Complete Cantonese: A Teach Yourself Guide (Teach Yourself Language) 2nd Edition

by Hugh Baker (Author), Pui-Kei Ho (Author)

11 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0071750608

ISBN-10: 0071750606

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It's easy to teach yourself Cantonese!

Complete Cantonese: A Teach Yourself Guide provides you with a clear and comprehensive approach to Cantonese, so you can progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking, and writing Cantonese with confidence.

Within each of the 24 thematic chapters, important language structures are introduced through life-like dialogues. You'll learn grammar in a gradual manner so you won't be overwhelmed by this tricky subject. Exercises accompany the texts and reinforce learning in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This program also features current cultural information boxes that reflect recent changes in society.

Features:

One and five-minute introductions to key principles to get you started

Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience

Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress

Extra online articles at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of the basics of the language

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hugh Baker taught Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, for 36 years. Ho Pui Kei teaches Cantonese as a foreign language in Hong Kong

Series: Teach Yourself Language
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 2 edition (January 10, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0071750606
ISBN-13: 978-0071750608
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.2 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
Customer Reviews: 8 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,400,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #368 in Chinese Language Instruction (Books)
- #7237 in Foreign Dictionaries & Thesauruses

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Dale

Dale Hayes

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I think this is a great book for learning cantonese. It uses the Yale system of romanization so you will need to get the hang of that first. Once you do it will become much easier to pronounce what you read. With no background in this language I've been studying cantonese for about three years and have found that for me the Yale system is the best. Having said that I must add that this book is great for learning to read and write chinese characters. If I had to do it over I would start out learning to read the dialogues in the characters rather than any romanized system. This will slow you down some but you will find that as you progress you will understand new words better when you see characters used that you already recognize. As far as pronounciation is concerned I had a lot of help from cantonese speaking friends. Also I used the Pimsleur 30 CD audio course which is excellent for learning pronouciation. I wish Pimsleur had additional more advanced courses available for additional study. I personally feel that once you have a basic familiarization with this book, say 8 to 10 chapters, you would then have great success with the Pemsleur course. After that finnish up with this book.Pimsleur reccomends that you use no other course with their's but I think getting the basics with this book first would be better. That's my oppinion anyway. The only down side of this book is in each chapter there is no english translation for the dilogue. You must rely on vocabulary that you have built as you've progressed. Also I am now ordering my third copy of the book because they just fall apart with use. I'll admit I can be a little hard on study books.
The bottom line is you can't go wrong with this book and I absolutely love studying cantonese.

17 people found this helpful

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Frankie

A awesome book to get started in Cantonese but it's far from perfect...

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Complete Cantonese: A Teach Yourself Guide by Hugh Baker is a great book to get started with when you want to learn Cantonese. This book uses Yale Cantonese Romanization which is the most intuitive Romanization system for native English speakers. The book is broken up into 26 different chapters with two dialogues and sets of vocabulary each. There are also short exercises at the end of each chapter to back up what you have learned. Furthermore, there are grammatical explanation sections as well as cultural insight sections throughout the chapters to ensure that you not only learn the grammatical mechanics of Cantonese, but the culture behind it as well. There is also a Cantonese to English dictionary in the back of the book that you can use to look up the specific meanings of words you have covered, and what chapter in the book the word first appeared. There is also a grammatical summary section in the back of the book that summarizes all of the Cantonese grammar taught throughout the book. Finally, there are four revision sections that use all of the vocabulary and grammar up until that point in the book. By mastering these revision sections you can ensure that you have not missed much in the past chapters of the book. The only downside is that there are not Cantonese characters for these revision sections. therefore, you have to depend on your Cantonese knowledge up until that point to figure out what is being said(99% of native Cantonese speakers cannot read Cantonese Romanization and will be unable to help you).

I really like this book and use it when I conduct my Cantonese lessons, but there are several things about this book that need to be fixed in future revisions. First, my biggest gripe with Complete Cantonese is that it still uses a seventh "high falling tone" in Cantonese. While this is great for reference, the truth is that the "high falling tone" has become combined with the "high tone" in modern Cantonese, and is rarely distinguished anymore except in a few rare cases. Therefore, you will need to go through the entire book and change all of the "high falling tones" into "high tones" which can be troublesome and annoying. Second, the recordings do not match the dialogues in the lessons. This is because the book has been revised several times and the publisher never bothered to update the recordings to reflect these changes. Third, many of the Cantonese characters used in the book are not standard. I suppose you can argue that there is no standard set of characters for Cantonese, but there is an unofficial set used by native Cantonese speakers, and book does not use them. Fourth, some of the phrasing in this book are rather outdated and awkward in 2014. There is nothing worse than wasting your time learning something archaic that will result in a native speaker laughing at you when you say it. Fifth, the binding of this book is rather cheap. I treat my books with care, but this book has fallen apart on me a few different times(I'm on my third copy). Sixth, the book uses "lak" an awful lot when a simple "la" would do just fine. Seventh, this books mixes up the ' and ' characters constantly. The Romanization is always correct, but the characters are constantly switching around(' is typically "tone one" while ' is typically "tone 3"). Finally, the book progresses at a fast pace for many learners. I've had several students complain to me that this book moves along too fast. Therefore, I have to frequently supplement the material in this book with Colloquial Cantonese, so that my students are more comfortable with the combined grammar and vocabulary of both books to move along in this book.

