Well, how I see it, is that one person can go to Chinese school for so many years, and still NOT be fluent in the language. I think if someone wants to be fluent in Chinese, they got to have the passion to learn it and also make the effort. If you look at today's Chinese schools in North America, most kids just go because "their parents force them". I'm pretty sure they really enjoy missing hot breakfast and early morning cartoons Furthermore, Chinese schools today are C-R-A-P. Yes, you do learn many words, but are they really useful in today's society? I remember the textbooks I used to use for Chinese school, and they always dealt with Confuscious and crap... Now that's really gonna help me on the streets in HK. I think the best way to learn it - and I've probably said this hundreds of times in other similar threads - is to actually be submersed in the culture, speak it as much as possible with others, read, watch shows and movies, listen to music, radio programs, etc. and most importantly, to take pride and passion in the learning process. Learning Chinese is an experience; and shouldn't be a chore, as it is to many CBCs and ABCs and BBCs. Look at the all the foreign people in HK; they are there because they love Chinese culture, and look how fast they've picked up the language (well, of course, they are in a 24/7 Chinese environment, but you see my point - they got the passion to learn)
i find my chinese pretty fluent i can understand the news pretty easily but then I am a ABC also... but my parents made me speak chinese at home all the time so thats the differnece i guess
That's true. I agree with you. If one doesn't have the heart to learn something, I guess no matter what one does, he will not learn it. I also agree that kids today are not interested in going to Chinese school or learning Chinese. It's a sad thing, esp if a foreigner ends up knowing Chinese better than these kids who can't even speak a lick of it. However, I do not agree that the Chinese taught in North American Chinese school is useless. I see many of the words in chinese novels, books, and newspapers. However you're right, the more "proper" words are usually not seen in magazines, TV subtitles, or music lyrics because many of the words used in pop culture are targeted to a different age group or different type of audience/listener.
I'm a NBC (Netherlands born Chinese), went to Chinese school for about 3 years when I was aged 5 or so but it didn't help much with that 3 hours a week. I speak just enough Cantonese to ask the road (cho/yo..."which was left and which was right again?"), order 'wan tan mien' and chat about the simple daily things but the news and serious discussions are way beyond me. Think I'll understand about 20% of the news; Cantonese people in HK speak so fast I often only hear the first part of a sentence! Maybe I should have voted for the last option...-unsure
I can speak it, listening to Chinese news wouldnt be a problem, translating hmmm not really good LOL but i voted the 1st option anyway AHAHA
I had the exact same experience as Ralph actually... I thought my Cantonese was very good too until I had to translate a medical diagnosis and found it to be very overwhelmingly. I had to substitute a lot of words and found that I had to describe the medical jargon in very simple Cantonese terms in order to get the message across.. embarrassing.
I came to america from HK when I was 7, I can read most chinese characters but occasionally getting some of them mixed up. I cannot write tho lol.
I live in Australia. My Chinese's not bad, I can understand TV news in Chinese....but when i talk to people from Beijing.....i can't fully understand what they are saying.....i mean they roll there tongues too much.....and thats hard to understand
i can speak fluently in cantonese, like in a conversation without any problems reading/writing chinese...dont even ask..i cant do it lol
cantonese im pretty fluent i know even phrases...i dun even know why i understand them lol...but i can't write nor read...which sucks
Iam CBC -scooter and I speak better canton than most other CBCs but not totally fluent (still lots of room for improvement)
born and raised in america but i feel that my chinese is good enough to hold a conversation with people and i guess good enough that people in HK think i was born in HK but moved to america/canada to study....hahahahahaha i guess that is good enough for me......but those news vocabulary is hard to understand.....
im only half chinese, but my first language was cantonese becuz my grandpa used to live with my family and me and him were buddies, however over time and once i started school i kind of forgot cantonese and began to speak primarily english. I still retain a little bit of the language though and i can often understand most conversations, especially dinner talk. in terms of speaking im not so good, and i only know enuff chinese characters to make sure i dont wander into the women's bathroom.
yeh hes been going for quite a few years, from my personal experience of chinese school, we always spoke english anyways to each other -noclue (except when the teacher talks to us or tells us off) plus chinese school was for 2-3 hours once a sunday, so it really depends on the home situation. the only reason i can speak canto is cause my 'rents dont speak to me in english
My chinese sucks. I can talk to ppl fine, but I have to translate stuff from english to chinese in my head before I say some things.
