Guangdong Canto-shock: Man Studies For Nine Months- Learns Something!

Last weekend I went to Guangzhou with some students, one of whom had been studying Cantonese since last November.

We spent the day doing our own thing and met up at night. My student, let’s call him Fiodor, came into the restaurant virtually frothing at the mouth.

“I met people today! Chinese people! And I talked to them! And I could understand what they said!!!!”

What is it about Cantonese that people can spend months and months taking a course in it, expecting not to learn a thing? Is it a throwback from French learning at school?

Do people take lessons in anything else at all expecting not to learn it? Do they pay heaps of money for example learning how to perform brain surgery and after say two years come out of it really surprised that they can now administer anaesthesia and open the skull with an electric drill?

It’s a funny thing.
Many times, when I teach my students (victims) new words in Canto, they look at me doubtfully. “Is this really a word?” Really. “If I use this word, will people understand it?” Well, it kind of is their language so chances are, yes!

There are many things about teaching Cantonese that never cease to puzzle me.