View Poll Results: Expats: Have you learnt Cantonese?

Voters
27. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yes!

    7 25.93%
  • Yes, but not enough.

    12 44.44%
  • No, but I want to.

    6 22.22%
  • No, and I have no interest ion doing so.

    2 7.41%
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Can expats actually learn Cantonese?!

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    368
    Quote Originally Posted by justjoe86:
    Just asking a few questions here for anyone whose first language isn't Cantonese! 1 word answers are fine.

    1. Have you ever considered learning Cantonese in HK?
    2. Have you ever had lessons? If so, were they successful?
    3. What would you expect to pay for professional Cantonese tuition 1on1 (or perhaps in a group of 2-3)?
    4. What would your priorities be in a Cantonese course?


    Thanks all. And yes I hold my hands up, this is market research!

    And no, I will not describe looks.
    1. yes.
    2. yes. Not successful. Teacher kept saying cantonese was a hard language to learn so I gave up.
    3. 150 to 250.
    4. Basic and colloquial terms and phrases.
    justjoe86 likes this.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    3,772

    What a strange question, it is equally difficult for a native Cantonese speaker to learn English, yet you don't hear them say how it's difficult or impossible. The "difficulty" of learning another language is always dependent on the difference with language you are grounded in, but nothing to do with the language itself. The primary difficulty of tones in Cantonese is made up by the lack of grammar rules for instance. The lack of tones in say English is made much more difficult for say, Cantonese speakers because of much more extensive grammar rules. Yet you don't hear people say, "English is impossible".

    1. Yes
    2. Yes, yes.
    3.150-250
    4. Conversational skills

    justjoe86 and emmie like this.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    7,471
    Quote Originally Posted by Gatts:
    What a strange question, it is equally difficult for a native Cantonese speaker to learn English, yet you don't hear them say how it's difficult or impossible. The "difficulty" of learning another language is always dependent on the difference with language you are grounded in, but nothing to do with the language itself. The primary difficulty of tones in Cantonese is made up by the lack of grammar rules for instance. The lack of tones in say English is made much more difficult for say, Cantonese speakers because of much more extensive grammar rules. Yet you don't hear people say, "English is impossible".

    1. Yes
    2. Yes, yes.
    3.150-250
    4. Conversational skills
    Thanks for feedback.

    Yes the question was indeed strange, and I agree with your analysis to an extent, in that it is definitely possible. I'd say it may be harder for a non tonal speaker to adapt to a tonal language than vice versa though, if we assume the aim is to communicate. Of course it is hard for A Chinese speaker to perfect English grammar and pronunciation, but easier to be understood.

    Here are my own answers...

    1. Yes
    2. Yes (recently), Yes (so far so good)
    3. That's what I'm wondering
    4. aims: To form a basis of grammatical structures from which it is possible to insert new vocabulary
    method: Should be inclusive of audio based materials from which to self study between lesson.
    Last edited by justjoe86; 31-10-2012 at 12:57 PM.

  4. #14

    I don't think is it equally difficult, I would definitely say Cantonese is more difficult to learn than English! Purely because there is a lack of resources out there in comparison to English and that there is no encouragement to learning it.
    It is a tad soul destroying when someone is trying to practice in a new language and the other person butts in with English (even worse when their own English is crap!) or if they laugh at you or basically tell you to not bother and to instead learn Mandarin etc.

    English is so widely used as a 2nd/3rd language that native English speakers are used to hearing it all funny by all skin colours, on the other hand, Cantonese speakers rarely witness a non-chinese looking person using their language so you will get a more varied reaction.

    And all of that is not even including being able to properly write or read !


  5. #15

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    6,714
    1. Yes
    2. Yes
    3. I paid $2 per hour for a small group class in ISS.
    4. HK basics, greetings, getting home, counting, time, wet market, ordering food and so on.
    justjoe86 likes this.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    7,471

    emx - is that 2HKD?! Nice!


  7. #17

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    6,714
    Quote Originally Posted by justjoe86:
    emx - is that 2HKD?! Nice!
    Yes, I paid HKD$100 for 50 hours of classes, daytime, midweek, so we ended up with 4-6 people in the classes.

    The teacher we had was excellent.
    justjoe86 likes this.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    5,110

    Guang Dong Wah Hou Yi Hok (know what that means? )

    Typical daily cantonese conversation:

    Taxi Driver to Minibus driver: "Diu lai!"
    Minibus Driver to Taxi Driver: "Diu lai lou mou!"
    Taxi Driver to Minibus Driver: "Diu lai lou mou chou hay!"
    Minibus Driver to Taxi driver: "Pok lai gor gai!"

    'nuff said. You can pick up quite alot if you combine classes+everyday listening of conservations on the MTR or bus.

    Last edited by Watercooler; 31-10-2012 at 01:19 PM.

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Discovery Bay
    Posts
    5,018

    William Yau's classes are, I believe, gummint-subsidised. Classes are $100/20 or so classes of two to three hours each. Very popular, though not many in-takes each year. However, because it is is subidised with taxpayer money, if you miss more than a couple of classes ... you die.


  10. #20

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast Marina
    Posts
    17,934
    Quote Originally Posted by Gatts:
    What a strange question, it is equally difficult for a native Cantonese speaker to learn English, yet you don't hear them say how it's difficult or impossible. The "difficulty" of learning another language is always dependent on the difference with language you are grounded in, but nothing to do with the language itself. The primary difficulty of tones in Cantonese is made up by the lack of grammar rules for instance. The lack of tones in say English is made much more difficult for say, Cantonese speakers because of much more extensive grammar rules. Yet you don't hear people say, "English is impossible".
    I disagree. Languages are made up of many parts and some parts are naturally "harder" or easier than others; similarly individuals find certain parts "harder" or "easier" than others.

    For example - German has even more extensive grammar than English, but it's just a matter of applying rules. It's not "hard" per se, it's just annoying. Whereas tones in Mandarin are easier than Cantonese because there are fewer of them .... that's just a fact... so by definition Mandarin must be easier than Cantonese because there are fewer degrees of freedom.

    The problem is that while Chinese speakers have a box in their brain labelled "grammar" and can at least put English grammar in the box even if it's more complex, westerns generally do NOT have a box in the brain for "tone". When I remember a word, for example, in English it get characterised and stored in the brain database according to various characteristics ... I have a field for "spelling" and a field for "pronunciation" but no field for "tone" .... so I cannot associate tones with words. I find no difficulties memorising chinese words, just not their associated tones. It does make a language harder when there is a whole extra dimension to add. English does not have an extra dimension, just a more complex existing dimension.
    justjoe86 likes this.

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