5 comments about Chinese (Cantonese), Q&S: Learn to Speak and Understand Cantonese Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Quick and Simple).

1. For an extremely complex language like Cantonese, Pimsleur does a great job at slowly immersing you into the language without overwhelming you.
   I am so far through 14 of the 30 lessons and I am feeling more confident with each one. I got the CD's because I am visiting my girlfriend's family in Guangdong and want to be able to communicate in some way, rather than look like a fool (mistake I made the first time!)
   
   I didn't expect Pimsleur to make me fluent, but rather I wanted to be able to understand simple phrases, vocab, and grammar. Pimsleur does well in teaching this in an organized, understandable manner. I recommend highly, especially since there is no Rosetta Stone or other program of this quality out there for learning Cantonese.



2. I usually don't write reviews, but this is worthy of one:
   
   I was surprised with the instant results I got from using this. I have used other language programs in the past, and this was definitely the best I have used. I am almost done with it, and have really learned a lot within a month. If you are looking to learn cantonese. This is it. Look no further.
   
   I have some cantonese experience prior to this, and although there were some terms I already knew, this really helped me put everything together. I think this is perfect for the beginner. There is plenty of review in each lesson, so that it really sticks.
   
   5 stars.



3. Working to learn my wife's native language, Cantonese, without learning the written language, Pimsleur is the best program I've found so far. With 30 lessons on CDs, plus a number of cultural lessons to boot, this is the easiest, most practical approach to becoming conversational in Cantonese, without learning the very difficult Chinese characters. My only complaint is that there aren't more lessons! Maybe a Part II, with 30 more lessons is in the works at Pimsleur? Anyone listening at Pimsleur? The reason Pimsleur works where others fall short is that an English-speaking moderator says everything in English, then two different native Cantonese speakers (one male, one female) translate the English into Cantonese and repeat the statement several times. Since Cantonese is such a tonal language, the tones used for each sound are also explained as the lesson progresses so you are aware that tone changes can change the meaning of what seem to be similar sounds. Repeating after the native speakers allows you to imitate the tones. Anyhow, here's my learning system and it could be used with any Pimsleur language--not just Cantonese: I downloaded the CDs to a 4GB iPod Nano that I use ONLY for Cantonese learning. Any MP3 player can be used, but I find that the original iPod Nano is the ideal compact size for sticking in a pocket with small earphones. You simply listen to the English, then the Cantonese, press the pause button to allow time to repeat the Cantonese, then press play again. To begin with, I listen to each lesson at home with a stack of 3" by 5" lined index cards, and I use a 0.9mm mechanical pencil (#2 and harder to break "lead" than 0.7mm or 0.5mm). I use Yale Romanization (the phonetic sound) for each character and write each sentence on a card after hearing the Cantonese, then putting the iPod in pause mode. I am able to get five sentences/vocabulary items on each card, with the front side in English and the flip side in Cantonese Romanization. Using this system, each lesson is condensed to 10-15 cards which I carry with me. A rubber band around the cards keeps them together: As an example, the English on one side might be: 1."Do you want to go to my place to eat?" The Romanized Cantonese on the other side will be something like: 1."Neih surng mh surng hoih ngoh doh sik ah?" There are many variations of Yale Romanization; however, I have found that the easiest way is to simply write the Cantonese phonetically--the way it sounds to YOU--without adding tone marks. In others words: keep it simple! I might write "mh" for "not" or "don't"; you may write "um". No matter, it's what works for you! In summary: the success or failure of any program like Pimsleur Cantonese is a direct reflection of the work you are willing to put into it. I find that by having small stacks of flash cards that I have made myself, I have put the necessary work into condensing the program into a useable form. You can carry the iPod Nano and earphones, or you may just carry a stack of cards with you wherever you go! Good luck!



4. This is a great product, the comprehensive set is better. It's a real shame that there is only 1 volume of the comprehensive set - I would buy the others in a heartbeat (publisher please note!)



