I am going to be interviewed in Cantonese later in the month and want to refresh my skills in the language. We are also starting to test our Beta languages feature.
Does anyone out there have any resources, audio and text, for Cantonese?
Your wife, no?
Some commercial sites:
http://www.green-woodpress.com/
But I’m assuming you are after free content (text and audio)…
Some commercial sites:
Oh, on eurotalk, I am very surprised at so many CDs.
Maybe, my next langue is Cantonese (or Italian) because I have ever been to Hongkong three times.
Steve,
I wrote a post about this on my blog a while ago.
http://acantoneseblog.podbean.com/2011/02/14/the-most-persistent-myth/
Thanks for the links!
Wau!!!
If ,(one day), I will learn Cantonese, there is a lot material.
Thanks for all of this. Now that I am back from California I have to start working at my Cantonese. It is hard to switch to Cantonese with my wife after more than 42 years of speaking English. I am focusing on the radio here in Vancouver. But thanks a lot.
Steve, I know all too well what you’re talking about!
I’ve known my wife for only 6 years and been married for over 2 years. We’ve spoken english together for 6 years and people seem to assume that because one’s partner speaks the language that he/she is learning it should be easier for them to pick up. Perhaps true in some cases ( my wife learning english fluently) but Honestly after 6 years of rarely speaking korean to my wife its just completely uncomfortable and for some reason doesnt make sense to switch.
I suppose it would be possible but I dont want to rely on my wife to teach me korean. I’m actually much more interested in just doing Lingq and meeting other random koreans to practice with.
Anyways good luck with your Cantonese. I’m sure you’ll pick it up in no time!
Steve,
Spend one afternoon in Richmond. Haggle with the merchants inside Aberdeen Centre. I am sure your Cantonese will come back in no time.
What I really need is some texts with the matching audio. I have found lots of audio on the web, BBC, VOA etc. Not texts. We have a problem at LingQ in that for now we can only handle simplified characters.
Edwin, most of my learning time is jogging time and dish washing time and car driving time. I really cannot afford a day in Richmond. Besides the vocabulary there would be limited, and I cannot review what I miss.
BTW I heard that there were demonstrations in Hong Kong and Canton against the central government remove Cantonese from prime time TV.
I wonder how much demand there is for the learning of Cantonese. There is a commentator on local Cantonese radio who speaks really well, is interesting, and has a great voice. I would like to approach him to see if we could transcribe his material and use it. A long shot now doubt, but I wonder what the demand is.
Of course, Cantonese cannot compare with popular languages like Spanish and Mandarin. But I notice there is some increase in its popularity recently, in particular in the Internet community. We have some famous internet polyglots like Moses and Khazimoto learning it. This Carlos guy from Vancouver is also phenomenal:
Steve, here is the link of Hong Kong Radio website, that is useful for you I think.
Thanks Peter, here is the short link. One day we will fix this.
Oh and Edwin, I might just float out to Richmond today and see who I can engage in conversation. I have to pick up Mark and family at the airport in the late afternoon. Thanks for the suggestion.
Peter I have just opened up the Hong Kong radio site. Do you have any idea if there are serious talk shows there, with archives, and with transcripts (unlikely I guess).
I just checked it out. A real treasure trove of podcast material in Cantonese. A pity there are no transcripts. Thank you Peter.
Add me to the list of people learning Cantonese. My interest was recently rekindled after 30 years in the doldrums. (Thanks Steve, Moses, Carlos, et al)
Thanks everyone for the Canto-resource links. I must say it is a LOT easier learning Cantonese in Canada now than it was 30 years ago. Now with the Internet (especially CantoFish) and mp3 players, etc, it makes getting up to speed almost doable.
Still, the traditional character support issues and the numerous romanization systems are frustrating.
Also, a warning, don’t buy the Collins Cantonese phrase book – it uses the written form “Ta muhn dik” instead of “Keuih deih ge” to indicate oral forms. That’s wrong isn’t it?
I wanted to add this resource, but I hesitated. I provided some transcriptions there.
I feel a bit ashamed not updating the site for a while. Some video links are broken. I apologize in advance.
I am more interested in serious content. The Hong Kong Radio stuff is great. I went to Richmond mall at noon. I had a dim sum lunch and chatted a little in Cantonese. Then I searched for a book store with books and CDs on learning Cantonese but struck out. There is only one small book store in Richmond, and it was slim pickings although it did have a copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, http://bit.ly/17Jb78 translated into Chinese, published in Hong Kong. Strange tastes in Richmond.
I then tried a few shops, most of which were not doing too well. I finally found a group of three sales people in a Chinese herbalist shop and we chatted for 20 minutes. I handed out LingQ cards and left. Then I stumbled on to a massage place, $38 for one hour. I had an OK massage, but the masseuse said that my Cantonese was better than hers and we switched to Mandarin. Oh well. Then I picked up Mark.
Tomorrow is my interview. We will see how it goes.
The Chinese are much more tolerant with foreigners speaking their language. It does not really bother them if you mess up the tones or use the wrong vocabulary. Just remember to relax and enjoy the interview.