The language barrier

Nothing happened today except a monstrously large Italian dinner. So, today's interior dilemma: What the hell am I going to do about language? Mandarin or Cantonese?

I'm definitely going to learn Chinese while I'm here, but what to do about the Cool Canto vs Mainstream Mando condundrum? I can't learn both. I'm neither smart nor motivated enough & I've technically only got two years.

Let's analyse.

Pros for Mandarin say it is:

1. Useful in the extreme
2. The medium through which the world will be taken over in the next 50 years
3. Easier to learn than Canto

Cons for Mandarin are:

1. It's useful everywhere except Hong Kong
2. It's nowhere near as cool as Cantonese (anyone seen Young & Dangerous?)
3. Wong Kar Wai speaks Cantonese. So does Jackie Chan. Those guys are awesome. Li Na speaks Mandarin & she lost the Aussie open. Fail.
4. I won't be able to practice it around town (unless I'm in a Macao casino or a Rolex shop)

And now, facts in the form of pictures:

Li Na - Mandarin speaker.

Jackie Chan - All Canto

Might put something up on Facebort to see who's got an opinion on this topic, be interesting to hear what people have got to say. But from that little list up there, I'm thinking the only reasons I want to learn Contonese is so I can order Yum Cha easier, understand what that lady on the corner of the road is yelling angrily at me, & watch Kung Fu movies. But Hong Kong is way cool. I just can't help thinking that yeah, Contonese is the way to go. Call me old fashioned.