r/Cantonese

I cannot define 係 and 喺, in terms of pronunciation and meaning..I just have a trial Cantonese lesson, my teacher was teaching nationality and country.

She said "I am Hong Konger." is 我係香港人，but "I came from Hong Kong " is 我喺香港嚟。
(She typed this for me, I actually haven't fully understand how these 2 words work)

As an English speaker, it is really difficult to pronounce these 2 with different tones, and memorise their meanings, while actually 1 word has so many different meanings..

Any tips for me to remember it better and pronouce it better?

I immigrated to Macao when I was around 6 years old and basically lived my entire life here. Because I was in an international school, we mainly spoke English and the teachers didn’t let us speak any other language except when it’s mandarin class. My family speaks mandarin and I basically navigated life using solely mandarin and English. There was no real incentive for me to learn Cantonese so I never did. Now Im off to university, and when people ask me where I’m from, I’d say Macao and some would immediately light up and switch to speaking Cantonese with me but I could barely speak it and can only understand some. It makes me feel ashamed and I really want to actually learn Cantonese now. What are the best ways to learn to speak it? I only know how to say thank you/excuse me and count numbers

I want to seed Cantonese classes in community college

I am an ABC heritage speaker. We are visiting HK next year for the first time and I have been inspired to learn Cantonese again.

ChatGPT recommended Pimsleur. It’s been great but I completed all 30 lessons in 1 month. Pimsleur was rote (which I liked) but not broad enough. For ex: I want to go to a restaurant, restaurant was “zau2 lau4.” I asked my mom and she says noone says this.

ChatGPT then recommended Cantonese101. I am on the free trial. Cantonese101 is VERY different. The lessons are in podcast format with music (I think a bit cheesy) and jokes. I do appreciate the more natural flow and multiple ways of saying things. Undecided if I will keep it.

I saw a recent post and saw someone recommend getting Pleco. I did this yest and it has been fantastic. Bluey was also mentioned and I watched a few episodes, also very good.

I looked up Glossika and it appears to be more rote like Pimsleur and it extends to C1 level.

ChatGPT recommends I use both Cantonese101 AND Glossika. So instead of asking my ChatGPT, I wanted to ask real people. Any thoughts? Thank you!

I've learned Mandarin in HK for the past 7 years and am close to fluent, but I never started learning canto. What's the best way (if possible in less than 3-4 years) to learn canto with those skills, preferably free/cheap?

My family speaks a mix of Cantonese and Sze Yap. They never taught me or my siblings how to speak because they thought it would be too difficult, so instead, they enrolled us in Mandarin classes.

The thing is, I haven't learnt or had the chance to speak mandarin in years, since I know nobody that speaks it. I was thinking of learning another language again because I want to, but unsure of which one.

If I pick mandarin, more people speak that and I think I'd be able to get around easier. If I pick Cantonese, I could speak with my family. Which one should I choose?

Hello. I live in a Cantonese-only speaking household (recent thing), however I don't speak Cantonese (only English). I am not interested in learning to read and write but I want to learn to speak Cantonese so I can participate in family-wide conversation. I have absorbed some very basic words and phrases through osmosis but have never had any structured learning.

- Are there classes which teach only spoken Cantonese (ignoring written)? I live in Tai Wai.

- What methods would you recommend to begin structured learning?

How do the dialects in Huizhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Foshan, Qingyuan, Shaoguan, etc sound like compared to Cantonese? How far does Cantonese reach across Guangdong?