June 29 2006 - Cantonese Lessons

I’ve never been any good at learning languages. At various times in my life I’ve attempted to learn several different languages. I took Russian in high school, in the middle of the cold war. Do I remember it? Ha. I took Hebrew in college. I can still read it, but my vocabulary is limited to words that are common in basic Synagogue prayers. I took 6 weeks of Adult Ed Spanish before embarking on a trip to Central American in my 20’s. I actually remember more Spanish than Hebrew and Russian combined, but that’s because I actually had to use it during my travels.

My husband’s company provides us with language lessons. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to bother trying to learn another language. It was probably a hopeless task anyway. Cantonese was supposed to be impossible to learn, and Mandarin not much better. Besides, doesn’t everyone in Hong Kong speak English?

But after being here for a couple of weeks I realized that something was really bothering me. I love to eavesdrop on conversations in stores and on the street. I like to talk to strangers while waiting in line! At first it was fun listening to the strange sounds that people were making all around me. I think Cantonese is the most interesting-sounding language. It sounds to me like people are singing when they speak. But after awhile it started to drive me crazy that I couldn’t understand what people were saying. And, it proved to be a distinct disadvantage when I couldn’t tell taxi drivers where I wanted to go, or understand what people were saying in the wet market or the lanes. I wanted to know what was REALLY going on in Hong Kong.

So I made a decision to at least TRY to learn a little Cantonese. My husband’s company found me a teacher that would come to our apartment twice a week. Sandy is a sweet young lady, with a very patient manner, and a lot of experience teaching expats Cantonese and Mandarin. She started off teaching me the sounds that comprise the Cantonese language, and the basics of using the tones. The reason Cantonese is so difficult is that in its pure form it has 7 tones. Most Westerners can’t even HEAR all 7, let alone produce them, so most forms of instruction reduce the tones to 6, or less, at least at first. In addition some of the sounds used in Cantonese are very difficult for Westerners to pronounce. So each lesson we spend part of the time just practicing certain sounds and tones.

Each lesson builds a little on what I’ve learned the lesson before. Sandy wants me to listen to Cantonese TV and radio, plus the CD’s that come with my instruction book. I’m not supposed to practice for hours and hours by myself, at least not yet, since the chance that I will practice something incorrectly are great. But being a woman in the more advanced stages of middle-age, my short term memory is shot, so I have to practice my vocabulary. I’m having a hard time remembering some words and I end up making up strange little stories to help myself. The tones definitely make things a challenge, because I will think I know some word and will pronounce it triumphantly when Sandy asks me to, only to receive a mournful look in response. I’ll be puzzled; I could swear I got the word right. It will often turn out that I got the sounds for the word right, but the tones were wrong.

In order to help Westerners learn the tones, we are told to use our hands when we speak. Pronouncing a word with a high, rising tone? Move your hand up while you pronounce the word. Pronouncing a word with a low falling tone? Move your hand down as you say that word! During my lesson I look like I’m conducting a symphony!

Getting the tones wrong can be the difference between saying what you meant and insulting someone’s grandmother, so it pays to try to get them right. It is so against a Westerner’s nature, however, to speak like that. Just little things, like how we indicate a question, as opposed to how a Cantonese speaker does it, can be quite a challenge. If I raise my voice at the end of a word or a sentence in order to indicate a question, half the time I end up pronouncing the word incorrectly because I’ve used the wrong tone!

For the first couple of weeks of my lessons I really was afraid to try out any Cantonese in public. I was still listening to people’s conversations, but they all still sounded like slightly off-key singing. But something has happened this past week. All of a sudden bits and pieces of words are starting to pop out at me. I’ll be listening to a couple talk to each other in the grocery store, and all of a sudden I’ll realize that the lady just said “I have….” in Cantonese. It’s all I can do to resist the urge to grab her and announce, “You just said that you have something, didn’t you!!!” Also, while I am talking to a Chinese person in English, the Cantonese word for something will pop into my head. I’m starting to get brave enough to ask them, “That’s xxxx in Cantonese, isn’t it?” They usually have to correct my pronunciation at least a little, but I’m more-or-less right!

This morning I had my first real Cantonese conversation. One of the housekeepers was cleaning the mirrors in the elevator in my apartment building as I was going down to the gym. I said “Joh-sang!” (good morning). They are usually so astonished when a Western person attempts to speak Cantonese that they repeat whatever you say, and then burst into laughter. “Joh-sang!” she said, “hahaha!” Then she looked at me. She spoke a sentence in Cantonese. I didn’t understand the first part, but she made a running motion with her fingers and ended the sentence with the words “pao pao”. Omgosh, I thought, she’s asking me if I’m going running! Of course, I had no idea how to say, no, I’m going to go lift weights in the gym, but I smiled and said “O….” (which means “I”) and then made a weight-lifting motion with my hands. “Ah!” She replied, with another short exclamation. And I smiled right back as I got off the elevator…

I know I have a long road ahead of me. I doubt that I will ever get anywhere close to fluent in this language. But honestly, it’s been great fun so far. Sure, you don’t have to try to learn Cantonese in Hong Kong. I’ve met many people that have lived here for years and can’t speak a word. And yes, most locals know at least some English. But as I learn a little more each week I feel like a door to another side of Hong Kong is being opened for me. I’m just peaking around the door right now, but maybe after awhile it will open a little wider. I can’t wait to see what’s on the other side!