5. The Pimsleur method is the best language program that I've used, especially for the beginner. I tried other products with other languages and just recently began learning Cantonese. I surprised a friend living in Hong Kong with my accurate pronunciation and beginner's understanding of the language. To be sure, the language is evolving and the way some words are pronounced has changed - something that is described in the Teach Yourself book, which is another excellent product. The downside is that this program spends a lot of time teaching a limited amount of material, and it's expensive, especially if you purchase subsequent lessons. The program warns against using other language programs while using Pimsleur, especially printed material with Americanized spellings, suggesting that this will lead to incorrect pronunciation. While I'm sure this is a risk, most other Cantonese language resources use Yale romanization, which is almost as much of a standard for the language as pinyin is for Mandarin. If you hope to use any printed resource to help you learn Cantonese, you'll likely have to learn Yale romanization. I don't know that there's any perfect language program, but this product is very effective.

4 comments about Intermediate Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook (Grammar Workbooks).

1. This book is an excellent sequel to: "Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook" by the same authors. It (and its predecessor) are the best sources I've seen as far as really explaining how Cantonese works. There has been some other good material published in recent years for Cantonese learners (I give high marks to "Colloquial Cantonese" by Tong and James and "Teach Yourself Cantonese" by Baker and Ho) but this is the best treatment of Cantonese syntax I've come across- having worked through it I now feel confident that I can speak good, authentic Cantonese. It is written from a linguistic point of view but it is so well-organized and the material is so neatly presented that even someone without much linguistic background would find it a help. There are some comparisons made with Mandarin usage which are interesting and helpful to someone who learned Mandarin first (as I did) but previous knowledge of Mandarin is not assumed or required. A further plus: Lots of contemporary vocabulary. If you think you'd like to be able to say: "The boss has sexually harassed her" "My daughter is giving me an attitude again" or "very soon one will be able to get on the Internet via mobile phones" look no further!



2. Intermediate Cantonese is a great textbook to upgrade your knowledge of Cantonese, a language spoken by over 100 million people in southern China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau) and among many overseas Chinese. It's very didactical and quite easy to understand. Cantonese is not easy to learn, but the book makes it pretty easy to learn.



3. Dear sir or madam,
   Till now I do not recive this book.I am rather disappiontment at your company's perfromance.If you have any information about this book which was bought by me in the Oct please contact soon.My cell phone number is +8613983658880.
   
   yours,sincerely
   Tang Aiyi



4. This is a great book on Cantonese Grammar for learners who have graduated beyond "Basic Cantonese: a Grammar and Workbook" by Virginia Yip. Note that this is suitable only as accompanying material, not as a complete book for learning the language. Presentation is quite dense, much more demanding that the Basic Cantonese book.
   
   This is only for the slightly advanced learner, but highly recommended if you really want to understand the structure of the language.

1 comments about Essential Cantonese Phrase Book (Essential Phrasebook Series).

1. This is a great, pocket sized helper, with clear, easy to understand romanized Cantonese words and phrases. It is set up in sections so you can get the word you need, when you need it.

5 comments about Read and Write Chinese: A Simplified Guide to the Chinese Characters.

1. This book is wonderful and I do not consider that having only unsimplified forms of the characters is a flaw. While simplifid characters are more useful in Mainland China, they are not used at all in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore and are only used rarely in Chinese communities in the U.S. and Canada. This book is most useful when visiting one of these places or studying there, since it is well nigh impossible to find an unsimplified guide or dictionary in most book stores. Also, it provides pronunciation in "bopomofo" the phonetic system used in Taiwan by foreigners and natives alike, far superioir to Wades-Giles or Pinyin.



2. It's a nicely laid-out book. Wish there was an audio accompaniment to these series that is packaged with the book. This book and also Understanding Chinese by the same author is, however, not for beginners. It serves as a good supplement.



3. This is great book if you are studying the art form of chinese characters. It is one of the only books available with an index of the characters in English which makes it invaluable. I highly recommend it.



