I'm trying to learn Cantonese as a second language. My first language is English, and I've found there is a huge difference between the languages, from the characters, to the sentence structure, different tones, etc. I'm learning Cantonese because my wife is from HK, and i would like to be able to speak with her family members that do not speak english. so far I'm taking lessons with my mother in law, i'm reading a few books and trying to find some cantonese movies with english subtitles. does anyone else have experience with learning this great language? any suggestions on how to learn it?
I am more in the same boat, only difference is my 1st language is mandarin. It may help in reading and writing, but speaking, it's just another world. :crying: I am trying to learn from my gf, and by watching some news and movies. It helps a bit regarding listening, but when I speak, my tones are weired... Guess that I am just a slower learner in languages in general. I think practice and time is the best bet.
you must be doing pretty well if you are fluent in mandarin and english already! does it help to be able to read the characters? I thought the writing was standardized across china. you are lucky if your gf helps you, my wife just laughs at my weird accent whenever I try to talk to her in cantonese
Well, I have no problem with my gf or the younger generation in her family, as they all can speak english and madarin. I am learning it mostly for the old folks. Therefore, if they are not happy about me, at least I will pretend to behave for a few days, instead of being thrown out of the house.
We have a colleague from South American kept asking us to teach him Cantonese words for f**k, a** h**, .... And now he kept saying them loud every day. Sigh.
I admire you marvelous folks who can switch languages as slickly as blinking an eye. My wonderful bride can speak English, French, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Her father and mother came from Shanghai and Canton respectively. They found each others dialects so mutually irritating that they just spoke English to each other and their kids. I grew up where all pronouns could be replaced with "buddy"; where the F-word was noun, verb, adjective, adverb and occasionally pronoun; and where attempts to speak anything but Engilsh was a pummel-able offence. Re: chinese resources: Nothing beats speaking with a native speaker. Next best is audio-visual aids like Rosetta Stone ($$) or some of the free online stuff http://www.knowledgehound.com/topics/chinese.htm http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/index.php?iid=7862 or books like Reading and Writing Chinese by McNaughton and Ying (Tuttle publishing)
I thought this book is pretty good, except that 1. it doesn't have chinese characters (which makes it difficult if you want a native speaker to pronounce words); 2. no CD/DVD/tape. but it's well set-out. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Basic-Canto...=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220402541&sr=1-8 there was a green book which came with tapes, produced by HKU I think which was excellent, really good. But can't remember the name of it and I think you can't get it anymore. best advice: 1. talk as much as you can to an enthusiastic listener. 2. repeat, repeat, repeat. 3. get your wife to make sure you get your tones right. Nothing is more irritating than someone who gets the tones wrong....it's not as hard as you think if you constantly say the same words over and over and over and over again..... this gives a nice list of resources: http://yolearnchinese.com/archives/cantonese-learning-resources
The best way and place to learn Cantonese is to stay in a place in Hong Kong or Guanzhou where only Cantonese is spoken.
All the best in your endeavour! Cantonese is much more difficult to learn compare to Mandrain as the former as a wider range of tone compare to Mandrain (I think it was 9 tones vs 4 tones) After staying in Hong Kong for more than 9 years, I can speak rather fluent Cantonese, but my friends like to make fun of me because of the wrong tone I used which can mean different things. The common mistakes I made was mixing up the tone fbetween "dead" and "wash", and between "chicken" and "aeroplane". By the way, strictly speaking, Cantonese is considered as a "dialect", not a proper "language" per se.
Really? Surely there must be I appreciate why, but it still seems strange Some people in Guangzhou speak mandarin - It is a city which has had a massive immigration influx, with people from all over china (Including non-cantonese speakers) As for me, learning cantonese - forget it....hard enough learning mandarin!
the dangerous one is 'buy' and 'sell', they sound so similar in cantonese a broker can misundertand u over the phone
This is a funny one. My Mainland Chinese friend pronounced boiled water (think/say in Cantonese) to sound like woman's private-part water (think/say in Cantonese) .
I consider Cantonese is my second language but I think I am more fluent in this dialect than my mother tongue. Bottom line, say more, read more, listen more. The best thing is to mix with Cantonese speaking friends in a personal level.
Well, I can speak some Cantonese. It's more or less been my primary language of communication at home. I don't know the more complicated vocabulary, but I can hold a normal conversation and listen well enough to infer the meaning. However, it's been rather difficult for me to learn Mandarin and the corresponding characters. I'm either too lazy or regular school impedes upon my work for my Sunday class. Rigor and tedium really makes one listless. Watching some series in either dialect may help with pronunciation and perhaps you'll pick up a few words.
One quick way is to watch those cool hongkong cantonese movies from jacky chan, jet li, andy lau and others... Definitely not easy. It'll be good or easier if you live in hongkong area or KL.
