American trying to Speak Cantonese!

[Flickserve]

@pokarface,

I wouldn't go so far as to say your Cantonese at the one month stage is better than your Mandarin at the two year stage when looking at the whole picture. But I do find it interesting that you can speak some of the Cantonese quite accurately whereas I do not get the same impression with your one month Mandarin.

Then again, the experience of learning Mandarin for two years might have aided Cantonese learning. Perhaps the learning materials you used were better, or you are able to utilise those Cantonese resources better in some way.

In any case, it doesn't really matter because you are improving and faster than I am.

[Shelley]

you can speak some of the Cantonese quite accurately

 

The OP was reading the Cantonese and "freestyling" the Mandarin.

 

OP says:

 

Yes, I wrote that I was reading on the Youtube description.

 

 

I think that is why the Cantonese flows better and sounds more natural if a bit excited.

 

 

[Pokarface]

@Christy. You are welcome. Definitely, once you cannot answer the question, "so...why am I doing this again?" That's when it's Game Over. Likewise your main objective for learning Chinese will also determine how good you get at it. Learning Chinese to impress someone is very easy (since Chinese are easily impressed anyways). Learning Chinese to live in Mainland or Taiwan, will take more effort but it will also force you to become more fluent (unless you become an English teacher in Mainland or Taiwan and don't really care to learn)

 

@Flickserve That's what Non-Cantonese speakers have told me (if they are being sarcastic, they got me! I can't remember a Chinese telling me something sarcastic).

The real change in terms of learning was that I learned Mandarin mainly though books and CDs, and the few Cantonese I learned was through http://www.cantoneseclass101.com/. Prior to this, I didn't enjoy using websites to learn languages.

 

lingq.com is interesting but I have never tried their paid subscription (they have a free one which I've tried). I haven't tried their paid subscription because I don't have enough "free" time and I still have to complete Assimil Volume 2. and learn at least 400 characters from John DeFrancis' book.

I can relate a lot to Steve Kaufmann: founder of lingq, polyglot, former Canadian ambassador, president at a lumber company, and he sounds like one of the most down-to-earth and coolest person to hangout with. He should apply to be the next Dos Equis "Most interesting man in the world" (So much Bromance in this post, lol!)

http://blog.thelinguist.com/about

 

 

You know how every time we talk about Pleco, Mike Love quickly jumps to the thread and answers our questions? It would be funny if Steve has an account here and jumps in the thread just to drop a quick, "Hi!" Lol
 

I tried FluentU.com for a while (Mandarin), and it's good but lately they increased the price. If you can afford it AND have some basic mandarin with you already, GO FOR IT! But if you are cheap like me, just try http://www.chineseclass101.com/  

 

I don't like Glossika. It is very "random", no conversation structure, no explanations at all! 

It feels that by the time you can actually take advantage of the system, you are better off watching cartoons like I do =-)

I never enjoyed using Duolingo and LiveMocha.

 

Flickserve, You say wut?! Are you learning Cantonese?!    

 

@Shelley Yeah, that's true. I'll always tell you if I'm free-styling or reading and the truth about how I learned 5 languages (without counting Cantonese. There's no way I will ever "fake" to speak Cantonese with just these few sentences).

I think the excited part is already part of my personality. I met a girl at the airport who sat next to me and by the end of the flight SHE asked for my number, we went out for dinner after landing, and she mentioned that despite years of flying she had never went out with a stranger she met at the airport. She mentioned that most airport passengers "sound" boring and that I sound full of "life" and that it is very easy to talk to me (in English of course, lol   ).

Disclaimer: this conversation occurred 100% in English. She is not Asian.

Funny fact: She said that my Chinese sounds really good (She doesn't speak Chinese) 

 

Full of life = full of excitement?
Sure! I'll take it!

[Lumbering Ox]

 

The real change in terms of learning was that I learned Mandarin mainly though books and CDs, and the few Cantonese I learned was through http://www.cantoneseclass101.com/. Prior to this, I didn't enjoy using websites to learn languages.

 

 

Would you recommend using something like chinesepod over texts and CDs?

Both at the same time, or one than the other and in what order.

 

It would seem having poked around a bit that the on line stuff tends to be a bit chatty, 15 minute lesson with a 1 minute dialog and lots of banter that does nothing. It would seem better to learn from texts and CDs and then use the pods for just the target language dialog and the written part, basically as graded native material. OTOH I do like having the written and audio at the exact same place in what seems to be an easy to use format.

[Hofmann]

I do like having the written and audio at the exact same place in what seems to be an easy to use format

Consider Slow Chinese. Sometimes they deviate from Standard Mandarin, but they're OK most of the time.

[Pokarface]

@BrianP Good question. I can elaborate more on how I learn. I don't recommend doing both at the same time because I didn't have to for most of my first 2 years learning Mandarin. How good will you get using only books and CDs? Very good! You can see my Youtube channel and see how I went from speaking Mandarin like I have a speech problem until today.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTy-0yaDe9-IyRnQOj9ZHcQ

 

However, along with books and CDs, another thing I did and actually recommend is to "harass" every Chinese speaker to talk to you in Chinese. In Chinatown, at college, at restaurants, on the streets, everywhere! It's not that bad once you have a solid vocabulary. Obviously, having a cool personality helps.