4. This book is a must for learning Chinese. The cross reference dictionaries are a life saver. The book is well thought out and very easy to use. You can learn from the book and also use it for reference!



5. I have used this book for more than 15 years. The more familiar I become with Chinese characters, the more useful this book becomes. But I dislike the tiny radicals in the front. Because the radicals are critical to locating characters, a legible list would improve this book greatly. As it is, I use a separate radical list to identify the radical, then locate that radical in this book. It's an inconvenient extra step.
   
   Sometimes, even Taiwanese do not know the correct radical for a character. As Chinese dictionaries often do, this book has an index according to number of strokes. You have to know stroke count to use that index. But then, you often have to know the stroke count to find the character once you've identified the radical. As I said, the more familiar I become, the more useful this book is.
   
   For pronunciation, I prefer "bwo pwo mwo fwo." This book in a table showing the equivalents of various pronunciation systems. I agree with others, though, that locating a character by pronunciation can be tedious sometimes.
   
   As others have pointed out, this book is for finding individual characters, not combinations. And it does not indicate which characters are most common and, therefore, most important to learn. For those, I recommend the McNaughton book from Tuttle.

3 comments about Chinese For Dummies Audio Set.

1. With the 3 cds and a manual this set come with, you can learn and practice a lot of very ussefull phrases in mandarin, you also can listen, repeat and practice even when you are driving (of course not looking at the manual O.K.?)



2. I like the Chinese for Dummies audio set a lot. It's a great place to start learning Mandarin. The accompanying booklet has a lot of material in it, and the discs are easy to transfer to a MP3 player. Most pronounciations are clear. The narrator is perky and easy to listen to.
   
   The things that kept it from getting the 5th star are:
   1. Several obvious typos: e.g. nar spelled har on one page.
   2. No pronounciation guide for individual words and phrases in the book proper. You have to go to the dictionary in back if you're not listening to the CD's.
   3. They only have a man pronounciating the words and phrases. They should also have a female voice.
   4. The dictionary in the back of the book is too small. Four to eight additional pages would have helped give you a lot more info for not much extra printing cost.
   5. More info should have been provided on how the third tone can be pronounced three ways depending on what tone follows it.
   
   In spite of the few drawbacks I'm happy I purchased the set and I have used it dozens of times already.
   
   Buteotwo



3. I lived in China for 6 months and found this audio set is very good and rather relevant. However people do not ask "how are you?" nor do they say "good morning" But most of the other phrases in the book are useful.
   
   I was quite surprised to find the lack of proper word spacing in the Pinyin. This is not really a hindrance to learning but a tiny bit confusing when you are learning to pronounce the words. This is interesting as many of the English mistakes made in China are improper word breaks.
   
   You can put the audio files on your iphone or ipod and listen to them anywhere. The book does not have any Chinese characters. Not a huge problem but a few would have been nice as much of China does not have a lot of printed English and or Pinyin. I would recommend this set for anyone to get started learning spoken mandarin.

5 comments about Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook (Grammar Workbooks).

1. This is one of the few books I've seen that uses phonetics that are
   accurate to the Cantonese language, as opposed to the "Romanized" Cantonese in other books. It is definitely a good supplement to other books that teach you words by topic area (i.e. food, travel, clothing, etc.).



2. The title says it all. Written very well, but make sure you have access to someone who is a native speaker (optimal) or some audio source, just to hear the pronunciations.



3. Basic Cantonese, as well as Intermedia Cantonese, are very useful textbooks to learn Cantonese. Well written, well explained, well presented and, most importantly, relatively easy to understand.



4. For a language/dialect spoken by 100 million people or so, there is disproportionately little material for studying it, at least in the West and in English.
   
   Reasons why I think learners should get this book:
   
   1. many varied exercises
   
   2. extensive pronunciation exercises
   
   3. short chapters for smoother progress
   
   4. clearly explained in non-technical manner
   
   5. alot of examples
   
   There is no script used in this book, everything is in romanization.
   The pronunciation is covered in the first chapters, with many exercises.
   
