learn Cantonese

I’m around a lot of Cantonese people all the freaking time and have picked up all manner of expressions but the whole tonal language thing is just incredibly hard. Proper tone in pronunciation is alien to me – I’m used using it for emphasis. In Cantonese (and other Chinese dialects) tone is used to shift the whole meaning of the word.

On the other hand, the grammar is fantastically easy making this language the opposite of Russian in terms of learning ;)

I’m also still a little torn over Cantonese vs. Mandarin – it does seem that Mandarin would be more useful in interaction beyond Hong Kong.

I want to go to China and Hong Kong and think this is the right language to learn, although I hear people in Hong Kong speak English. Also, one of my favourite films Chungking Express has inspired me to pursue this goal.

i’ll be working in hongkong, so i want to learn cantonese. it will be easy for me to deal with my employer if i know how to speak and listen cantonese

Because being the white girl at the Christmas table is isolating enough, it would be nice to understand the basics of what’s going on around me :D and also to show up my fiance, who should know more ;)

I live in Hong Kong now and I kinda want to learn the language to live like a normal human being :)
Plus it’s a bonus to learn a different language

I understand cantonese but can’t speak it my accent is embarrasing and i turn red whenever i say one word. also i’m sick of relatives asking me “why can’t you speak chinese?”

My mum is from Hong Kong and I’d love to be able to be understood, even if its from a rehursed script. I have Pimslers’ Cds, and hope to have a speech by my wedding!

It’s odd. My vocabulary is equivalent to an infant’s. I guess something must have happened when I was small so I stopped learning.

Although I’ve been speaking English with my family all of my life, my linguistic disadvantage comes out whenever the extended family gets together. I’ve spent many times in Chinese restaurants and family dinners being extremely bored because I have absolutely no idea what people are talking about.

I have a few current motivating factors to learn my family’s native tongue. There is a possibility that my family and I will be traveling to China and Hong Kong again this year. I want to suprise everybody.

Also, my co-worker is taking up Icelandic. There is no reason for her to do this other than it being an odd language. She is not of an Icelandic background, nor is there a large Icelandic community where we live. And people from Iceland speak English to American tourists anyway. I don’t think she even knows what it sounds like or what other languages it is similar to. Still, her enthusiasm to learn another language is catching.

A few years ago, I bought a Teach Yourself Cantonese learning kit off the clearance rack. The price was “One Dol-LAH!” It comes with a workbook and cassettes. Although its aimed toward Americans making quick business trips to Hong Kong, it will do.

its hard but im definately better at it now. not fluent but id need to stay in hk and live there for longer to practise it.

My parents are from the Guangdong province of China where they speak Cantonese. Having been born and raised in the United States, I feel like learning the language is a necessary part of connecting with my heritage (it’s also the second language I’m closest to being fluent in). My mother, being the uber-practical sort, thinks I should skip straight to learning Mandarin, the official language of China. My reasons for learning it go beyond practicality, and once I do learn Cantonese, maybe I can finally explain to my mom, in Cantonese, why it is I had to learn it, and explain all the other choices I’ve made in my life this far. That cultural and linguistic gap between us is definitely something I’ve thought a lot about in the past few years, but I guess knowing that I am loved whether or not I am understood has let me take my time on that project.

Here’s to hoping I don’t dwaddle too long.