Mandarin Chinese in Thailand? ~ LB-69

Ladyboy Lover Joined: 10 Feb 2008 Posts: 21 Points: 44

This is a question to those of you who are seasoned Thailand visitors, or residents: how prevalent is the use of Mandarin Chinese, in Thailand? I've read that there is a sizable Chinese community in Thailand, and being that my Mandarin is solid, I was wondering if it will come in handy.

Thanks.

It won't really help unless you plan on going up to the KMT villages in the North/Golden Triangle and even there they speak a very Yunnanese version of Mandarin.
The Chinese in Thailand are pretty well integrated and apart from the younger generations will usually speak the local Chinese dialects of the provinces they originally came from. Most are Tae Chew/Chiu Chows from Guangtung. Very few Cantonese speakers in Bangkok, most (also Hokkien and Hakka) are in the deep south.
You might find conversation groups via some of the language schools that offer Mandarin or in one of the Chinese medium newspapers.

Ladyboy Hunter Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 407 Points: 782

James Taylor has it pretty much spot on, however, some of the cabaret showgirls know a bit of Mandarin because of the mainland Chinese tour groups that visit.

These are the bigger shows in Bangkok like Golden Dome, Ratchada Cabaret and Mambo.

The Pattaya shows, like Tiffany and Alcazar would also fall into that category.