   I do have one complaint though:
   there are too many words in each chapter and there is no vocabulary list for each chapter.
   It is difficult for the beginner to assimilate so many new words, and it makes it more difficult to understand the examples when there are new words in almost every sentence.
   I think they should have followed the same format as in the books
   Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook (Grammar Workbooks) and Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook by the same publisher. The vocabulary format in both those other books are much better than in this one.
   So for learning new vocabulary this book gets a low score from me.
   In teaching grammar it gets 5/5.



5. This is the one book on Cantonese grammar that every learner of the language should probably buy in addition to their main textbook. Unfortunately, many of the current textbooks on Cantonese, including very good ones such as Baker&Ho, seem to try to avoid grammar at all costs, maybe in order to get people to start speaking as quickly as possible. But after a while, more and more questions about grammar will pile up, with no answers in your textbook, and you will need to get some extra material on grammar.
   
   So, my recommendation: after going through maybe half of your other textbook, buy and read this book. A lot of things will start making more sense. (Then, after another half a year or more of additional study, consider getting the Intermediate Cantonese book by Yip and Matthews.)

2 comments about Cantonese Phrasebook.

1. A lot of info is stuffed in a small pocket book. It will come handy if you are traveling to Hong Kong or Guang-dong region.
   
   Here are a couple of things I liked about this book. (1)Even though the fonts are small (ie, pocket version), it does not strain the eyes because the paper is high quality and has colored fonts. (2)It has the Chinese characters next to all the sentences and words. I did not like those books which only have the romanization but no Chinese characters. In the long run you really need to know them. (3) A lot of handy info/words/sentences included (such as 'I want to make love to you' or 'leave me alone!')
   
   I have two reasons I can't give 5 stars: (1) It does NOT use the 'standard Yale' system--it could be a little confusing to those using Yale system (why don't everybody just use Yale???);(2)right off the bat, I noticed couple typo/errors in the pronounciation--I would use as a reference, not the primary source of studying Cantonese.
   
   Overall, I think it is a worth investment, especially considering the low cost.



2. Lonely Planet once again comes through with a concise, easy to use, beautifully set up phrase book. Chocked with useful cultural info and tips if visiting China, the book is well sectioned, allowing you to get the word or phrase you are looking for fast. Its tiny size makes it easy to travel with even if you have only a small patch pocket. A must have for those who are tackling Cantonese.

5 comments about Pocket Cantonese Dictionary: Cantonese-English English-Cantonese (Periplus Pocket Dictionaries).

1. I don't think the other reviewers actually read cover of the dictionary. It says, "Contains the 3,000 most useful words for everyday communication". I'm not sure why someone would be surprised by the fact that it has "limited vocabulary". That's actually the point. Direct your attention to the words needed for daily communication before learning how to say things like, "grandiloquent". Basically, if it's in this dictionary, you need to know it. Not to mention, it is a pocket dictionary. Also, it's not a character dictionary. You look things up either by Cantonese pronunciation or English.
   As far as Cantonese being a "fading" language, there are 55 million speakers worldwide, in Guangdong province in China, news is broadcast in Cantonese, school up to university level is conducted in Cantonese. Cantonese won't be making its exit from the world language stage anytime soon.
   This dictionary does what it claims to do very well, namely giving you simple definitions for the most common 3000 words (not characters, although the characters for each word are given which is a huge plus). In addition, it works great as a list of "must know" vocabulary. Once you finish some beginning course (I highly recommend the two FSI courses by Elizabeth L. Boyle), this is a great way to expand your vocab.



2. I'm in agreement with one of the reviewers below; I'm curious what other two critics were looking for too, because this is meant to be a limited vocabulary reference book. I like that this includes words not common in most of the other dictionaries, and an additional bonus is that it has the Chinese characters, which are legible and clear. This is the one title that consistently comes up in the "recommended texts" at universities and language schools. Thumbs up for me.



