quincylin wrote:chinese mandarin is easy to learn..i speak mandarin, its got simple syntax, put chinese characters aside, once you get to know pinyin, like espanol, you can read out any word.
You may be able to read it out, but to read it out correctly is another matter, with each character having 4 tones, these tones, are not that easy to master....Also Danish language, a handful of letters of the alphabet are also very difficult to master...even after 25 years of living, there, i still have difficulty with them.
Chinese and any other language is easy to learn when young, but over the age of 25, pronounciation becomes, a main issue for most. Only practice and correction, by listening to oneself, can you hear, the mistakes, some foreigners, speak better Chinese than most Chinese, and it is the same in English language too....Many Singaporeans can speak better English, than Englishmen.
Language is on going, there is always room for improvement of the vocabulary.
But you are right to say Chinese syntax is easy, and people will understand you, even though it is never used that way.
I love the learning of Characters and stroke order, although remembering them is another matter!
Being married to a Taiwanese was also a problem for me, because I had studied pin yin, in Beijing and Taiwan used the American system of wade giles, however Taipei have recently dropped wade giles system for pin yin, which is a step in the right direction for the British
My Chinese pronounciation still sucks, because i never speak Chinese much anymore, the wife has never had the patience to help out, and only speaks American English.
Although I have since been told, it's because i have lost the mid range sounds of my hearing, that i have had difficulty listening to the tones while in the linguistics class, due to military service, so hearing the tones is not easy any more.
Can you imagine how i feel about that, when listening to music!
It would be silly to underestimate people in Singapore, they have very good experience with mainland China! Many of your countrymen have already let the side down 
Although if everything is authentic, you will have nothing to worry about 