Job Discussion Forums

[junkmail]

I'd like to learn Cantonese, or maybe Cantonese and Mandarin side by side (if that's even possible). I'm looking for somewhere fairly cheap where I can indulge four to five months.

Any suggestions.

Also, how's the job scene for native speakers teaching English (no, I don't mean while I'm on a study visa) in Gwangzhou and Fenzhou?

[Zero Hero]

Good luck.

By the way, it took me some 3 years in HK before I could even begin to distinguish between the various tones of Cantonese, let alone reproduce them, and that was with daily input.

[junkmail]

Zero Hero, thanks for lightening fast response. I'd really like to spend some time in HK too, but I'm not really qualified enough for that yet.

hmm maybe I'm setting the bar a little high.
I'm looking to work in China and hoped to get a little headstart in learning the language through a 20 week course, followed by several years of continued learning, by myself.

I'm a total beginner when it comes to Chinese language, so I'm definitely open to the advice of the more experienced. I've been in Korea for two years, and have found that my Korean only really advances when I take breaks from teaching English.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on language and work.

[Tamago86]

Well coming from a language like Korean, Mandarin & Cantonese will feel like heaven in the beginning. All things considered you should absolutely start learning Mandarin first (unless you plan to immediately work in HK or Chinatown in the US/England). Once you have your tones and basic characters down in Mandarin go on to Cantonese. The reason is Cantonese has more tones and not identical ones to Mandarin, if you go Cantonese > Mandarin more than likely you'll try using your Cantonese tones to help you with your Mandarin tones. Cantonese speakers have an infamous accent when they speak Mandarin and is usually the most common topic when mainlanders make fun of HKers.

Learning Mandarin first also guranteess that you can get around in most places in China, Taiwan, etc. The pains of learning both I would say is having to memorize multiple readings and tones for characters and just in general, and just making sure your tones don't suck (don't worry Chinese people will be happy to tell you if they do). Both have around the same grammar as English, and both have alot of words which will sound familiar to you coming from Korean.

All things considered it shouldn't take you that long to become proficient in one or the other, theres reasons you can find lots of foreigners in China that can speak fluent Mandarin (not many speak fluent Cantonese though), but you'll be hard pressed to find the same number of fluent Korean & Japanese speakers for example. Just keep studying and keep at it, get some good friends to help you with it, maybe a Chinese girlfriend too..Oh and if you don't qualify for Hong Kong but you still want to learn Cantonese then head down to Southern China, the difference being that most of the people in South China speak it with a weird accent compared to those in HK.

Good luck!

[Zero Hero]

'JunkMail', don't worry, you don't have to be in HK to be immersed in Cantonese. It is widely spoken around the whole of Guangdong, indeed, around the whole world. Of course, in immigrant cities such as Shenzhen the lingua franca is (a form of) Mandarin.

If I were you, I would begin with Mandarin, as the nine daily tones of Cantonese may appear a tad daunting at first, especially with the complicating factors of tone sandhi. If you don't have any experience of tonal languages Cantonese can appear to be nigh on impossible.

Standard, four tone Mandarin would be a more realistic option, as would the simplified script, at least to start!

[mlomker]

You didn't mention a specific budget or location, so I'll only recommend a general strategy. You should find a class that focuses on conversational Mandarin and pinyin (group classes are always cheaper). Then hire a private tutor for a couple hours per day for pronunciation assistance. I wouldn't consider spending time on reading/writing in the beginning because it is so time consuming and mostly memorization (you can work on this on your own later).

Commercial schools in Taipei are charging $9-12/hr US for private tutoring (less for classes), whereas in Qingdao you'll pay 20 RMB/hr for a good private tutor.

A blog of an Australian in Qingdao. I had inquired about costs:

http://paulie.nomadlife.org/2005/04/258-dtg-i-got-married.aspx#comments

[Nate Palmer]

This is not what you want as help, but the easiest and cheapest is to stop speaking english and just deal with it. Live there. Cite Krashen, others. Also, free.

[ChinaMovieMagic]

Years ago in Zhuhai, I visited an interesting bi-lingual Mandarin-Cantonese class for folks, for Mandarin speakers from around China learning Canonese.

[cujobytes]

Go to 'Gwandong" and get a local girlfriend.

[Roger]

[Zero Hero]