China Travel Forum

[Jonathan]

I'm a warm-blooded person who has a good working knowledge of Mandarin, having lived and studied in both Beijing and Shanghai. Is Mandarin the common Chinese dialect spoken in Kunming, and do many language institutes/private tutors exist in Kunming for foreigners wanting to become fluent in Mandarin? Because I already have a good knowledge of Mandarin, I'd prefer a one-on-one tutorial instead of a university class.
If not, what cities would be best for studying Mandarin? What I'd like is to find a relatively warm city where Mandarin is the commonly used dialect, unlike Shanghai or Guangzhou.

[Rick Huang]

Actually in north part of China ,mandarin is more frequently used than south part of China.If you want to learn mandarin,you'd better stay in Beijing.Even the farmer in Beijing ,they speak pretty good mandarin.So you have a pure learn envirment there.
And people in most of big cities in China can speak but they do not speak it in daily life. But if you are tired of the life there, ry to teach English in university and students are eager to speak English with foreigner and at the mean time you can practice your Chinese with them for free.One of my American friend came to China ,never have Chinese class but speak pretty good Chinese. so I do not sugguest to have a class to learn it ,you can in China and you have basic knowledge of Chinese ,just need some practice.No big deal.
I do not think people speak mandarin in daily life in Kunming but it is a very good place for travel