In any case, despite these shortcomings, I think this book is the best readily available Cantonese book on the market today. It's very consistent and seriously challenges the learner to improve their Cantonese at a rapid rate. Once you master the Yale system and are familiar with the tones in Cantonese, you will have a strong enough foundation to take full advantage of this book. After you have mastered this book, you will possess the skills to move on to the intermediate level in Cantonese and beyond. If Complete Cantonese: A Teach Yourself Guide is your first step in your Cantonese journey, it's a step well placed.

PROS:
* Detailed introduction to the Yale Cantonese Romanization system.
* Detailed description of the Cantonese tonal system.
* Yale Romanization most intuitive Cantonese Romanization system for native English speakers.
* 26 uniquely different chapters each with two dialogues and sets of vocabulary.
* The dialogues and vocabulary are interesting and practical.
* Cultural insight sections that explain Hong Kong and Cantonese culture.
* Detailed grammatical explanations as well as a grammatical summary section in the back of the book.
* Recordings to accompany the dialogues(a bit inaccurate though).
* Four revision chapters that summarize everything you have learned up until that point.
* A Cantonese to English dictionary in the back of the book.
* Fairly inexpensive.

CONS:
* The seventh "high falling tone" in Cantonese is included which is not really distinguished anymore in modern Cantonese.
* Recordings don't match the dialogues.
* Cantonese characters are not standard and are at times awkward.
* Some outdated and awkward phrasing that is not used anymore in 2014.
* Binding is weak and the book will eventually fall apart with regular use.
* Some of the characters are outright incorrect, but the Romanization is always correct(stick with that when in doubt).

13 people found this helpful

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Daniel Tkach

Best Book to Learn Cantonese Out There

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Others have reviewed this book with more details (see the reviews by Frankie and Dale) and their account is spot on as to the book's pros and cons. There seems to be a lack of quality English-Cantonese resources available and this is probably the best one I've seen.

I'm using the Pimsleur CDs and find they're a little too slow paced for me (I did have a bit of Cantonese background through my wife's family), though the book is probably a bit too fast. Combined, it's about right for me. I'll probably add in some Anki flashcards too. I've had the book about a month and in general this book is well written (it has more voice than most textbooks and even a sense of humor), well structured (builds on previous words), and focuses on practical things to help you.

FYI you can also find the book's audio dialogues on Youtube.

One person found this helpful

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Joel Bjorling

venture into Cantonese

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a very interesting book. You can actually learn to read Cantonese, but the book uses syllables rather than characters. You kind of use sentence patterns to read. There are characters in the book, but it does not focus on them (that comes later). Personally, I'd like to learn them both, but you can make progress with Cantonese, even without the characters.

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Anne Maclean

Good solid course

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Combined with CDs, this book/course will give you a solid grounding in the language and grammar. Clearly set out and logical approach.

One person found this helpful

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Diana M. Raguso

Learn a more exciting form of Chinese !

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

It seems like everybody's learning Mandarin Chinese these days. But you will find Cantonese to be a lot more fun and "way cooler"! I think one of the reasons I am so attracted to this lively language is the fact that The People's Republic of Chine is trying to stamp it out-----I want to learn it before it's too late.

5 people found this helpful

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Rowan Wiiliams

Good textbook, but a bit simple if you already speak Mandarin

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2013

Verified Purchase

Having already studied Mandarin for several years, this book was the textbook used for our Cantonese module. If you already speak Mandarin, it becomes clear that most of the grammar is identical and many Cantonese sounds simply change systematically from their Mandarin counterparts. Because of this, the book could be a bit basic and easy for your needs. If you don't speak Mandarin, then the book is an enjoyable and simple to understand starting point for learning Cantonese. That said, given that Cantonese is primarily a spoken language, getting the audio materials for the book is a crucial, but expensive, addition. Without them (or a Cantonese teacher/friend to guide you), it'll take longer to improve your language skills, and you won't be able to tell if you're saying things correctly or not.

4 people found this helpful

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Darren Wedge

Great Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2014

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Great book full of detail. Cos are good and very helpful

One person found this helpful

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Nomen

Demasiado rudimentario. No usa apenas caracteres Hantai. Todo ...

Reviewed in Spain on December 9, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Demasiado rudimentario. No usa apenas caracteres Hantai. Todo escrito latinizado. Decepción. Loi compré para mejorar mi japonés pero creo que no me lo sirve.

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