studychinese Posted January 28, 2018 at 09:54 AM Report Posted January 28, 2018 at 09:54 AM http://www.green-woodpress.com/products_detail.php?id=113 Has anyone used this book - A Shortcut to Cantonese (New Edition)? My Mandarin ability has come along quite a bit, and I would like to learn Cantonese at a basic level. What this book appears to do is leverage one's Mandarin ability to quickly gain ability in Cantonese language. Can anyone give a quick review? Quote
Flickserve Posted January 28, 2018 at 10:23 AM Report Posted January 28, 2018 at 10:23 AM Hehe. I think there are no shortcuts....given my own experience of not easily leveraging ability in Cantonese to learn Mandarin. In HK, there are textbooks for fluent Mandarin speakers to learn Cantonese. These are all written in Chinese. Quote
edelweis Posted January 28, 2018 at 11:11 AM Report Posted January 28, 2018 at 11:11 AM 47 minutes ago, Flickserve said: In HK, there are textbooks for fluent Mandarin speakers to learn Cantonese. These are all written in Chinese. What about the pronunciation, do they use the Latin alphabet or some other method? Quote
Hofmann Posted January 28, 2018 at 11:03 PM Report Posted January 28, 2018 at 11:03 PM In the same way that Germanic language speakers will learn other Germanic languages more quickly than those who don't speak any, Mandarin speakers will learn Cantonese faster than those who don't speak any Chinese languages. There is quite a bit of information to leverage, and it makes sense for textbook authors to take advantage of it. Quote
Flickserve Posted January 29, 2018 at 07:51 AM Report Posted January 29, 2018 at 07:51 AM 20 hours ago, edelweis said: What about the pronunciation, do they use the Latin alphabet or some other method? I passed the bookshop today and took a few photos. This particular book also comes with a CD of MP3. 2 Quote
edelweis Posted January 29, 2018 at 04:53 PM Report Posted January 29, 2018 at 04:53 PM thanks! interestingly the Mandarin text is in traditional characters. Quote
lechuan Posted January 29, 2018 at 10:27 PM Report Posted January 29, 2018 at 10:27 PM Just browsing through the book, each chapter is a dialogue, grammar notes, supplemental vocabulary lists, and pronunciation/listening exercises. Unfortunately, I can't give much of a review as I haven't actually tried learning Cantonese (yet). The "shortcut" part seems to be that when introducing each grammar part, it points out when it is different from Mandarin. It also lists all vocabulary in Jyutping pronunciation with Traditional Characters, Pinyin with Simplified Characters, and English. 1 1 Quote
Guest Posted February 5, 2018 at 08:32 AM Report Posted February 5, 2018 at 08:32 AM Quote What about the pronunciation, do they use the Latin alphabet or some other method? The English-language ones mostly use Yale or Jyutping. Some authors also derive their own systems (which is pointless since there are at least 12 established Romanization schemes for Cantonese). Much better to see if the book has a CD or not, and if so, how much of the content of the book is recorded. Quote
studychinese Posted September 23, 2018 at 10:47 AM Author Report Posted September 23, 2018 at 10:47 AM An update on this. I purchased the new edition of this book and it is VERY good. Rather than reinvent the wheel, it takes what you know of Mandarin, and tells you what is the same, and what is different between Cantonese and Mandarin. I thoroughly recommend it for people that already learned Mandarin wanting to learn some Cantonese. 3 Quote
New Members pulsebeat Posted February 16, 2026 at 02:52 PM New Members Report Posted February 16, 2026 at 02:52 PM Apologies for digging up an old thread, feel free to remove if it's against the forum rules. Was wondering if anyone had the audio recordings for A Shortcut to Cantonese textbook. It seems that the publisher Greenwood Press has gone out of business and their website has been taken down. Appreciate there are alternatives, but hoping on the off chance that someone has the recordings. Thanks in advance for your help! Quote
New Members 搜搜 Posted February 26, 2026 at 02:54 AM New Members Report Posted February 26, 2026 at 02:54 AM I have the book and the audio recordings. I've just put the latter on dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/znemvkzgbrwqmtmyv959e/AGwzBkejbutcwPkz_5Wr2bY?rlkey=1azlfr3feabs3gjllzb93y5xc&e=1&st=jty9xnyv&dl=0 1 Quote
New Members pulsebeat Posted February 26, 2026 at 12:13 PM New Members Report Posted February 26, 2026 at 12:13 PM On 2/26/2026 at 2:54 AM, 搜搜 said: I have the book and the audio recordings. I've just put the latter on dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/znemvkzgbrwqmtmyv959e/AGwzBkejbutcwPkz_5Wr2bY?rlkey=1azlfr3feabs3gjllzb93y5xc&e=1&st=jty9xnyv&dl=0 Thanks for the recordings! Unfortunately, the recordings don't appear to match up with the chapters in my book. I have the new edition (first published in 2013). Quote
New Members 搜搜 Posted March 1, 2026 at 04:04 AM New Members Report Posted March 1, 2026 at 04:04 AM Oh no! Shows how long ago I bought the book, must have been pre-2013.... Quote
New Members pulsebeat Posted March 1, 2026 at 09:54 PM New Members Report Posted March 1, 2026 at 09:54 PM On 3/1/2026 at 4:04 AM, 搜搜 said: Oh no! Shows how long ago I bought the book, must have been pre-2013.... No worries, thanks for the help anyway. Quote
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