As a foreigner, if I decide to go to Shanghai to study Chinese (see my other thread http://www.skritter.com/forum/topic?id=103397212&comments=5) and want to learn proper Mandarin similar to that which is spoken in Beijing to what extent would I be able to do this given that the local dialect is Shanghainese? On a daily basis, when would I hear Mandarin being spoken and when would I hear Shanhainese being spoken?

The reason I am asking is that my Chinese teacher encourages me study in his home city Dalian and tells me that I would be much better off in terms of learning Chinese and making myself understood everywhere in China compared to if I study in Shanghai.

Shanghai is full of people, who are coming from other provinces, so what you most hear is Mandarin and not Shanghainese. In my previous company, we never had a meeting held in Shanghainese, as there was always somebody in the meeting (if not the majority), who was not from Shanghai. When going to see a customer, it was improper, to speak Shanghainese unless you are very close to the customer, proper Mandarin was a must to show respect. When I came to Shanghai 10 years ago, there were about 15-16 Mill people living here, now it's said to be around 24 Mill, so what language are they speaking - definitely not Shanghainese. You hear Shanghainese spoken in local families or in local markets, but will you be there every day? When I go to Beijing (my wife works there, so I go quite often), I really have problems understanding people, because they speak their Beijing dialect or at least a Mandarin with quite a Beijing accent. You might meet more people in Shanghai, who speak English, more foreigners, more nightlife,...so there might be more distraction. But forget about this Shanghainese-Mandarin argument, this might come from people, who don't know Shanghai. Even to talk to the taxi driver or a Ayi in Shanghainese might not work, as a lot of these people are from other provinces. So make up your mind from other criteria.

Roland's advice is good. You're not going to be short of mandarin in Shanghai. It's just not an issue.

What might be an issue is that good language teaching is by far the exception in China. Don't rely on a big name and assume you'll get a good course because of it.

Of course, there are other reasons to choose places and universities other than the teaching. But be warned :p.

I was in Shanghai last summer and the Mandarin everywhere in Shanghai is very very nice. Twenty years ago everyone had their own dialect in Shanghai, or so it seemed.

I agree with Roland and Byzanti, pretty much everyone here can speak Putong Hua to some level (I have been living in Shanghai for the past 3+ years).

In fact, I would go further and say that Shanghai is a little better for your Chinese - my reasoning being in class you will learn very standard Chinese, and as most resources are from Beijing they all include the 儿 sound. However, in the 'south' of China (any where from Shanghai down!!) people don't use the 儿 so much, if at all. Studying in Shanghai will give you exposure to northern, southern, western, eastern accents (not dialects as most Chinese people will speak putong hua with you but accents can vary).

The only problem with studying in Shanghai is the distractions... Many people find that they naturally socialise with their class mates and do not spend too much time with Chinese people! The most important thing is to spend as much time speaking Chinese as possible, it may sound obvious but you would be surprised how few foreign students actually socialise with Chinese people and use their Chinese above and beyond day to day taxi rides, shopping etc.

At the end of the day, it comes down to you. How much you use your Chinese and how hard you study.

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate you helping someone like me who has never visited China. You have all been or are currently living in Shanghai and seem to agree that there is no problem of learning Mandarin due to Shanhainese being spoken which is reassuring. Ocastlig however mentions distractions which my Chinese teacher also was concerned about.

I agree with you Ocastling that it comes down to oneself in the end. Assuming however that the people in my chinese class are all westerners then I need to find some other forum to socialise altogether and preferably with people who do not speak english. Nonetheless, at a university like Fudan I suspect most students will know at least a little English. In this case I would like to hear peoples recommendations about what I can do to immerse myself despite this.

@Yagebu

In response to your original question, check out this article on dialect continuum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect_continuum

Studying Chinese from different regions will give you a deeper understanding of the language.

I studied abroad in Thailand and found that learning Thai eased my transition to Chinese.

In response to your second question: get away from westerners! Yesterday, using myself as an example, I spent 14 hours studying Japanese. How? I spent the entire day with a few coworkers as we planned a BBQ. My Japanese improves by leaps and bounds whenever I do these kinds of activities.

Sounds like it's party time for Yagebu :) You're gonna have a ball.
It's all about the environment, and Shanghai is a great place to do it, Dalian is probably great too. Study ethic in China is much stronger than in the west so distractions aren't an issue unless you try and make it one.