Zomxilla's Log 2018 (廣東話 － Cantonese)

[LunaMoonsilver]

In Mandarin, I used to get the same meaning across by saying "你怎么说 [english word] 在中文?" My friend who is a native speaker told me that one, but somehow it seams too lengthy. I wonder if "[english word] 中文怎么说" would get the same meaning across?

I feel like I learnt to say "[english word]在中文怎么说？" but I could be entirely wrong; though, with some speakers, mostly friends, I just say "[english word]怎么说？" but both usually involve lots of hand gestures anyway

It's interesting to read about someone learning Cantonese; it's a language I feel like I should know more about but don't, so guess I'll just follow your log and read about you learning it instead

Edited: punctuation

[Zomxilla]

It's interesting to read about someone learning Cantonese; it's a language I feel like I should know more about but don't, so guess I'll just follow your log and read about you learning it instead

I thought knowing Mandarin tones would help me, but I think it only hindered for a while! If you ever take a look at learning it, try not to match any of the tones with Mandarin because it won't work.

Progress of the last two days - learned a few more words. I need to update my vocabulary count sometime!

I also went over lessons 4 and 5 from FSI Cantonese.

Interestingly, it seems in spoken Cantonese the use of a possessive identifier is a bit different from Mandarin, unless I'm remembering it incorrectly. Mandarin would be ”你的表“ (your watch), whereas it appears as though spoken Cantonese is more like "你個表" where it uses the measure word.

But do you know, I think I've just stumbled upon one of those pesky differences between spoken and written Cantonese. I think it actually may be spoken "你嗰表", but written as "你嘅表"? The FSI lessons focus on spoken only, with Yale romanisation, so they have not characters in the text or distinction with writing yet.

Those are my musings - for now I'll focus on the spoken element, but I actually love learning characters, so this confusion is just part of the fun!

[jeff_lindqvist]

In Mandarin at any rate, both 要 (yao) and 想 (xiang) can be translated to "want to". 要 can be more abrupt or demanding than 想 - it represents more of a need to do something, and something you intend to follow through with, eg, 我要休息 (I want to rest). 想 can be expressed as "would like to" or "wish to". You may or may not take action on that want, eg, 我想喝咖啡 (I would like to drink coffee). In English you can use "want to" when you talk about something you intend to do or something you'd just like to do; I guess that's why I believed the meaning didn't translate properly into English.

I just listened to a CantoneseClass101 podcast where this was mentioned (Cantonese Restaurant: Part 4 - At the Table):

想+verb: I want to do something: 我想...
要+noun: I want this one 我要呢個, I want that one 我要嗰個.

[Zomxilla]

Long time no update!

I've been preoccupied sewing - I have to complete a dress in a week! This just means the time I'd normally spend practicing my writing is spent sewing instead.

I've been continuing on with podcasts at work when I'm not busy, and vocabulary on Memrise. I think I'm close to hitting my January goal.

I've been encouraging my boyfriend to use Cantonese on occasion - although I'm still bloody awful at comprehension!

[Zomxilla]

Sigh - it's already May! I got back to work and essentially dropped my regular study. I got a bit disenchanted at the lack of resources online and locally for Cantonese. Ideally I want to go to classes nearby but there aren't any.

It's time I kicked my own butt and worked out a schedule. I'm incredibly busy at work currently, but I'm sure I can find 5 minutes each day to go over my Memrise at least.

Fortunately I've still been regularly exposed to Cantonese through my boyfriend and his mum, so I'm somewhat learning a few phrases like a sponge. It won't be enough to reach my goal of having a working knowledge of Cantonese by the end of the year though!

Wish me luck on my quest to plan achievable goals.

In other news, we bought flights to Japan in November, so I'm going over the Duolingo course to brush up on my phrases.

[Zomxilla]

Sick day today and yesterday, and in my brain-addled state I purchased two Cantonese books: Reading & Writing Chinese (Traditional Character Edition) and Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook. Oh, and the Kindle version of Complete Cantonese. I don't think the Kindle version comes with the audio but I'll just ask my boyfriend how to pronounce things and it should be okay.

In terms of actual progress:

• Cantonese: Watered a few items on Memrise. It's hard going back and trying to remember things, haha
• Japanese: Completed level 1 and 2 Hiragana on Duolingo
• Mandarin: (This isn't my TL, how did it get in here) Tested out of three skills in Duolingo, ran through the first skills again

At the moment I'm going slow and steady which I'm quite happy with.

[Zomxilla]

I found a podcast today! It's stopped running but all the episodes are still available to listen to: Naked Cantonese! It's perfect for beginners like me. I've been listening to it at work.

Cantonese: Mostly maintenance - watering all my memories on Memrise (there are so...many) and having small conversations with my boyfriend. Each day I'll try and use more Cantonese when I know the word and it should help my spoken skills a lot.

Japanese: Finished the Hiragana levels and moved onto Intro. I kept forgetting you can tap on a word in a prompt and it will give you the translation!

I don't have a solid learning plan yet, but I know I have to practice every day if I want to become C1 Cantonese one day.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Thanks for sharing! I think I've seen the name of that podcast before. I'll have a listen.

[smallwhite]

I listened to bits of that podcast. I couldn't understand their pronunciation until I worked out the context and guessed, and both grammar and wording were downright wrong (eg. 果個女仔 *肉酸 *多 過你). I recommend learning tonal languages from natives.

[Zomxilla]

I listened to bits of that podcast. I couldn't understand their pronunciation until I worked out the context and guessed, and both grammar and wording were downright wrong (eg. 果個女仔 *肉酸 *多 過你). I recommend learning tonal languages from natives.

It'll be all right for casual listeners though, I'm sure! My boyfriend is from Hong Kong, native Cantonese. He gets frustrated with my pronunciation and tires easily correcting me or teaching so it's nice to hear casual dialogue (and funny jokes).

Later on down the line I'm going to look at online learning through Skype or HelloTalk but I'm nowhere near that level yet!