Cantonese learning resources
July 2, 2008 – 11:51 amAs I am in Hongkong, I also have to learn this language. To get started I searched for some resources on this language, which has been described as very difficult, and easy as well. Depends where You come from, I believe. Let’s go over some resources:
RTHK - naked Lunch: Cantonese learning podcast
RTHK, that’s for Radio Television Hong Kong, has a regular podcast to learn some Cantonese, unfortunately without a transscribt. The teacher is a Norwegian, but her Cantonese is pretty much perfect, as she stayed in Hongkong for a long time. Her lessons are entertaining, funny and easy to follow. Lot’s of repetition make it easier to stick things into Your brain.
Website: RTHK Learn Chinese podcast
Download site: http://podcast.rthk.org.hk/podcast/nakedlunch.xml
Learn Cantonese!
Another useful site with Cantonese words divided in several categories. Choose a topic and check the according category.
Website: http://www.cantonese.ca/
A Cantonese course
Some guys made a great effort to put together a great Cantonese learning resource. A page full of words, tests, quizzes and more. This page is pretty complete, as a forum as well as a dictionary is already included. Definitely worth a look if You are serious about learning Cantonese.
Website: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/
Chinesepod Cantonese Forum
At the well known site Chinesepod, they also have a Cantonese Forum. Discussion is slow there due to the small amount of learners, but You might find some value in it.
Forum: Cantonese Forum at Chinesepod
Book: “Elementary Cantonese” (Vol 1: Lessons 1-10) by Sidney Lau
A book that has been recommended once in a while by Cantonese learners. I haven’t had a chance to grab one so far, but I want to do that soon. The book is fairly old and the texts should be a little out of date, the learning method presented is also not up to date, as I heard. If You need vocab and dialogs as.mp3, check the following place:
http://203.28.48.11/~cantones/
Book: “Colloquial Cantonese” by Keith S. T. Tong and Gregory James
A more modern book to learn. Some pages can be found online for free.
FSI - Learn Chinese
The US government, the FSI to be exact (Foreign Service Institute), has created a nice Cantonese course… on paper. However the books is made public domain by now. You can download the pdf e-book, however the quality is pretty poor as it is just plain scans of the original paper book.
Website: http://fsi-language-courses.com/Cantonese.aspx
Some efforts have been made to recreate the whole work in a more readable way, that means retype the scans into real text:
http://fsi-language-courses.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=303
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cantonese/Lesson_2/Conversation
Cantonese quick reference
Need a quick reference on the most important things? look no further, all the basics are covered. Greetings, Numbers, Introduction, Slang, Transportation and Dim Sum.
Website: http://cantonese.ust.hk/qr/
Cantonese by Ms Cheung
Ms. Chenung wants people to learn some Cantonese, so she created a private website to learn it. The material is pretty practical, although there is not as much as in a full course.
Website: http://www.geocities.com/cantonesebymscheung/
Cantonese learning website with ebook download and sound files
Yet someone else is trying to teach You Cantonese. This one is special. You can download the material for free. If You like it, You are asked to pay a little money. A fair approach I think.
Website: http://www.clc.scicube.info/book/book.html
Stories is Cantonese: Cantostories
Your Cantonese level is already advanced? Listen to some stories in Cantonese, while also having a transscript and a translation at hand.
Website: http://cantostories.podbean.com/
Book: “Teach Yourself Cantonese” by Hugh Baker and Ho Pui-Kei
Beware there are at least two versions of this book, the older ones got some very bad reviews. Make sure to get a new one of this, which comes with a CD. With the new book You have quite a useful foundation to Your Cantonese learning.
Conclusion:
This list of Cantonese learning is by no means complete, but it should be enough material to get You started. Apart from that, I can recommend You to come to Hongkong and find a girlfriend here who speaks Cantonese. Your Cantonese will be on a functional level pretty quick. Now You got the material, it’s time for some learning methods. For the moment I direct You to my Putonghua Learning methods, but don’t worry: Most of the advice can be used on Cantonese, too.
If You know another valuable resource, leave a comment. I will review it and if it is good, I will add it in the above list.
