Day 68 of Learning Cantonese

你好 Hello! 

Here I am on day 68 of learning Cantonese! Some personal and family health challenges have had me on quite the journey the last couple of months, but I'm glad to be feeling up to making a new post!

I've been gaining a little more confidence in using the Cantonese tones correctly, and I've been slowly building up my vocabulary. It's taken me a while to move through learning numbers and some basic greetings, mainly because sometimes I forget which tone is attached to a certain word. I've been physically feeling a little better the last couple of weeks though, and I've been able to remember a little better.

I usually find books to be the most helpful when learning, but when you're learning a language mostly while lying in bed or reclined in a chair, learning via computer or mobile apps is the most convenient. Because of this, I've been mostly using CantoneseClass101, and Memrise as my main study tools. A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded an app from CantoneseClass101 that focuses on 2000 basic vocabulary words. It's helped me progress a lot easier and quicker than before.

In the last week, I've progressed from just knowing basic numbers and greetings to knowing days of the week, months, and some other calendar related words. A couple months ago I learned some colors and animals, and I've practiced some other words here and there, but I don't remember all of them. Some are easier to remember. It's been really nice to make some more progress this past week or so. I really love the Cantonese language and culture.

I'm looking forward to where my studies will lead me next and hopefully I can continue to progress now that I'm feeling a little better. Fingers crossed!

See you next post!

My First 15 Days of Cantonese

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog, Cantonese is Cool! I started learning Cantonese on May 15, 2016, so I am just beginning to learn this amazing and historical language. 

I have always loved the Cantonese and Mandarin languages. My love of the Chinese writing system and traditional aspects of the culture have been with me from a very young age. Last September I felt a big desire to learn Cantonese, but felt very overwhelmed and scared about how to even start learning. The tones and my inability to find the right materials easily caused me to put my desire to learn Cantonese on hold for a while.

My husband and I then decided to learn Japanese together, which although it is also a complex language, there are a lot more resources and systems out there to help you learn. It didn't feel so overwhelming. Now that I have been learning Japanese for just over 8 months, the characters and everything in Cantonese doesn't feel so overwhelming. Even the tones don't seem so hard! I've worked very hard the last eight months on knowing the general meanings of Chinese writing characters, or kanji as they're called in Japanese, and now they don't seem so scary. I've also learned a lot as far as how to go about learning a language and have found what works for me. Even though there are fewer resources out there to aid in learning Cantonese, I know how to go about looking for them now.

Two weeks ago when I decided to start seriously studying Cantonese, I looked for resources and learning materials to help me start. I've been using JapanesePod101 to help me with Japanese, so naturally I signed up for CantoneseClass101 from the same company. I honestly have found CantoneseClass101 even more helpful than JapanesePod101. I'm not sure why, but I've enjoyed it so much better. 

Most of the academic world and available language materials concerning Chinese languages are largely focused on Mandarin. It's very hard to find a wide array of Cantonese materials. I've even heard people portray Cantonese as a dying language, even though there are about as many speakers of Cantonese as there are of Italian. No one says the Italian language is dying. Just saying!

For my first two weeks, I've been listening to CantoneseClass101, and using Memrise to kick start my vocabulary and work on the tones. In just two weeks, my eyes (and ears) have been opened to really hear how musical of a language Cantonese is. If you had asked me previously, I probably would have said it just sounded very choppy or nasal. Now I know better!

This week, I took the plunge and invested in some books. I bought Complete Cantonese by Professor Hugh Baker and Pui-Kei Ho, and three grammar books: Basic Cantonese, Intermediate Cantonese, and Cantonese - A Comprehensive Grammar. The last three books are all by the same authors, Virginia Yip and Stephen Matthews. I also bought Compendium of Materia Medica aka 本草纲目because I have been into Traditional Chinese Medicine for most of my life, and the thought of being able to read a Materia Medica book IN CHINESE is super motivating to me. To each their own! I already deciphered some of it the other day and I stayed up super late doing it because I just couldn't go to sleep - it was fun to me!

Now that I have a textbook and some grammar books in addition to CantoneseClass101 and Memrise, I hope I'll see my abilities start to take off!

Thanks for reading! See you at my next update!

If you're interested in following my journey of learning Japanese, I also blog at japanesejoy.blogspot.com.

-Ellie