Why are you learning Cantonese?

[Pazu]

Sorry if you've been asked by the same question many times before, but just wonder, why are you guys learning Cantonese? I think it's more useful to learn Mandarin indeed. (I'm a native Cantonese speaker and very much appreciated if you like to learn Cantonese indeed.) And I've seen some Vietnamese here, is it very easy for Vietnamese to learn Cantonese? How about Cantonese learning Vietnamese? I want to learn it and may be I will spend half a year in My Tho.

[%sig%]

[Andora French]

I am desirous of learning Cantonese because my next door neighbour married a Cantonese lady and she has no one to speak to when he is at work, so I would like to be able to communicate with her and make her feel at home.

Thank you in advance

Andora French

[Alaxieniye]

I learn Mandarin & nippongo, wanna learn some cantonese, for me it is simple, because wo xue putonghua xue de 5 nian. ye xiang yue dianr yuenan yu. hai hui dianr malaixiya yu.
wo xue yuyan shi yinwei wo hen xihuan liaotianr ba:)))!!!

[Chongtak]

To Alaxieniye nippongo is correct, but not used because sounds really strange, you should better say nihongo, nihonjin, nihongaku, etc... The word Nippon is alone, to name the country for example.

[tinuviel]

In answer to your question pazu:
I am an English girl with a Cantonese fiance. I learnt Mandarin at university, before I met him. But, things change and I ended up here in Hong Kong with him and it's necessary for me to speak the local language, in order to get the most out of living here. If I didn't speak (and write) Cantonese, I wouldn't be able to communicate with half his (huge) family. But to be honest, I have a great interest in Chinese language aside from that, and that helps motivation...

And I find knowing Mandarin doesn't help much in HK!

[%sig%]

[Yee]

My situation is similar to you! I am from Hong Kong and my boyfriend is English. I live in England now. He didn't speak any Cantonese before he knew me. Now he is learning Cantonese because of me. You are right. Knowing Mandarin is of little use in Hong Kong. It will make life much easier if you can speak Cantonese. But learning the language is real fun and it's not as difficult as one thinks. My boyfriend picks up the language quite fast!

[%sig%]

[mengz]

cantonese is still very much prevalent in canada because about 1 million hong kongers migrated there. however, also try learning mandarin because it will be a major language just as english has been the language of business since the global economic hegemony of the Unites States and the UK with its pro English
commonwealth countries.

[thribbi]

Dear Pazu,

ngo hok gwongdungwa yenwai hou hou teng ah!

For me, not only is Cantonese more musical and pleasant to listen to than most other Chinese dialects, it is also full of witty vocabulary and funny phrases. My favorite is ngam ngam caam caam, to describe someone who's always complaining (? I hope I've understood it correctly). Also, learning Cantonese is a great help when studying Classical Chinese as many words that are pronounced identically in Mandarin are pronounced differently in Cantonese, making memorising them easier.

[Chongtak]

To Panzu

Ok from now it's really stupid to learn chinese or japanese because we can all speak english. We don't need different cultures and languages. Or we just can stop talking to each other.
languages and cultures are treasure of mankind, we don't learn only because we prepare a trip or business. We learn for our pleasure a language we like.

[sara]

I wanna learn because thats what Bruce lee speaks and also simply juss cause it seems very very cool.

[EveSixtyfour]

I live in Vancouver Canada, and I'm constantly reminded by my asian friends how bad my cantonese sounds when I'm talking to my relatives. It's totally embarassing since my parents think I should be fluent in the language even though I was born here. I think learning Cantonese and Mandarin are good building blocks for someone who wants to go into business here in Vancouver. Cantonese, however is much easier to learn than Mandarin in my opinion.

[Guest]

Sorry if you've been asked by the same question many times before, but just wonder, why are you guys learning Cantonese? I think it's more useful to learn Mandarin indeed. (I'm a native Cantonese speaker and very much appreciated if you like to learn Cantonese indeed.) And I've seen some Vietnamese here, is it very easy for Vietnamese to learn Cantonese? How about Cantonese learning Vietnamese? I want to learn it and may be I will spend half a year in My Tho.

[%sig%]

Cantonese learn Vietnamese only 3 months. They could speak like the native

[Guest]

hello im learning cantonese because my husband is from hong kong and I want to communicate with his family. ive been learning for 4 years and we now have two babys, which we want to raise in both langages and cultures

[panther0890]

I want to learn cantonese because my friends only know how to speak cantonese and i speak taishanese. also when i was vacationing in Hong Kong, i wasn't able to communicate with anyone except in english. i'm hoping to go back though after my cantonese improve.

[SandraYee]

Hi. First post, I share your sentiments. I speak taishanese (hoi san wa) and I really want to learn cantonese and mandarin so I can speak to the general populace. Although most of my friends speak taishanese as well, so their no dialect barrier. But, I've been taking 3 years of mandarin lessons now, I'm somewhat fluent, and I can speak basic cantonese even without lessons. I think it's just altogether extremely beneficial for anyone to learn cantonese, although my boss who just came back from Hong Kong told me that people that speak mandarin or english could still communicate with people there.