Learn Mandarin from Cantonese

[CantoMando]

Hey Guys,

If this is considered spam, let me know.

I've been learning Mandarin for about 10 months now, and I found that as a Western Cantonese speaker, resources were hard to find.

 

The average Cantonese speaker in Canada/ America isn't that great and cannot read. However, we do speak (but not well).

 

I found that when I was learning, resources meant for English speakers were too simple, and I quickly lost interest. Having a Cantonese background, I already understood Mandarin structure, I just needed to know the words to directly translate. Unfortunately, Oral Cantonese is different from Written Chinese, and as such, it was hard to figure out whether word could be used the same way, or even if they were the same word. At the same time, Cantonese resources were inaccessible, as I couldn't read Chinese back then, and I wasn't good at Cantonese.

 

I remember learning a Mandarin word and being confused at how to use it, as the explanations were all in English. However, once I figured out the Cantonese equivalent expression, I knew instantly how to use it and form sentences.

 

Long story short, I decided to teach what I wrote above. It's something that I really wish I had when I was starting off, and it's something I hope that people can benefit from.

 

If this is considered spam, let me know. Otherwise, check out the article below and I hope it helps you out

 

HOW HARD IS IT TO LEARN MANDARIN IF I ALREADY SPEAK CANTONESE?

 

[Mati1]

Interesting.

 

Do you know about Glossika? http://www.glossika.com

There is a purchase option "Triangulation" for custom packs, it lets you select source and target language. I wonder if the resulting Cantonese -> Mandarin package would be what one expects.

No idea if this is relevant to you or other learners you know in terms of pricing and difficulty.

 

I haven't used Glossika myself yet but I might give it a try one day, not necessarily with Chinese.

Since I have the link at hand, here are some Glossika examples for English -> various languages.

https://soundcloud.com/glossika

 

M.

[mike189234]

Hey Guys!

I've been learning Mandarin for the past 8 months now, and I've realized that as a Cantonese speaking Canadian, I could have progressed much faster. All I needed was something that could teach me in Cantonese.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong resources for native speakers are very hard to find and I couldn't read or write Chinese. I remember finding out the Cantonese equivalent of Mandarin words and understanding it super fast. I would instantly know how to use it and where to put it. The only hard part was finding a resource that could teach me this.

Dictionaries don't work well since Spoken Canto and Written Chinese are so different. And so, I've decided to create something that I wish I had when I was first starting out for Westerners who speak basic Cantonese already. As Cantonese speakers, we already know the sentence structure and the meaning, we just need to know the words.

I really hope you guys benefit in some way from this! Let me know what you guys think (Good or bad)! Let me know how I can better help you guys learn!

TL;DR:

Learning Mando

Now making YT vids

Would love some feedback

 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihpx0We3Ieo

[Mati1]

How come that you created a second account to post the same content again that you posted ten days ago, and both accounts only posted this one message linking to your Youtube channel?

 

Spam posts and fake accounts are not welcome on this forum.

 

(For reference, this is the other thread: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/52224-learn-mandarin-from-cantonese/ )

[anonymoose]

In my opinion, there is too much English 废话. You could also slow down the chinese a bit.

[roddy]

Merged. Pick one account and stick to it, thanks. 

[Flickserve]

I learnt Cantonese in HK without learning grammar rules. Basically, through an immersion type scenario and although I can recognise a lot of words, reading instructions in Chinese is rather difficult.

There are resources for Cantonese speakers learning putonghua. I can find them in a HK bookstore. However, they are written in Chinese which is why the OP feels not much material is available for Cantonese speakers

As with the OP, picking up the meanings and expressions in basic putonghua is straightforward if one already knows Cantonese. I find this quite true. Reproducing them from memory in speech patterns is a totally different matter. This I have difficulty with.

For the video, I think more gain can be made by an explanation in basic Cantonese of the Putonghua equivalent. Why complicate it using English?

Oh, the other thing is, one can only apply this to very basic things. If you are not too worried about tones and accent, you can probably get by if you speak to a Southern Chinese person. Northern Chinese speakers may still have a problem understanding.

There is a joke a Northern Chinese speaker told me, it went something like this "我們最高不怕， 我們最低不怕，最怕是廣東人說普通話..."

[Angelina]

However, they are written in Chinese which is why the OP feels not much material is available for Cantonese speakers.

 

 

The problem is here, many Cantonese speakers (outside of Mainland China) are only speakers, it is difficult to learn how to read and write. Most universities in HK use English, Canada: English and French, Mainland China: mostly Mandarin. If (or when for Guangdong) Cantonese speakers were to learn how to read and write in Mandarin, it would be like learning a second language.

 

Written Cantonese is great, but it certainly is not a big part of formal education. Cantonese speakers from Guangdong can read and write Mandarin pretty well. Outside of Mainland China, it is a bit complicated, because study material is limited both for Mandarin and written Cantonese. 

[CantoMando]

Hey guys! Thanks for your feedback. It's actually in English because I feel like most of the audience will be Western Chinese People. I feel like English makes it more relatable, as English is their first language. I'm also assuming that most know basic Canto but not amazing. (sentence structure, and basic vocabulary) there are also a lot of mandarin speakers that messaged me trying to learn Canto as well as people trying to learn both so this kind of bridges the gap! Haha you are right. After a while the gap between the two increases. However, vocabulary is still the same and so is sentence structure for the most part. I feel like this would help the beginner get to an intermediate level really quickly. Imagine trying to learn 去，去過 ，回去，出去，出來 and trying to explain it in English only haha. Hearing it in Canto leads to instant understanding

As for reading Chinese, I think it's much easier to learn it from a mandarin perspective as opposed to cantonese. Afterwards they can just translate.
The presence of good pinyin makes it a lot easier to learn. One can quickly learn some pinyin and begin typing which helps a lot!

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. Biggest advice to you is to form the sentence in Canto and sub word for word from Mando over time, you'll pick up more Mando specific patterns but it's a great starting point just to get speaking!