China. You will always find people who speak english, if you take the easy way out. My only point was in terms of best places to 'learn' - I think you're saying which is best place to 'practice'.
IMHO, learning to speak mandarin is not difficult, it's the reading and writing. Therefore, classroom instruction as well as one's own discipline to practice characters, read local papers, etc. is key.