HK Cantonese Class

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  1. #1

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    HK Cantonese Class

    Hi All,

    I want to ask if anyone knows a good class for cantonese. I had checked with the univeristy class, but is way too expensive. Please help if you can.

    Thanks in advance.


  2. #2

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    Schools in Hong Kong almost never provide Cantonese class. Where are you from? What is your native language? The better option is to meet up local friends for language exchange. I am a local Cantonese speaker and speaks fluent English. How old are your kids?

    Quote Originally Posted by Zion:
    Hi All,

    I want to ask if anyone knows a good class for cantonese. I had checked with the univeristy class, but is way too expensive. Please help if you can.

    Thanks in advance.

  3. #3

    For Cantonese, you can try Cecilie Gamst Berg, she is a Norwegian, teaching English and Cantonese in HK. She has a heavy accent thought, but I heard she is a good teacher. Here is the link:

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  4. #4

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    Mar 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zion:
    Hi All,

    I want to ask if anyone knows a good class for cantonese. I had checked with the univeristy class, but is way too expensive. Please help if you can.

    Thanks in advance.
    From my experience, you get what you pay for.

    If you just want to be able to communicate a bit, calling some dim sum name, then any class should be OK

    The university one was mostly aimed for you to better communicate with local, ie as if you would in normal circumstances when you shop in local language in your own country.

    Sound daunting but I found the University class worth the $$$, instead of waiting for the suitable class to come around with a hit/miss trial and error.

    CUHK Chinese Language Center, CLC, is very good albeit $$$

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by boblam07:
    CUHK Chinese Language Center, CLC, is very good albeit $$$
    I agree. I took regular program, 3 terms (1 year) at CLC. Lots of bucks, but now I can have a simple talk and I can widen my language skills, chatting with friends and getting around the city without language problems. Definitelly worth the money!

    Unexperienced "tutor" will not teach you Cantonese, which is a tonal language - someone has to direct you how to use it. If you get the basics wrong... ouch... and many locals don't even realise they speak a tonal language, they will not be able to point out your errors, although will hear you speak wrongly.

  6. #6

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    I agree with what others said about the quality of CUHK. But learning Cantonese does not mean that you have to spend a lot of money.

    It is possible to learn Cantonese pronunciation from recordings like "Pimsleur" or the the CD books published by "Greenwood Press". But you definitely need some native speakers around to practice speaking and listening. These can be just some local friends without any qualifications (because you don't use them as tutors or teachers, but simply to try out what you have learned by yourself). If you have any problems or questions while you study by yourself, you can use one of the internet forums where Cantonese learners support each other (like Cantonese Learning and Discussion Forums )

    Of course this DIY approach is not for everyone, but if money is an issue and you are really motivated to (actively) learn Cantonese then it is a good option. Most of the "Western" people I met or know of who got really fluent in Cantonese never took any classes, but learned by themselves.

    Back to your original question, there should be many other threads recommending various classes. Just use the forum's search function.

    Last edited by geo-seb; 21-12-2008 at 02:59 PM.

  7. #7

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    I took a class once at HKLLC (just google it). Quality is good and they teach you the basics and it did improve my Cantonese. And it's not that expensive! I stopped going cause I had a private tutor who was uterly boring me to bits. But I know some of the girls are quite young and trendy, and better at their job.

    The problem with DIY I find is that I'm always lost for inspiration. There are a million and 1 things to learn, but where do you start ? What vocabulary do you learn first ? And where do you find that vocab ?

    Your friends can help as well ! They may not be professional teachers but at least they know when you say something wrong. (Although I usualy swear I said the right thing in the first place)


  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by achillvdb:
    I took a class once at HKLLC (just google it). Quality is good and they teach you the basics and it did improve my Cantonese. And it's not that expensive!
    I agree. See Mandarin & Cantonese Language Regular Class

    They have daytime and evening classes for both Cantonese and Mandarin ranging from absolute beginner to advanced, and have courses pretty much starting every few weeks. I really enjoyed the 10 session intermediate Canto course I took there recently.
    Last edited by muse07; 22-12-2008 at 06:07 PM.

  9. #9

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    Cantonese is just a dialect. Talking and practising will make the best improvement and help most in learning. I still believe that language exchange with locals is the best, unless you want to learn Chinese writing schools would definitely the places to go. Else I would rather spend the lesson-money on meeting a right local person at a cozy coffee shop or restaurant. I personally had very good language expereince with my friend (co-worker's girlfriend) who had even not yet got her working visa in HK. She's from the UK. She wanted to learn Cantonese so I exchanged with her (I'm a lady) not only on language but also things of our cultures. I am a HK local but speak fluent English.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by miclint:
    Cantonese is just a dialect.
    lol.

    You really need to go to a school for Cantonese unless you have really good linguistic friends as Cantonese speakers do not know the romanised form and good dictionaries are non-existent.