yea i agree ... really practise makes perfect... i always mix with my cantonese friends and talk cantonese when i was small, thats the time i build up my cantonese , but oni cannot write and see chinese... i would say cantonese speaking was quite limited in the world where MANDARIN is the most important language whereever u go.... I am now learning to speak and write mandarin .
Heyyyy brudda~ I can speak cantonese, mandrin, hakka but dang totally dont know how to write or read Wel maybe some simple words like me, you, him, love
I'm the same thing with only speaking and no writing. But at least I can write I love you in chinese, and you are a beautiful girl. =)
This happens with a lot of second generation Chinese, including me. I can somewhat speak Cantonese and Toishanese and understand twice as much but can't read or write much. It does go back to what you practice. Since I've moved to Southern Cali, I've been losing a bit of Chinese cause I barely speak it now, but I've made one HK friend down here who speaks, and I try to talk to her as much as I can, and she'll have a good laugh cause I suck so much.
hi will a mandarin dictionary helps? I'm currently trying to learn mandarin too. i came from a family that speaks hokkien, goes to non chinese school and i'm also learning to hear and speak(not really good) Cantonese(5-7 years via hk movie in tv). Its a good start for cantonese since the movie did have a subtitle but for mandarin, not much movie put the subtittle but if there is, its in chinese also which i cant read. which will be a good start to learn mandarin?
I used to read and write a bit but some reason i stopped then i forgot everything i learnt and my chinese isn't fluent.
-confused ahahhahaa yeh SAME. i rmb getting through tests using notes hidden in my chinese dictionary... kinda stupid now i think abt it but at that time didnt really realise how good chinese would be later. but i think there are courses now that u can do like at tafe(australia) or a college or somthing for "beginners" i gess... forgot quite a lot but my understanding is a bit better than my inadueqate reading and writing. and i kinda translate what i hear in mandarin to cantonese then to english... and somtimes i get mixed up wiht pronunciation.
can speak, read and write in cantonese...can speak/understand a bit of mandarin but starting to learn it properly...
I can speak, read and write, but I can only read and write a lot because I'm taking Chinese in school -^_^
From my experience, in order to learn Mandarin while thinking in a Cantonese mindframe is difficult because the way Cantonese speakers speak is not the way it is suppose to be written. Unless you can tell the difference between written and spoken Cantonese, you will have a more difficult time with it. Definitely, if you can read/write Chinese, you will have a better time learning Mandarin or speak Mandarin. Even if you don't know what the person is talking about, at least you can read it and understand. I do that when listening to Mandarin songs. haha.
haha... the above link is dead, is hard to believe what is actually for... is it like learning resource or something... If you are serious of helping people, u should state what is it that u actually want people to download! -what?
i agree by putting a link with no explanation doesn't help people, it just confuses them. anyway i can speak cantonese and mandarin but not very gd at reading or writing. i agree with the fact that it is very easy to forget how to read and write if u learn it and u don't use it much.
pfft i can talk in cantonese and can read a bit chinese characters but im really having a hard time trying to understand mando >.<
I have the same problem aswell.. can speak canto but can't read or write it.. Want to learn mandarin too... how long does it take to learn how to speak mando just up to basic conversational level?
that is not so strange. writing chinese need training that we didn't get those that grow up in th west and outside china. unless you went to a strict chinese school or class that ur parents sign up for.
i speak canto cos thats the only way to communicate w/ my grandma. the only words i kno how to write is my name (which my grandma says is a must) which thank god doesn't have too many strokes. *phew*
