Learning Cantonese

Closed Thread
Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 1 2 3
  1. #21

    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Kowloon, Hong Kong
    Posts
    15

    Cantonese learning

    Quote Originally Posted by XYZ:
    Well seeing this is a Hong Kong forum and Cantonese is the official language of Hong Kong, why would it be so impressive?

    Why wouldn't people learn the language of the people whom they live and work with?


    Would you go to Quebec in Cananda and speak English or French? Of course you would speak French and not English. Hence, Hong Kong is exactly the same!

    Why so impressive? Man! If you're going to spend the rest of your life in a Cantonese speaking place, of course it make sense to invest a lot of time in that, if not it'll be another story! If you plan to spend some time in Okinawa will you learn Japanse or Ryukyu dialect? I think most ppl will learn Japanese while trying to pick up some words in Ryukyu dialect for daily use.

    Quebec is another story, French is a language, not a dialect! You can still use French in many other countries, but not in the case of a dialect.

    Also, don't forget that even if you live in HK, there's still a lot of time you have to use mandarin in doing business. To consider it in a practical aspect, it's more of a value to learn Mandarin than Cantonese for a foreigner. But in an emotional aspect, of course I'm glad to see people learning Cantonese, my mother tongue.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    11
    Quote Originally Posted by Bougongzai:
    Quebec is another story, French is a language, not a dialect! You can still use French in many other countries, but not in the case of a dialect.

    Also, don't forget that even if you live in HK, there's still a lot of time you have to use mandarin in doing business. To consider it in a practical aspect, it's more of a value to learn Mandarin than Cantonese for a foreigner. But in an emotional aspect, of course I'm glad to see people learning Cantonese, my mother tongue.
    You can still use Cantonese outside China/Taiwan in many other countries, MORE THAN MANDARIN. So your theory is wrong - Chinatowns of the world speak Cantonese.

    Actually I found Mandarin to be useless in HK, the language people speak in the office is either cantonese or English. If you attempt to speak Mandarin they just talk back in English. Why would 2 native cantonese people speak to each other in Mandarin? I've yet to see an office of Cantonese people speak in Mandarin and not Cantonese. English is the exception (but still Cantonese dominates).

    Hence its more useful to speak cantonese as its the language people communicate daily, work and on TV. I go to Guangzhou and I never see any native GZ person watch Mandarin shows, its all cantonese.

  3. #23

    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Sheung Wan
    Posts
    5

    Any local hk Chinese guy interested in English-Cantonese language exchange on a regular basis?
    Thanks


  4. #24

    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Kowloon
    Posts
    36

    Im interested but im a gal, any problem? i want to practice more in spoken english as all my customers are foreigners.

    when will be the 1st lang. exchange gathering and where?


  5. #25

    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Tung Chung
    Posts
    31

    I have been trying to learn on my own with tapes / book. Need to practice with others.
    Unfortunately for the next few weeks I am working afternoons and evenings which will probably preclude joining any groups that are meeting.
    Does anybody know of somewhere to find a teacher?
    pm me if anybody is available in the daytime to try and practice or if you can recommend an instructor.

    Thanks.


  6. #26

    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Hong Kong Aberdeen
    Posts
    361

    I am a local chinese,
    male 25

    i can teach you Cantonese free-of-charge....


  7. #27

    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Tung Chung
    Posts
    31

    Great!
    I will pm you to try and figure out scheduling stuff.

    Thanks,

    Richard


  8. #28

    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Eastern Europe, HK, NYC.
    Posts
    14
    Quote Originally Posted by XYZ:
    http://www.hokwokwing.hk/

    White Australian man speaking fluent cantonese!
    And he's from Gympie too - I wonder if that is a town for Gymps (Gimps).

    Anyone know?

    I would recommend Hungarian - it's far more difficult than these easy east asian languages, tones notwithstanding.

    Good luck.

  9. #29

    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Diamond Hill, HK
    Posts
    154

    Thumbs up Wanna learn / practice Cantonese??!!

    Hello all,

    Seems all of you here wanna learn/practice Cantonese, right?
    We are going to have a langugage exchange gathering on upcoming Sat (17 June) afternoon at (NOT in the evening..pls refer to #6 post) Mongkok upstair cafe! Of course, there're some HK locals here speaking fluent cantonese...able to correct your pronunciation!!!

    Wanna join us?
    Kindly take a look of below link!
    If you're interested, just sign up~

    http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/thread11052.html

    P.S. The exact time and location for the gathering will be confirmed later in above link. Please note!