Can speak cantonese but not write or read!!!

~sigh. Guess I'm not the only one with this problem. I can speak Cantonese perfectly...in fact so perfectly that when I went to HK with my family the cleaning lady at the hotel thought our apartment was being renovated LOL. But anyways, nothing to be proud about when I took 8 years of Chinese school...and I still can't write much, or read much either. It sucks. I'm gonna try to re-learn Chinese on my own. I think one of the main reasons why Kids hate chinese school so much is because they don't know what it's for, and they see it just as something "their parents force them to do". Also, going to Chinese school once every saturday isn't going to help much. It really doesnt. Unless you understand the reason why you're in Chinese school, once a week is gonna do nothing for you.

i'm not too bad at typing on the computer though. I can manage to form well-written sentences because I can recognize the characters through the pinyin thing...lol and it's CANTO pinyin which helps a lot. But nonetheless, my written Chinese is still very shabby.

 

I can speak, read ok by guessing words in between since I went to school and had a couple hours class everyweek for 13 years. I'm happy i hold off to the end so I don't look too much like a banana.

 

me too, take a couple months of lessons and u'll be in good shape

 

I was kind of like you couple years ago. I can speak Cantonese fluently(always did). I can read lots(now, after listening/reading lots of music) but writing is a huge issue for me still.
Mandarin I picked it up from my friends. I could understand but can't speak without a accent lol.
I guess what you could do is listen to more music(read the lyrics as you go along), watch more drama and watch the subtitles, or go to a Chinese school, they'll probably put you with a bunch of white people or others like yourself and pay them $$$$$$.

 

Yup same thing for me i can speak it no problem i can read ok i guess but writing is definitely a big problem for me.

 

Chinese school is a waste of time. It is a place for parents to socialize rather than a place for kids to learn Chinese.
Try college course on Mandarin if your local colleges offer them.

 

I am agreeing with you, edi888, because i did make this experience.

 

i can speak Cantonese . but i can't read or write either....

 

I can speak cantonese and can read and write some words

 

I can speak. I can read a few words. But can't write for crap.

 

I speak really fluently in chinese but i can't write either
i feel your pain T^T

 

i speak like the honk kong born people but i can't write and trying to read some chinese !

 

well , I can speak cantonese and read also write but not well...

 

Dude! Chinese is an art. Writing calls for skills esp with characters that require you to have a brush dipped in ink to write with like the old folks in the ancient time. Chinese is sort of a hard language to learn. U could read sometimes, but cannot write real well.

 

Well the good news for you is that you can speak Cantonese which is a good basis to learn to speak mandarin, as i hear that canto is actually harder to learn to speak.

The best way to learn to write and speak i think is to go to China where you will be exposed to the language and will pick things up really quickly. I know some white friends who went to China for a gap year and have become fluent is Mandarin and more shockingly he can write more chinese than i can, Man i got beaten by a white boi in my own language lol

 

can speak cantonese and a lil bit mandarin n i can read and write a bit

 

i can speak canto, but i can't read or write

actually, i take that back. I know how to spell 1, 2 and 3 in chinese ^_^

 

i can speak and read but can't write.