3. As the cover says, this dictionary is for travelers and beginners of Cantonese, so the focus is on daily and useful expressions. The Cantonese-English part is arranged alphabetically using the Yale romanization, so no knowledge of Chinese characters is required. The definitions are short and clear.
   
   The only problem is that the author favors more formal expressions. For example, if a certain verb has a colloquial/slang variant that is used by most Cantonese speakers in daily life and a more formal variant that is used in both spoken Cantonese and written Chinese, the author selects the latter.
   
   Nevertheless, I find this dictionary extremely useful.



4. This is an excellent little dictionary, and the $6.95 price is very reasonable. The vocabulary of 3000 words is of course quite limited, but the selection of words and phrases for inclusion seems well done. Use of the popular and easily learned Yale romanization is a positive factor.
   
   There are a few typographical errors. For example, in the C-E section, Ajau 'Asia' is capitalized but au'jau 'Europe' is not; the wrong character is given for kahmmouh 'aunt' in both C-E and E-C sections, and in the E-C section two of the 'aunt' entries don't make sense ("wife of mother's sister").
   
   The introductory note on pronunciation should mention the initial n-/l- confusion and the variation among speakers in use or omission of initial ng-. Listing of entries with these initial sounds is also not uniformly handled. The notes on pronunciation of vowels o and eu work for British English but not for American English, and initial kw- should be explained as "like kw in Kwanza" or "like qu in quick" rather than "like Gwendolyn with a strong puff of air."
   
   If the book were printed on thinner paper and had more flexible covers, it would be much more comfortable to hold and easier to spin the pages back and forth looking for entries.



5. How can I rate a product I never received? I will be doing less business with Amazon in the future. Fortunately there are many sites to do business with. It's deserving of zero stars.

5 comments about Chinese (Cantonese), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Cantonese Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur).

1. Although the conversational Cantonese used is correct...many of the word phrases could be greatly improved with more commonplace word usage and phrases. A small written booklet - written in the romanized Yale system for conversational Cantonese would be most help for those of us 21yrs. and older:who's native tongue is English.



2. I listen to it on the way to work. I am up to lesson 12 and it really works. Not enough vocabulary for general use, but it gets you off to a wonderful start. I now know the chinese girls at work often talk about eating.
   
   I rcommend it over Berlitz or the other brands. This is taylored to the cantonese language and it teaches you in a natural way.
   
   Warning. If you have the Basic Contonese, the first five discs are the same.



3. I am trying to learn Cantonese because my son-in-law's family speak it and I want to encourage my daughter to learn it. I was amazed that I could understand some of what he said within a week.



4. I've listened to many a language tape for several languages, and while I've never adored any of them, this one is just too painful to listen to. The first few discs consist of a voice saying a phrase, then silence while you repeat, then another phrase, silence, then back to the old phrase, silence, etc. Lots of long pauses and repetition, which could be helpful for someone, but was completely unappealing and boring for me.



5. I'm in my 50s and an absolute beginner at Cantonese. The speakers are clear and easy to follow, the words and conversations are useful right from the start, and the 30 minute format is manageable. I play the disks on my way to work.
   
   Each lesson incorporates what you learned on previous disks into the new conversations, so there's plenty of reinforcement while you learn new words and sentences--no need to feel overwhelmed. I'm on Lesson 9, and on a recent visit to Chinatown I was already able to understand some words and phrases.
   
   A little booklet tells you how to use the disks and how you'll know when you're ready to advance to the next lesson. Although the instructions suggest one lesson per day, I find I usually need 3-5 plays for each lesson before I feel I'm ready. You might need more or less repetitions. I feel confident that I'll be "conversational" in basic Cantonese in a few weeks.
   
   I'm really pleased with this product.

5 comments about Teach Yourself Cantonese Complete Course Audiopack.

1. I've always wanted to learn conversational Cantonese and this book is a nice book for it. The audio cd's are nice too. I wish the cd's would go over more of the pronunciations listed in the book. But for this price, I really can't complain.



2. In summary this is a very pleasant book to work with, the added humor makes it more fun to learn from, and the excercises are not too intimidating to a beginner.
   
