CANTONESE CLASSES

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  1. #1

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    CANTONESE CLASSES

    We were just wondering where would be the best place to go for private AND group cantonese classes.

    There seems to be quite a variation in the hourly rate.

    Plus there are someplaces e.g. berlitz that do not even say how much they charge on their website.

    Also, we have heard that CUHK, while good, teaches 'proper' cantonese i.e. bit more old-fashioned and less 'street' cantonese.

    Any thoughts of your own or on the above matters?

    We ask these questions on a beginner/intermediate perspective...

    Thanks

    Signed, utterly confused


  2. #2

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    YMCA in TST offers quite good and lively Cantonese classes (more "street") at very reasonable prices! Highly recommended!


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by pinecone:
    Also, we have heard that CUHK, while good, teaches 'proper' cantonese i.e. bit more old-fashioned and less 'street' cantonese.
    The teachers at CUHK are required to use the "text book" pronunciation of Cantonese in class. However, the terms and expressions they teach are very colloquial and up to date.

    The teacher I had actually spent most of the time teaching slang and trendy expressions. He also let us use the "lazy" pronunciation of Cantonese in class and usually switched to it himself as soon as the lesson was over.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by JT06:
    YMCA in TST offers quite good and lively Cantonese classes (more "street") at very reasonable prices! Highly recommended!
    Did you take it? Was it useful in everyday situations? Reason I'm asking is I'm starting in 2 weeks...

  5. #5

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    i have also heard that the YMCA is good but i think that the 2hr "contact hours" at the YMCA is not enough for us.


  6. #6

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    geoseb:

    you said that CUHK are required to use textbook pronuciation - does that mean they will require it to be repeated over and over again until it' pronunced perfectly?


  7. #7

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    anyone tried "amy leung - no sweat cantonese"?


  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by pinecone:
    geoseb:

    you said that CUHK are required to use textbook pronuciation - does that mean they will require it to be repeated over and over again until it' pronunced perfectly?
    I don't know, because I took an intermediate class where we did not learn pronunciation. All the students just used the pronunciations they picked up somewhere else before.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by pinecone:
    anyone tried "amy leung - no sweat cantonese"?
    I am not sure if Amy Leung improved the book by now, but the first edition I have is in serious need of some editing. Messy and lots of spelling mistakes / wrong tones in the romanized transcripts of the Cantonese dialogs.

    In my opinion the books with CD published by Greenwood Press are better. For example most books by Betty Hung and Cream Lee are very good:

    A Cantonese Book (for total beginners)

    Current Cantonese Colloquialisms (a bit more advanced)

    Betty Hung also wrote a more comprehensive book called "Cantonese For Everyone" published by the Commerical Press in 2008 or 2007. Had a look at it a while ago and it looked very clear and well-structured.

    There are also some free resources on the internet. For example:

    Naked Cantonese
    CantoDict & Forums (down at the moment, but should be up again in no time)
    Last edited by geo-seb; 23-09-2009 at 05:56 PM.

  10. #10

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    we are using parts of 'A Cantonese Book' in our YMCA Intensive Canto for Beginners class