Cantomandorean

I don’t know if it’s a good idea to study more than one language at the same time, but I’ve been doing that for the past year. For one year after coming back from Korea, I reviewed my French from over 10 years ago since high school. It actually wasn’t too hard to recover what was lost in the recesses of my memory. However, it’s probably starting to get lost again because I’ve switched over to learning Mandarin. Throughout all this time, I’ve been steadily learning Korean as well. It sometimes becomes tricky switching from one language to another. There are times where I mix words up. For example, number 2 in Korean is exactly the same as number 1 in Mandarin, so I’ve said the wrong number a few times, not to mention the grammar is completely different.

Cantonese

I was born in Vancouver, but my parents are from Hong Kong, so I grew up learning both English and Cantonese. English was my first language outside of the home, but with my parents I spoke and continue to speak Cantonese. I would say I’m pretty fluent in Cantonese; I’m able to understand and converse perfectly fine, unless the topic includes technical terms. Things like news broadcasts have those words sometimes, but I still understand generally what the story is about. I mean, it can be the same with English. What I’m lacking in is the ability to read and write Chinese. I can maybe read about a third of a Chinese newspaper; writing is even worse…maybe half or less of what I can read. Learning Mandarin has been helping in this regard.
Skills I want to improve: reading and writing (slowly through Mandarin)

Mandarin

It’s always difficult when I try to explain that Cantonese is also Chinese. Most people think Mandarin; there have been many cases where someone would say ni hao when I say I’m Chinese. In any case, recently I started learning Mandarin, for my new job’s sake, but also because I just enjoy learning languages and I’ve wanted to learn Mandarin. I’m taking a Beginner 2 course at UBC Robson and it’s actually pretty fun even though the class is going a bit slow for me. My teacher and classmates make it enjoyable. I’ve studied a bit of Mandarin on my own before and because of my Cantonese background, the Beginner 2 level material is pretty simple, but I think it’s where I need to start. For me, listening and speaking are most important for me right now. Reading and writing are a bonus as I’m learning. I’ll be updating my progress on this blog as I continue learning.
Skills I want to improve: listening & speaking

Korean

Even though I just started learning Mandarin, I think my Mandarin listening skills are better than my Korean listening skills in terms of understanding the first time someone says something. I have seen some improvement over the past two and a half years, but I think it could’ve been a lot better had I put more focus on the listening aspect. For example, during this time I’ve watched many many Korean dramas and variety shows as well as listened to many K-pop songs, but there were only a few times where I really tried to understand what they were saying or singing. Usually, I would just enjoy the show or song with the English subtitles. Don’t get me wrong though, there are tons of words and phrases that I learned or were reinforced as a result of watching the shows or listening to the music, especially the ones that are repeated over and over within a drama and/or across all dramas. I immediately know what these words and phrases mean without thinking too much in English. What’s difficult are the complex sentences, changes in formality and the different types of phrase/sentence endings.
Skills I want to improve: listening & speaking

What are some tips you have for learning how to read, write, listen or speak a language better? What have you tried and found effective? Have you ever tried learning more than one language at the same time? How was it? I would appreciate your suggestions and comments!