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Written vs Spoken Cantonese

gegenki_16963
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: December 27th, 2014 2:34 am

Written vs Spoken Cantonese

Postby gegenki_16963 » June 9th, 2016 10:33 am

I use the site primarily for flash cards rather than lessons.
I'm having a problem with the fact the flash cards make no distinction between written and spoken Cantonese.

- For example -
Yesterday I learnt the word 悲傷 and used it to ask a friend a question on grammar and he told me he didn't know the answer because the phrase wasn't Cantonese. Most Cantonese speakers my age (mid 20's) in the UK can't read and write.
These phrases are less useful to me as I'm primarily interested in learning casual spoken Cantonese.

It seems strange to me that there isn't at least a label on words to show whether they are Cantonese or words from written Chinese phrases.
It would be good if we could turn off written Chinese in the flash cards and perhaps study these cards separately.

slc_17055
New in Town
Posts: 11
Joined: June 14th, 2016 6:31 pm

Re: Written vs Spoken Cantonese

Postby slc_17055 » June 14th, 2016 7:07 pm

Thank you so much for giving us the valuable advice. I agree that it would be better if the written and spoken Cantonese vocabulary are clearly labelled or separated into different categories to suit the different needs of the learners. Actually the Cantoneseclass101.com does address this need to different learners. The "Survival Phrases Lessons" http://www.cantoneseclass101.com/2010/0 ... thank-you/ cover high frequency spoken Cantonese phrases that you'll surely find useful for the daily conversation. The free you tube series like "Learn the Top 25 Must-Know Cantonese Phrases!" clearly specifies the formal and informal usage of Cantonese. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnq5LStlZPE

We appreciate your suggestion and keep it in mind so as to improve our lessons as much as can. Thank you so much! :D

Siuling

Team CantoneseClass101.com
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