^ It'd be tougher if you're not first generation >.< -lol and your Chinese isn't perfect to begin with
Haha, lol that's true. So let me rephrase, WE need to better improve our Chinese now so that we can teach our kids later haha...
I don't about Chinese schools, maybe they're good in T.O. because of the large Chinese communities. But to me personally, Chinese school was such a waste of time - in total, it's 2hours and 30minutes of instruction, once per week, and a lot of the learning was learning words irrelevant to modern use. We used textbooks that had stories about ancient China and that's where all our 'new vocabulary' came from. Of course, once in a while, we'd read a magazine article or a lyrics from a pop song, but that's about it. Furthermore, some of the teachers sucked. Lots of them were international students from HK and Taiwan and would speak to us in English so that they can practice their English! For example, they'd give out instructions and everything in English, but we'd respond in Chinese! :@ In my own experience, I actually learned more from outside of Chinese school then in Chinese school - I had more motivation to learn on my own. Furthermore, I hang out with HK friends mostly, watch movies and TV shows, listen to music, and use some online tools to improve/learn Chinese. By being around 'modern' Chinese surroundings and influences, I pick up more terms and words that are more relevant and pertinent to society today, and words and terms that I can actually use in conversation.
my parents, being the first generation to migrate away from "home," didn't know english, so they spoke chinese to me only. in school, i speak english. i also had to go to chinese school when i was young. i guess i had no choice but to know both. thank god most of my friends had the same issues as me. We usually speak english in school but when they are words that i don't know how to say in english and have to say it in chinese, they understand.
actually i did pretty good in chinese skool when i was younger and met a lota ppl..this is like b4 gr7..i actually knew a lota and competed because i had strct teachers..now i know nothing..everythign is forgotten...if u start to chill with fob kids..they'll teach u how to read chiense stuff and teacher u wat u need to know in a fun way..and a lota teachers r in it for the money moreover teaching
its really a disappointment that there are some people who would know how to speak some chinese, but they would only speak it/use it in front of their grandparents and just speak english with everyone else.
Sometimes they are embarrassed because they know they may not be pronouncing the words correctly, or using grammer correctly. It's understandable. What fluent speakers can do is to not laugh at them, encourage them, and teach them when they do speak it so that they can get better.
That is so true, my canto isnt perfect, but the worst thing you could do is laugh at me..... makes me just think oh f*ck that ill just speak english then, laugh at that. But yeh instead of laughing why not help out -noclue
yes!! i reckon you should knowyour family language! well i spk canto and english to my parents but more chinese to my dad, cos his english is really poor!! lol. but i spk both most off the time.. like english and add a bit off chinese there and then.. lol.
Ya, that's probably because in T.O., they take Chinese very seriously because there are so many Chinese there. Where I am, Chinese is like blah. That's why I rely on my FOBs and international fds for help
or they don't want ppl to know that they're chinese? embarassed that they r chinese..and ppl mite think they're fobs cause they can speak chiense..weird world wher do u live?? i thoguth chiense is everywhere nowadays
Nothing's more embarassing than for a Chinese person to go to China and end up talking to everyone in English. x_X;;;;;;;;;; (but my parents don't care about that, obviously. nowadays they only speak to me in English, since they've been here so long and use English at work more often. thank god I learned it when I was a baby -_-)
Somewhere in the middle of Canada .... -lol There's Chinese people here, but only around like 15 000 - 20 000, and mainly white-washed Chinese people. It's the young international students that keep that Chinese feel alive...
LoL!! Awww!!! Just curse them in english!! I hate it when people imitate ur chinese...its like yeh ok I get the point whatcha expect!! *Sigh*
Yeh!! LoL!! Well my cousin makes me feel better...coz her canto sux!! LoL!! She talks like a gway mui!! And coz she speaks english 24.7
^ thats like my cousins, their parents always speak to them in english and sometimes (rarely) speak in canto... They can understand simple canto, but otherwise its english
Yeh!! LoL!! Like my lil cousin was like mums talkin about me coz she said my name!! I was like ok...what did she say?...She was like I dunno I just heard my name! LoL!! ^^ Bless her!
