Just a question. Is it true that Chinese is actually a body of several languages? That provinces in China speak different kinds of Chinese and that members of certain provinces cannot understand the spoken Chinese of others? The reason I ask this is I once knew someone from China who told me he couldn't understand some Chinese speakers. However, he grew up in America, was fluent speaking with his immediate relatives, and had only been to China once in his life. That's where he encountered problems when traveling around the country. His problem may have been isolated.

Anyway, if anyone knows more about this, please post here.

Best regards,
WW