This is ah-Fa, one of my long-term Cantonese students. You see that piece of paper she’s reading? I wrote that the same morning and emailed it to her. Out of all those Chinese characters, there were only two she didn’t already know. And she’s only been at it for about seven months!
When people start taking my course, most of them say: “I only want to learn how to speak. Characters are too difficult for me. I don’t have time. And – I don’t need to learn them.’
What they’re really saying is: I’m afraid and overwhelmed by this too mysterious, too frightening phenomenon. And more than probably, a bunch of Chinese people have told them that they can never learn it.
Ah-Fa had the same attitude in the beginning when I first met her about two years ago. Then one day I brought a dictionary along, showed her how to look up characters – and wallop!
Wouldn’t you laugh if people said: I only want to learn how to speak English. I can’t be bothered with all that ABC stuff. Phonics are enough for me!
I’ve seen time and time again, that those of my students who start learning characters immediately get a better grip on the spoken language. It’s inevitable.
If you want to learn how to read and write characters without really trying, please buy my Cantonese DVD which you find at BUY STUFF. It takes ten minutes to learn how to look up characters and five minutes to learn to write them. After that, with fifteen minutes’ practice a day, you’ll be able to read with ease within a year. And laugh at all those ignorant people who said it was too difficult for you!
Three year-olds learn it for Christ’s sakes.
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