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Unpopular Cantonese

Everywhere I look for help with Cantonese, I find the same answer : ''Why would you want to learn Cantonese ? Learn Mandarin !" But I don´t want to learn Mandarin ! That´s like telling someone who wants to learn Québécois that he or she should study real French instead. Adding to that the Chinese schools in my city that taught Chinese, stopped teaching Cantonese and now only teach Mandarin. I have no friends who are fluent in this language and I can´t find any decent resource to get started. Is there anyone out there who is willing to teach me the basics ?!

And no, I cannot pay for a course.

Apr 4, 2013 2:10 PM
Comments · 16
1

--------(citation:)I love languages and Chinese was on my must learn list but Mandarin is less apealing to me, because then I can understand all the cruel words my mother-in-law is using to describe me and I can finally give her an answer in her own language, ... (don't feel sorry for my mother-in-law, she's a racist and narrow minded, she hates me and we've never met)----------

 

I love the way you think and do( although it's highly likely that most chinese people would advise you to change--maybe in their mind a human being is not an individual with personality but a plastic doll), Just do it and I hope you make it!and yet I hope you will anyway get along with your POPO in the end(only if necessary;)

 

I don't know if this will help with your Cantonese learning: there is a smartphone application in which the whole Bible is read in cantonese with Chinese characters(Mandarin) showing on the screen.

October 3, 2014
1

Hi Kokoro,

 

First of all, don't be discouraged by others who say you should learn Mandarin. I think most people who say this do it because they think in a "Mandarin is more useful than Cantonese" perspective. But if you are learning it for personal reasons, it doesn't matter what they think and native speakers who discourage you don't matter either.

 

I was also unsuccessful in searching for a Cantonese class and don't really have any Cantonese-speaking friends who would be willing and have the patience to sit down with me.

 

So I turned to Pimsleur Cantonese course and bought the Teach Yourself Cantonese course on Amazon.

 

I remember running into a guy at my university who had taught himself Cantonese and he told me he liked it better than Mandarin. He said he started with Pimsleur but didn't finish the whole course, then jumped into straight into watching Hong Kong movies. His Cantonese was definitely better than mine.

 

There's also quite a few youtubers online who have learned Cantonese. Good luck!

October 1, 2014
1

Hi Kokoro, let me know of you still need help with your Cantonese, I am totally okay that you dont pay, we could hang out like friends and start practising Cantonese on daily basis. iamnokman/at/yahoo/com/hk ;)

May 16, 2013
1

You can find some good resources on the internet to learn Cantonese. There are some websites that are dedicated to learning Cantonese. If you prefer textbooks then do a search for the Greenwood Press publications which are based in HK and specialise in Cantonese language tuition. The books are affordable and useful as they contain audio, transcripts and lots of new words.

 

If you want to learn Cantonese however, the main recipe is passion and dedication. If you do not maintain these then it will be difficult to learn Cantonese or any language. You should start off with self-study and not waste money on courses or tuition. When you reach a sufficient level you can utilise a tutor on this website or simply converse and exchange languages with the many people that speak Cantonese on this website.

April 11, 2013
1

It's a fairly distinctive dialect, though. It's easy to understand anyone in the anglosphere, but I've seen a lot of cantonese and mandarin speakers struggle with the same. That can be said about a lot of dialects in china, though. 

April 9, 2013
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