On Friday and Saturday nights, I watched two Hong Kong movies of which the dialogue is in Cantonese: Days of Being Wild, directed by Wong Kar-Wai, and The Way of the Dragon, starring and directed by Bruce Lee. Both were highly artistic and entertaining movies, and I enjoyed them immensely.
It was also great to watch them in the original Cantonese, rather than dubbed in Mandarin. I was pleasantly surprised that I could understand most of the Cantonese dialogue in these movies, although I have to admit that the Chinese subtitles were a great help.
I started learning Cantonese in 1995, one year after I made a trip to Hong Kong for vacation. I had a great time traveling in this cosmopolitan city with a futuristic skyline, but back then I didn’t speak a word of Cantonese, so I had to use English and Mandarin to communicate with local people. My interest in Cantonese became so intense that I decided to learn it seriously, and bought a few Cantonese textbooks with accompanying audio cassette tapes at a local bookstore.
Since Cantonese and Mandarin share much of the same grammar and vocabulary, if you understand Mandarin you are at an advantage in learning Cantonese compared to speakers of other languages. As a Mandarin speaker, I really felt that Cantonese was not entirely foreign to me and relatively easy to study—at least to get to an intermediate level.
Although a vernacular written form of Cantonese does exist, in formal communications it is hardly used, as a majority of Chinese books, newspapers, and magazines published in Hong Kong, as well as public signs and notices, are written in standard Chinese, which is effectively the same as Mandarin.
However, when it comes to spoken language, Cantonese and Mandarin are not mutually intelligible, as each Chinese character is pronounced differently between the two languages. There are numerous words and phrases that are used exclusively in colloquial Cantonese, so a Mandarin speaker needs to specifically learn them in order to understand spoken language.
Television and radio newscasts in Cantonese are a good starting point for Mandarin speakers to learn Cantonese pronunciation, as they tend to be scripted in a formal language that resembles standard written Chinese. On the other hand, movies and TV dramas are the hardest as they contain numerous colloquial words and expressions unique to Cantonese.
In my case, I practiced my ear to get used to Cantonese by listening to newscasts. Thanks to my persistence, it didn’t take me long to figure out how most commonly used Chinese characters are pronounced in Cantonese. As for distinctly Cantonese words and phrases, I memorized hundreds of them using flashcards, and reinforced my newly acquired knowledge by watching numerous Hong Kong movies.
Unfortunately, my Cantonese studies tapered off as I got busier with other pursuits, such as my English and French studies. I hardly even get around to learning Mandarin these days, as I have only so much spare time to devote to language learning. My Cantonese remains at an intermediate level, and I still come across a few unknown words in an episode of a Hong Kong television drama. Unless I am willing to invest a substantial amount of time and energy into learning Cantonese, the status quo is unlikely to change.
For better or worse, due to my personality, with the exception of English, my interest in a foreign language ebbs and flows, so I can’t stay dedicated to learning one specific language forever. My current focus is French, but my interest in this language might diminish one day, at which time Cantonese might reclaim its status as my top-priority language to learn.
This is a common predicament faced by learners of multiple languages like me, who are interested in many languages while being mindful that spreading yourself too thin across various languages can lessen your chance of success in mastering any language. I guess I need to follow my heart and continue studying whatever language interests me most. Regardless of what language comes out on top, I hope to remain at peace with my own choice and have no regrets.
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