IS learning cantonese really feasible

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  1. #1

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    IS learning cantonese really feasible

    I spent probably 3-4 months on the mainland and learned tourist mandarin (200 words?) to get around and I really think its worth the effort and makes your life SO much easier.

    I thought I could do the same with cantonese but I started looking into and what the hell 7 tones? In mandarin i can only really get 3 of the tones and wing the other one. I feel that 7 tones honestly would be impossible.

    How long does it really take to learn conversational cantonese a a 30something caucasian?

    It took me around 4 years of high school spanish and 15 years of on-and-off spanish TV/talking to mexican employees.. to get to the point where I can speak to a mexican and still forget simple words like 'spleen' or 'hexagon' or whatever.. you know. not even fluent as a 8 year old kid. So I'm no linguist.

    But I think alot of people (specially americans) are like me and let's be realistic. Maybe I should just make mandarin my next hobby.


  2. #2

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    Hi beeph

    Most of the locals in Hong Kong speak basic English. Learning how to speak Cantonese fluently is very difficult but learning the basics like numbers shouldn't be too hard once you've lived here for a while. Basic Cantonese and honing the skill of speaking in simple English for the locals is all you need.


  3. #3

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    Last edited by HKChigger; 07-12-2008 at 11:38 PM.

  4. #4

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    I almost sprayed soup over my monitor watching that

    Mr Joe, Mr Sun... good morning...


  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by beeph:

    How long does it really take to learn conversational cantonese a a 30something caucasian?
    Difficult to answer, because it depends a lot on how motivated you are and how much of your time you are willing/can afford to invest. I failed French in school, but managed to become conversational in Cantonese in less than a year (in my late 20s). I took classes in CUHK and also got a lot of support from two very patient local friends.

    If you don't study Chinese characters, learning Cantonese does not take that much longer than learning other languages. Of course the tones are a nightmare in the beginning, but once you get used to them, it gets much easier, because the grammar is very simple.

  6. #6

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    Great stuff! Old little video but very funny and useful

  7. #7

    Tried this :-) Not that hard if you are not shy and don't mind practicing:

    Language > Chinese > Cantonese 廣東話 - a knol by Ling Kwan

    PM me if you have questions ;-)


  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by beeph:
    I thought I could do the same with cantonese but I started looking into and what the hell 7 tones?
    Many books state 9, although a lot of it is really academic bullshit, 6 are popular. Realistically you can ignore a lot of them as Cantonese has a small vocabulary requiring longer more explicit sentences to be understood. I see many similarities with Victorian Grammar School English teaching, i.e. non-vernacular.

    Either way this has led to the gigantic failure of romanisation of Cantonese and computer input methods - you cannot even write vernacular Cantonese in Windows XP. There's a lot of Wikipedia articles on the subject although tends to get overshadowed by colossal academic dick waving contests between Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Mandarin & Cantonese.

    Foreigners learning Cantonese tend to use Yale as there is a lot of literature from Canada and the US. Local academics use Jyutping, the government has it's own form, and I think some local schools try to use Cantonese Pinyin. 99.9% of local people have absolutely no idea how to romanise Cantonese as they learn basic English instead.

  9. #9

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    Cantonese is a waste of time (my native language is Cantonese).

    There are 70 million Cantonese speakers worldwide, and a billion Mandarin speakers.

    You can get by in HK with English and very basic Cantonese.

    Focus on mastering Mandarin and the door to Greater China is open.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by atam45:
    Cantonese is a waste of time (my native language is Cantonese).

    There are 70 million Cantonese speakers worldwide, and a billion Mandarin speakers.

    You can get by in HK with English and very basic Cantonese.

    Focus on mastering Mandarin and the door to Greater China is open.
    True, but speaking good Cantonese when people don't expect you to speak a word of it gets you a LOT of respect on the streets of HK.