I am thinking of learning Mandarin, however I am not sure of the benefits (business and social) as most people seem to be speaking Cantonese in the country, especially in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is big... only area around KL speaks cantonese. in other places, you can't possibily speak cantonese to them... you will get funny look fr them. but if you speak mandarin you can communicate with chinese fr whole malaysia, singapore etc.... to china.

its the trend now many non-chinese people are taking up the chinese language..they even send their kids to chinese schools...so its wise and better if you could learn more languages...helps alot..maybe after this you can start to learn Tamil and Hindi language..lol ! Cheers !

not only in kuala lumpur. u need mandarin too, if u visit chinese urban areas like klang/cheras.
since everyone in the world predicted that china is going to be the market leader, its time for u to extend ur networks in china. they communicate in mandarin.
on top of that, u get to understand chinese kungfu movies !! heeeeee-yahhhhhhh

Mandarin is the language to learn, especially with China coming up in the next 30 years. China is growing and growing fast, for those who wants to penetrate into China, it certainly is an advantage to know the language. Even Russia now has chinese school, with little Russians learning the language, fluently. Cantonese is a dialect, mainly used in HK, Guangzhou & Shenzhen, but even that, most mainland Chinese speaks Mandarin, it's also China's official language.

It might not be the first language in this country, but it might be the second language all around the world in a few years time since we all know that China is going to play an important role in the market in a very short period from now. So, I think it is a wise investment in learning Chinese, especially Mandarin.

its better to learn it becoz u must use it in the future.
learn it now or u'll regret.
im learning arabic now.. oh its god damn hard!

It's just like any other languages.

You learn it so that you can communicate with Chinese people easily. The Republic of China market is growing greatly, so it would be an advantage if you know how to speak their the language ( Standard Mandarin) in for your official business purposes there.

However, there is also an increasing number of Chinese in Malaysia/China who are fluent in English so that no one would feel left out if they want to work and socialize in US, Europe and Malaysia.

Cantonese does make sense if you deal with the Chinese Malaysians. Remember, most of people have dialects too. If I were you, I remain basic but realistic.