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Thursday, January 18, 2007
Learning Cantonese via Learning Cantonese
When we first came here one of the first things I did was find and sign up for Cantonese lessons. (Quick note - Cantonese is a Chinese dialect, spoken in Hong Kong and Guangdong, which is also known as Canton.) I was glad I did - after completing the 2 stages of the beginner's courses I've found that incredibly I know more Cantonese than most other Westerners that live here. Which is to say most Westerners don't bother to learn any at all.
I was talking to an Australian woman a few weeks ago who has been here for 12 years and doesn't know a single word of Cantonese. "But", she said, "you don't really need to". In a way she's right - you can get everything done here in English, lots of Cantonese people speak English in Hong Kong, and there are English translations of menus and signs etc everywhere.
Except that I can't help feeling that if you don't know any Cantonese, then really there's about 98% of Hong Kong that you miss out on.
And as proof I offer you Learning Cantonese, which is a wonderful blog written by an American journalist who speaks and reads(!) Cantonese very well. Reading the entries I immediately get more of a sense of what non-Cantonese speakers are missing out on.
Aside #1: A lot of Westerners complain that because of the use of tones Cantonese is a hard language to learn. Which may be true, but it doesn't seem to stop all the Indonesian and Filipino maids from learning it, and Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog are nothing like Cantonese.
Aside #2: For various tedious reasons I'm not learning Cantonese at the moment, but I have resolved to find an Intermediate class and start again.
Aside #3: Make sure you read this great little article (found via the blog I mentioned above) about how people in Hong Kong have adapted Western food to suit their tastes.
I was talking to an Australian woman a few weeks ago who has been here for 12 years and doesn't know a single word of Cantonese. "But", she said, "you don't really need to". In a way she's right - you can get everything done here in English, lots of Cantonese people speak English in Hong Kong, and there are English translations of menus and signs etc everywhere.
Except that I can't help feeling that if you don't know any Cantonese, then really there's about 98% of Hong Kong that you miss out on.
And as proof I offer you Learning Cantonese, which is a wonderful blog written by an American journalist who speaks and reads(!) Cantonese very well. Reading the entries I immediately get more of a sense of what non-Cantonese speakers are missing out on.
Aside #1: A lot of Westerners complain that because of the use of tones Cantonese is a hard language to learn. Which may be true, but it doesn't seem to stop all the Indonesian and Filipino maids from learning it, and Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog are nothing like Cantonese.
Aside #2: For various tedious reasons I'm not learning Cantonese at the moment, but I have resolved to find an Intermediate class and start again.
Aside #3: Make sure you read this great little article (found via the blog I mentioned above) about how people in Hong Kong have adapted Western food to suit their tastes.
Comments:
I am going to Hong Kong in August for the first time, and I was taking Cantonese classes (the new Cantonese sessions are starting in March) and Hong Kong people wonder why I'm learning, as if I'm wasting my time because they claim everyone speaks English there. Well, I don't see them as being a good judge of how well English is spoken, because they always are speaking Cantonese to each other, so how would they really know? Another thing you mentioned that's interesting is that immigrants wouldn't speak English, because they only learned Cantonese when they migrated, not to mention the Hong Kong locals who didn't pay attention in English class. I almost get the feeling that Cantonese is only for Hong Kong/Guandong people and that they don't want outsiders to be part of their club, even though my grandfather is from Guandong.
I've never got that feeling here - whenever I use any Cantonese people are generally either a little surprised but happy about it, or take it in their stride.
As for the immigrants thing - I didn't really say that. The maids from Indonesia and the Philippines are temporary visitors - they learn Cantonese either because they are working for a Cantonese family, or they just learnt it as they do their daily tasks such as shopping in the markets. They often also know English (especially the maids from the Philippines).
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As for the immigrants thing - I didn't really say that. The maids from Indonesia and the Philippines are temporary visitors - they learn Cantonese either because they are working for a Cantonese family, or they just learnt it as they do their daily tasks such as shopping in the markets. They often also know English (especially the maids from the Philippines).
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