0702272200 Cantonese lesson zero

How to speak Cantonese -

1. Say really short syllables
2. Don't finish any consonants
3. Speak fast with tiny pauses in between words

I have to understand that Cantonese and Mandarin are different languages and not variations on "Chinese". They use the same symbols but they have different sounds.

The decision to go to Hong Kong was easy, what language to learn took some thought and planning. I found myself in that conundrem when there is a choice between two things. The two things might be, for example - a piece of cake verses an ice-cream, or "Do I get the blue one or the red one". Eventually I give up deciding on which one and settle on having both. I decide to have cake and ice-cream. The problem of "which one" then becomes the same problem, but now it is "which one first".

I joined an ex-pat forum found that the question of what language to speak was common among the new members. The answers varied 50-50 for Mandarin and Cantonese. They had strong opinions about which language to learn and in true internet style it only took four posts before the informative question and answer session was reduced to three people swapping insults.

Mandarin:

It is the official language of the Peoples Republic of China

It is taught in the schools

It is needed to get a job in China

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Cantonese:

It is spoken by the merchants, the shop keepers, the taxi drivers and by the people

The people of Hong Kong will laugh at you if you speak Mandarin

It is needed to get a job in Hong Kong

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I have enrolled to learn Cantonese at the Institute of Modern Languages at the University of Queensland - I start in two weeks so I will get the text books this week.