   You should expect 9-12 months of study to complete this book, even if you decide to just learn the romanized script and not the real script.
   Cantonese is for Asian languages what Hungarian is for Western languages: the most difficult one !
   The difficulty with Hungarian is grammar, with Cantonese the pronunciation.
   
   This book is slightly outdated in a few of its pronunciations: most importantly that 'n' is often pronounced 'l'.
   Depending on generation, people will still understand what you mean, so it's not a crucial problem.
   
   The book is well balanced in my opinion, it doesn't push the reader to do more than she/he can handle:
   
   + there are just enough vocabulary in each chapter
   + grammar is explained well
   + the exercises are effective
   + the author often adds a bit of humor in the book
   
   My only complaint is that I would have liked some excercises on the script.
   
   The dialogues are written both in the romanized script and the traditional Chinese script used in Hong Kong - i.e. not the simplified Mandarin Chinese script.
   So you have the option to learn the script if you want to.
   
   There are no excercises for learning the script, all excercises are in romanization.
   So if you decide to learn the script you are on your own, personally I just did flashcards of them and learned them that way.
   
   An 'OK' dictionary for traditional Chinese script, that I used to look up characters not covered in the book, is this one: Practical English Chinese Pronouncing Di by Janey Chen.
   It's not perfect but there are very few good dictionaries in print.
   
   I also recommend this book if you know you are weak on grammar:Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge Grammars). It has a much more thorough and modern pronunciation guide than TY Cantonese - even though it is a grammar book and printed in 2000.



3. I would begin this review by admitting that I am very fond of Cantonese- a fun and friendly language, even if it can sound at times like about seven different talk radio programs all going at once. These authors have done a tremendously successful job of conveying its flavor. Even from the very early lessons, the dialogues (often very funny) give a beginner a real feel for conversing in Cantonese.
   
   The real essential first step for anyone getting into Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese) has to be getting to grips with the tones, and this course does this very well. It is often said that Chinese grammar is not difficult, because there are no tenses or noun inflections, but this is a very nuanced language in which particles (words which don't really mean anything by themselves) can make all the difference in terms of the sense that a listener is supposed to make of something that is said, and these authors have dealt with the principal particles of Cantonese much more comprehensively than any other source I have found. And although writing is not stressed, the dialogues are all given in characters as well as romanization, the better to help a native speaker tutor if you are fortunate enough to have one. The authors have in this second edition also corrected the one flaw that the original edition had: they have replaced their own non-standard system of Romanization with the Yale system, which for better or worse is the one in common use in other Cantonese learning materials for English speakers, making it easier to move back and forth between this course and others. All in all this is an outstanding value- and a lot of fun as well.



4. Teach Yourself Cantonese Complete Course Audiopack
   
   Easy to understand and very helpful for those who have a basic idea of what Cantonese sounds like and would like help on the finer points of gramamr and vocabulary.
   
   Well set out, it is informative without being dry and offers plenty of opportunities to practice speaking (even if it's to yourself).
   
   An excellent resource!



5. I am a native speaker with Cantonese as a second language. I like this book because it also has Chinese characters to go with the romanized Cantonese, which is a great help when my boyfriend (for whom I bought the book for) has a question about something in the book. As anyone who has a more advanced understanding of Chinese would know, there is no way to really understand Chinese without the characters. While it is true that this book is not up to date with all the latest slangs and usages, no book really can be, this book has everything you need to have basic competence, which is what you need for people to understand you. Really, isn't becoming someone who can understand and be understood the first and foremost? To learn all the newest slang and usage, you just have to live in Hong Kong or Canton or something.
   The only drawback of the book is the lack of Chinese character use. I suppose for someone who doesn't understand Chinese characters at all, they don't notice this, but they don't use Chinese characters enough - only once during the initial dialogue that they put out, and then one more time in the vocabulary list. After that, throughout all the explanations and exercises, it is all in romanized Chinese without the accompaniment of Chinese characters.