Job Discussion Forums

[kowlooner]

Doyle, if you're really serious about learning Cantonese � and it appears so from your numerous posts � you would do well to look at Chinese University's Cantonese study program. And no, I haven't taken a course there, but it's been around for ages and has a very good reputation, probably as the best in HK. The same goes for their Mandarin program.

If you're looking for something with a more flexible timetable, then why not see about a private tutor? However, if you do this you need to take a lot of initiative in determining what you want to learn so that your tutor, even if he is not trained as one, can still provide you with what you need. For some ideas on how to structure your own language study, have a look at www.languageimpact.com. The site provides a range of articles by field linguists and it might help point you in the right direction.

And your best choice would be a combination of CU's program and your own tutor! Good luck! Hope this helps.

[Doyle]

Thanks so much Kowlooner for the advice. I'll have a look at Chinese University's program. Maybe the tutor idea will be the best because of my time contraints. Thanks for the website.

[DLP]

I have lived in Hong Kong for almost 28 years. The first two years here, my husband and I did the CU Cantonese program, and I'm very glad we did. It is very intensive, a bit on the expensive side, and well worth all the blood, sweat, tears and money. If your schedule does not allow you to enroll in their intensive course, they will make special classes for three to five students. At least, they did several years ago. I should hope that they still do so.

A private tutor is good, but only if you are going to really work at language outside. You need to find someone who will keep you accountable. It's too easy to be too busy to study in this city. The advantage of the CU classroom is that you have an opportunity to hear several different speakers every day. Of course, if you are going to interact with your fellow teachers and the people you meet in daily life, that is great, but not all of them are going to be able to identify your weaknesses and help you improve. As you have probably noticed with your own students, you get out of language study what you put into it.

Whatever course you decide to follow, I strongly encourage anyone who plans to be here for a couple of years to learn at least Survival Cantonese. This will give you a much better understanding of the kinds of mistakes your students make in English. It also has the benefit of helping you follow conversations with your colleagues.

[11:59]

[kowlooner]

[11:59]

You are tiresome, Kowloony, and I have to ask, do you really have the time and energy to make such snidey, unconstructive, pathetic, lame, ill-informed, and puerile comments after what must be an exhausting day at that pathetic hack tutorial centre you run? After all, you do work all day on Saturday, don't you? And you do have to work right through the summer, don't you? Christ almighty! No wonder you are so bitter and twisted! Imagine having to toil away all day when everyone else is relaxing and enjoying themselves by jetting off around the globe! Yes, I suppose we should all feel sorry for down-and-outs such as you before condemning them. After all, it cannot be easy sitting at the very bottom of the food chain. Nevertheless, whilst we are on the subject of demersal and specious 'learning centres', how is the 'money-for-English-language-related-(pipe)-dreams' business anyway? Are you still successfully ripping off both parents and 'teachers' on a daily basis?

Tell you what, rather than embarrassing yourself any further (if indeed that is in fact possible), why don't you invest the time and obvious effort it takes you to tap out your idiotic posts with your index finger in getting yourself a proper job instead? Of course! I forgot! That would entail possessing the requisite qualifications and experience, and you quite clearly have neither, as is more than obvious to anyone who cares to read any of your posts.

And to the person/people everyone is encouraging to 'learn Cantonese', all I can say is that I wish you the best of luck in your efforts to sound like a vacuum cleaner on crack. Cantonese must be the most headache-inducing language on the face of the planet and anyone who wants to be able to speak even so much as a single word of it must need their head examined, especially since English is also an official language of the SAR of Hong Kong.

[kowlooner]

Ah 11:58, we can always count on you to come back with the full venom and effectiveness of a scorned pimply-faced junior high school girl!

Actually, since you bring up the topic of money, one must wonder about you. You clearly dislike your work, your colleagues, Hong Kong in general, Hong Kong people in particular, and are frustrated because you've been unable to master Cantonese beyond ordering a beer, and even then in incomplete sentences.

So why exactly are you here? Are you here just for the money or because you're simply incompetent and unable to find gainful employment elsewhere?

Ah, you're stuck in Hong Kong, "sitting at the very bottom of the food chain" with nowhere to go, and that's the problem! Misery loves company, ain't that right little one?

Please, we're all anxiously awaiting your reply! Please give us more of your "snidey, unconstructive, pathetic, lame, ill-informed, and puerile comments"! And personally I don't mind if you wish to embarrass yourself further, and though it may be hard, I'm sure you will find a way.

And back to the original question. Apologies to Doyle that this thread has been hijacked and taken off topic. Hopefully, we can get it back on topic. So, best of luck in your language study Doyle (and others). As I said earlier, besides the obvious practical and professional use, it's just plain fun to learn! And let us know how it goes.

[11:59]

Oh dear! What's wrong, Kowloony 'the 'school' owner'? Another bad day at that dodgy back alley tutorial centre of yours? You do work on Sundays, don't you? Pathetic! Now run along and let the grown ups talk. (By the way, for your information, I've completed every certificate in Cantonese there is here in HK and can give simultaneous interpretation of Cantonese-language TV so you might want to reconsider your pathetic attempts at attacks in areas about which you are clearly a layman.)

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

I can guarantee that ad hominem postings will get you in trouble very quickly on this forum.

Some members have just discovered exactly what this means.

A wise person would avoid them in the future.