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My first time ordering food over the phone in Cantonese

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  1. #31

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    493

    Well done mate...It's nice to see an expat making the effort to learn the local language and better integrate into its living environment. Wish you weren't the exception but the rule...


  2. #32

    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    26

    Beardan, Thank you for the encouragement. It is really slow going especially because of the word order. I am a language teacher (English and French) and have studied other languages, but they are Latin and Greek-based. The first hurdle is basic comprehension. If I miraculously say something correctly and someone responds, the conversation is dead. It's not that I'm afraid of speaking but that someone will say something back and I will not understand a syllable. Which happens all the time. It's getting marginally better.


  3. #33

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    85

    I know exactly what you are saying. Even when I asked for a coffee I would be worried about their reply. Sometimes they'd ask if i wanted a straw for my drink and i'd panic! Haha!! After a couple of years its not as bad. But even now i miss a bit and guess a bit. But the harder i work the closer i get to understanding Cantonese. It takes time and hard work though! Keep going. I'm sure it will be worth it in a few years time!

    bctHK likes this.

  4. #34

    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    26

    Thank you, Beardan. I'm making a little speech tonight in Cantonese for my Tai Chi group's New Year's party. No comprehension necessary in terms of their responses. The last time I did this, two women were so happy, tears came to their eyes and they gave me big hugs. It takes a long time to understand the most rudimentary Cantonese, but the effort does pay off in good will in the meantime.


  5. #35

    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Tai Wai (Daai-Wai), Sha Tin (Saa-Tin), NT
    Posts
    11

    ^_^ Wow... so impressive. So now it could be understood that how desperate we (local guys with poor English) are as we are forced to learn English at school. "O dei dzan hai hou chaam ga".


  6. #36

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,971

    Your English is far better than the cantonese that 99% of the expats here would claim to know.


  7. #37

    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    26

    My Tai Chi friends who speak English are always apologizing for their mistakes, and I tell them that they are communicating with me with no "wait time" in an additional language -- a HUGE accomplishment. If I could speak Cantonese half as well as they speak English, I would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy. My life would be more enjoyable and Hong Kong people would feel more comfortable around me.

    Natfixit likes this.

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