Product Description

Cantonese Basic Course

This is the principal language of Kwangtung province in Southeast China, parts of neighboring Kwangsi province, Hong Kong, and Macao. In addition it is spoken by many people in Southeast Asia, and is the original language of many Chinese-Americans; some 50 million people in the world speak it. It has many dialects, but the Prestige variety, spoken in Canton, is standard, and is used over a wide area, including Hong Kong; these tapes are made in the Prestige dialect. The course is divided into two levels; each book has a handy glossary presenting a romanization, characters, and a brief definition. Level One comes with 15 tapes and a book; Level Two 14 Tapes and a book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6337090 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 410 pages

Customer Reviews

Great program for learning Cantonese
Before I began working with this program, I worked with Pimsleur's Cantonese, which I found very helpful, together with attempting to pick words from watching numerous HK movies - so for me the beginning lessons in this course were relatively easy.

This course begins with extensive pronounciation drills, and given the fact that Cantonese is a tonal language, drills almost felt like singing lessons, which was fun.

FSI Cantonese program has two levels - each one comprises 15 lessons. The entire Cantonese text is romanized. Chinese characters are provided (handwritten) only in vocabulary lists. I am happy that they are provided, but in order for them to have any meaning for you, you'd have to get other books / programs for writing Chinese characters. Good beginner program for learning to read and write Chinese characters would be Easy Chinese Tutor.

This program does guide you through grammar, and the best part of the program are numerous drills - my favorite being "substitution exercises" which help to thoroughly assimilate the material covered in each lesson.

In all the years of learning numerous foreign languages and working with many different methods and courses, I have found the drills provided through FSI language programs, to lead to the fastest proficiency in mastering the language.