cantonese study in guangzhou

[pbnjj]

Hi I was planning to go to guangzhou this summer. I'm looking at Jinan University's short course. South China Normal also has a course. And Zhongsan university was reccommended to me but I called them and they said they aren't doing a summer course. Does anybody here have experience with their programs?

I was hoping to learn Cantonese which is why I decided to go to Guangzhou rather than Beijing. But Jinan doesn't run their Cantonese class during the summer. Anybody have tips on how to learn Cantonese?

Thanks!

[self-taught-mba]

Do you already know Mandarin? That makes a difference.

[pbnjj]

yeah i'm an abc who just knows mandarin from speaking it with family and a bit of chinese school from when i was a kid.

[Mugi]

You should be able to pick up a tutor at any one of those schools - When I studied Cantonese at Zhongshan in the mid 90s most of the teachers that taught the regular courses were open to private tutoring, although you could expect to be paying a reasonable rate. I would avoid using a student tutor though - in my experience they're not up to speed on the knowledge of the language nor their ability to teach.

[self-taught-mba]

yeah i'm an abc who just knows mandarin from speaking it with family and a bit of chinese school from when i was a kid

I've met a lot of Chinese who simply went down there and learned it simply by looking at the subtitles. Also there are a lot of similar structures. I am assuming that you're reading is up to par. If it is you may have a huge advantage. (I could never learn that way for instance)

would avoid using a student tutor though - in my experience they're not up to speed on the knowledge of the language nor their ability to teach.

I would have to totally agree with that statement. I haven't learned from any Cantonese student tutors but elsewhere I wrote a little bit about the difficulties of finding a tutor. I think what you said it's totally right. I've discovered that with my own school only about one in 10 who apply to act as a tutor are decent.

One could easily spend the entire time looking for one, so maybe you can start looking for one now through your connections or an online search.

Good luck! Let me know what happens because I've put my Cantonese on hold but I would really like to go down there one day and learn myself.