 

The only time I did try using both, books + CDs along with a website was when FluentU.com was in it's infancy. It was way cheaper back then. It feels more like a review of what I have already learned on Books + Cds (at least in the beginner level videos). Now it's more expensive and I can save money by just using my Books + CDs combo and chatting with friends.

If you don't want to harass, you can look for a real Chinese language exchange group in your city or you can pay for classes. In the past, I won and have purchased classes at discount prices from SpeakUpChinese.com

http://www.meetup.com/  << Look for a Chinese language exchange group if you live near a big city.

Be aware that most Chinese speakers will reply to you mostly in English until they are convinced you actually understand them in Chinese...so you might want to try listening to cartoons?

 

哆啦A梦

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31iAM9F7AaI

 

You are not the only one to have noticed the 15 minute class lessons vs. spoken Mandarin discrepancy. This guy talked about it in his review, I know about it, you saw it. We don't need a PhD degree to figure that out, lol. Whereas Assimil throws you straight into conversations, NO ENGLISH!! writes a couple of notes on grammar and word choice, and assumes you'll understand the more you actively engage in it (which is a good assumption)

http://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/review-cantonese-class-101-com/
 

With that being said, http://ChineseClass101.com and http://www.cantoneseclass101.com/ STILL offer you the first month at $1 USD with a beginner downloadable pack that comes with MP3 + PDF notes. The beginner material is yours forever. Cancel the subscription since it will be set to auto-renew. Try it for 30 days at $1 and then decide if you want their basic membership at $4 USD per month or if you want a premium subscription (By the way, always wait for promotions. They always send emails with reduced price for their memberships)

While I was learning Cantonese: The only time I didn't skip the 15 minutes lesson tracks is when I'm having lunch. I always jump straight into the dialogue track and the review one.
I then open the pdf notes, read the new vocab and start writing my own sentences using the pinyin system with 6 numbers they use, characters, and even mix English and Mandarin with Cantonese if I'm trying to say something I don't know how to say!!

My objective is not to get it right, my objective is to learn the new vocab. These are my personal notes and I'm not showing them to anybody for corrections. I expect to one day use the new vocab and if I'm not understood, my friends will ask me what do I mean when I use certain word wrong (note, your real friends are more likely to correct you than strangers at least in this language). Then I tell them what I think I'm saying and they give me the word I should use instead.

 

@Hofman, I actually recommend deviating from Standard Chinese every once in a while to practice your listening. It crushes my soul to hear that some American English teachers are not able to get English teaching jobs abroad because they don't have the stereotypical Southern Californian or Yankee accents, and even if they do, they still have trouble if they happen to be Asian or a minority American!  Do you know how many people in the U.S. actually sound like movie stars when they talk? Not many. The same logic could apply to how many Chinese sound "Standard" when they speak Mandarin?
So if you have been learning Chinese all this time while listening to standard Mandarin and one day move to Southern China, Jokes on you   

Likewise, when was the last time you heard a student learning a foreign language sound exactly like their language professor? IMO, Most of the time accent seems to be influenced by the people you spend the most time with and your native language influence. But I'm not a linguist so I can't prove this.

[Lumbering Ox]

I really don't like sitting through banter or even flirting [spanishpod101 yikes] but even the parts where they explain things, it would be so much quicker and more effective to just read the explanations and listen to the dialogue, or do the texts first then focus on the dialogue and reading of the pods after as after the texts you should be up to speed. I don't think I'd want to do no English.

 

I guess I will do texts first. Well Hello Chinese first. Damn it is hard to get going on that.

 

In person speaking is a problem, small town and all that. I have some possibilities in the longer run and I suppose there is always on line exchange.

[Pokarface]

@BrianP Have you tried HelloTalk and turning on the GPS on WeChat to look people nearby? Most people that use WeChat are Mainland Chinese anyways. You can use these 2 apps to look for language partners.

 

Lol, do you mean SpanishPod101 teaches you how to flirt or that the broadcasters flirt between each other during the lesson audio? Haha!!
This reminds me of a review I read about Pimsleur Thai. Apparently the reviewer was confused at the fact that the first lessons teach you how to ask a girl to come to your hotel, how much an hour, would you like to go for drinks, do you want to dance?

Haha. I have never learned Thai but I thought it was one of the most hilarious reviews I read about a Pimsleur product. I hope he or she was joking about the review, otherwise, the product is directly aimed at singles visiting Thailand for 1 purpose ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

Not the original review I read, but still funny.

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Phase-Unit-16-20-Understand/dp/B003ZWZ6QI/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1461763759&sr=8-11&keywords=pimsleur+thai

[Lumbering Ox]

Well Thailand does have that reputation. I knew a guy who taught there for 5 years, it was the first thing I knew about him and I was pretty much thinking he didn't go there for the culture. Yes I know they have culture but still.

 

It wasn't the that the clip was about flirting but in the English parts the guy and gal just kept going on in this playful flirting like manner in English which was very annoying. Make with the teaching and the language sample already.

 

I suppose if there was a Gaelic or Irishpod101 they would spend half the clip discussing drinking in English ;).

[Pokarface]

+1 for the Gaelic / Irishpod 101 comment   
I wonder if they talk about smoking pot in DutchPod101.com    
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rErrkuLYAvI

[Lumbering Ox]

I hear CanadianEnglishpod101 starts off with 10 minutes of apologies.