Before language learning became a hobby:
My language learning journey started as a child initially I went to a Chinese complementary school to learn my parent’s native language: Cantonese.
Unfortunately, the teachers expected the children to be able to able to speak fluent Cantonese by the time they went to the complementary school so as someone who didn’t speak it, I had a lot of trouble.
Fast forward to secondary school, we learnt French and I scored an A in GCSE. Unfortunately, my passion for learning languages didn’t start until 2020 when we faced lockdowns all around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When language learning became one of my passions:
Before then I was really into playing computer games – it was my main passion and interest. However, after feeling like it was getting too addictive and taking up too much of my time I quit and picked up new hobbies – one of them was language learning.
Initially, I used Duolingo to learn Mandarin Chinese but after realising that my family spoke Cantonese Chinese, I decided to switch over to learning Cantonese. I started with CantoneseClass101’s Cantonese Udemy course and then studied with their website.
Thousands of lessons and 500 hundreds of studying later I am comfortably now an advanced C1 learner who can function well in the language. How did I do it?
Much of language learning is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes a daily habit of many hours to build up over months and years to build fluency – which I realised shortly after realising the enormous library of lessons the website has that I studied with.
Early on I realised there are no shortcuts to learning a new language. You can try to cram in information several hours a day but that would just lead to burn out and you will not remember most of what you have studied.
It’s a bit like studying for a test in school, you do it in parts leading up to the test instead of cramming so that the information gets stored in your long-term memory. It’s only when you realise you cannot cram a language and there are no shortcuts, and a lot of people give up that it is truly something special once you do reach fluency in another language.
As an advanced learner, I can now enjoy many aspects of the Cantonese language such as books, TV shows & movies, writing in Chinese, and speaking to my friends from Hong Kong in the language.
Future language learning plans:
My future goal is to become a polyglot / multi-lingual. I am currently improving my Cantonese and am currently in the absolute beginner stages of Mandarin Chinese. At the very least I want to become fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese as well as other languages.
The next two languages that I may be interested in studying are Japanese and Korean. This is due to the rich culture and entertainment available in both languages.
But most of all if I had to pick one out of these two it’ll be Japanese due to my previous passion for anime and manga in the past. I can see this passion being rekindled once I learn Japanese to a good enough level.
Conclusion:
What drives me to learn languages is a passion and desire in enjoying the process and the result. What’s your reason why? Here’s 10 top reasons to study a foreign language. Let me know in the comments below.
Enoch Cheung says
This sounds very interesting. I have always wanted to learn Cantonese properly as my parents speak it. Any tips to get me started?
matthew_mo says
Yep; I recommend starting by finding a beginner’s course or textbook that is structured and that can take you through the basics. Some examples here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Cantonese-Beginner-Intermediate-Course/dp/1473600820/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FDI89BF2UVKF&keywords=complete+cantonese&qid=1677931930&sprefix=complete+cantonese%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-1
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com
https://www.pimsleur.com/
Next is to make it a daily habit; I recommend scheduling in 15 mins a day or so or even 30 mins or more if you have the time. Little each day works best I find.
Once you are intermediate you can start learning by using the language and talking to others etc, but I still recommend to follow an intermediate course if you wish to get to advanced level.
For another blog post about this check this out:
https://langapprentice.com/language-learning/how-to-start-learning-cantonese-other-languages-well/
Hope this helps!
Any other questions let me know.
Thanks,
Matthew.