Like most Hong Kong drift groups, I am the native language of Mandarin , and I have basically never been exposed to Cantonese before. Fortunately, the positions I have been employed are all jobs that have contacted local guests, which increases the opportunity for practice and communication. I stayed in Hong Kong longer and communication was basically unhindered. But from time to time in life or work, I would hear these comments: "Where are you from? Sorry, I'm sorry to ask this. Actually, I feel that you shouldn't have grown up in Hong Kong..."
(I thought to myself, where did I grow up?...) In a nutshell, it's: I know you can say it, but I just think you are not authentic.
This time I wanted to take the Cantonese exam because of the first: A story of the experience officer seeing a boyfriend who was native to Mandarin and helping his local girlfriend take Mandarin. I found it very interesting. , because there is a free Cantonese instruction next to it, of course, you need to ask for more teaching. (The article link is here: I'm so hard to tutor my Hong Kong girlfriend in the Mandarin exam)
Second: Just before the idea of "What do you want, my Cantonese is like this" began to stabilize, I saw an exclusive interview with Malaysian singer Gin Lee. She is a person who doesn't speak Cantonese , and she can speak so seriously. I wrote a big word "心" in my heart (how can I compare it? Is it good to be a star + Virgo). There are many institutions that provide Cantonese exams. Although Zhongda seems to be very famous, in the past two years, I have begun to pay attention to news reports on the "Cantonese Audio Reading Test". I browsed their website and felt that their attachments were made very serious (later they told me that they really added each person and then integrated it with a computer).
It was August, and the official website said that it was held in January and June every year, so I am looking forward to applying for the next year. Maybe because of the epidemic, in early September, I actually heard the news of starting the exam. I thought I didn’t have to wait for so long, so I might as well give it a try. Fill in your personal information, selected exam time, etc. After I completed and paid for it, I received the paid voucher in my email.
Because my exam time and location were not repeated in the email, I basically forgot about this matter 7788 (that is why the following things happened one after another).
I basically only have the time to commute to take a look at the preparation materials. The notes I learned Cantonese before were like this: I read them myself first, then listen to my own pronunciation where I have a weird pronunciation, and then look up the dictionary and pronunciation of this word. The whole process is time-consuming.
OK, I thought I didn’t need to check the pronunciation now, and someone wrote it. This matter has become much easier... NO NO NO~~This has to do with each of us reading pinyin, but it has nothing to do with whether Mandarin is standard or not! When I started, I read it briefly two or three times, and then I boldly asked the teacher for advice. The gentleman found countless complaints, what is not read well enough, and the pronunciation is a bit exaggerated, how should it be improved? I didn't dare to be perfunctory. I read it eight or nine times before I dared to ask the teacher to comment. He said the fluency was better. After doing this a few times, the comments I received began to decrease.
Sometimes he reads it to me to let me feel the coherence of sentences and sentences. 's pronunciation gives people a different feeling. The connection between sentences is very natural, and I... it's more like a google pronunciation sound machine... (We read Mandarin thoroughly, it's hard to avoid the sound level, it's inevitable that it's not natural). But the sense of language really cannot be improved in two or three days. Later, when I finished reading it, my husband always said, "Well, that's all!", I knew I had been given up by my husband...
In addition to the fluency, the words entering tone are also a point of entry.For example, "inhalation" (kap1 jap6), the "p" sound at the end of the subsequent sound includes the pronunciation method of English, but because it is a light sound, it is easy to ignore it when pronunciation. For example, the "feeling" "gam2", "faint" (damm6), and the "awkward" "gam3" must be closed at the end to be considered complete.
and "station (zaam6)" of "subway station". After posting it for so many years, I realized that the word "tight" was to close my mouth (I finally convinced, why is my Cantonese language not standard). These pronunciation mechanisms that are completely unavailable in Mandarin, and for me, they are a good opportunity to improve.
exam date is Saturday, October 30. Because I haven't received any emails from this institution, I was a little nervous one week before the exam started. What should I do if I can’t receive the email again? Or, are they mailing? Then, it was all silent. On the agency's website, there is only one central email address, and one gmail seems to be unofficial. has nothing except these... (Hotline? No. Official address? No.) Two days before the exam was launched, I finally couldn't help it, so I sent an email to check it out. Then there was still silence. On Friday night, I decided to take the exam without receiving any emails or letters (or what do you think?). said to the gentleman a little frustrated, "Oh, it's been absurd this time. I thought it was trustworthy with the news! Forget it, the application fee is a waste of money."
Then, on the day of the exam, I went out to have sex with my kids. Before leaving, there was a call from my mobile phone number. After I answered it, I found that the other party made a mistake. As a result, in the baby-sliding, a phone call with the word "this word" came at about 11 o'clock. My child is still young and I am the only one by my side. Of course, I "had a lot of money to take care of my child" and thought someone made a mistake again, so I didn't answer.
Who knew that when I got home at around two o'clock and found that I had left a message, I felt that this matter was not that simple. After listening to , I realized that they had notified me at 11 o'clock that they would come to the exam at 12 o'clock. My first reaction is, how do you do it? Come with your baby? Is it better to tell me about this earlier? So, in a little anger, he immediately called back and complained. The other party patiently listened to my complaints and finally decided to notify me if there was a date for the make-up exam.
When I closed the line, I felt that I was actually very wrong. The other party can't make this call, just let me give up. If someone calls him, at least he is responsible, at least my money has not been wasted.
After the previous round of calls, I received an email in Chinese. I think is still sincere. So after several rounds of emails, the exam date was finally set.
According to the above picture, the examination place has been mentioned, so I thought it would be better to ask how to get the route (I am so stupid as I am). Their reply was very fast and told me that the location has changed now. Well, I think I am Chengdasheng? This is definitely not a problem. But...where is the city?
They also responded very quickly (it was a reply at 7 o'clock in the morning), but only gave me the classroom code. And I don’t know if it’s because of my too many problems, the language communication of emails has changed from Chinese to English. I think English is not a problem (do you need to use emails every day), but with this classroom code name, I, a city student, didn’t have the confidence to find it... After a round of emails, we finally decided to meet at the city gate at 9 a.m.
At this moment, I realized who was always replying to me in English. Her next model is Dr. Lau. I think based on my experience in the mainland, I should be a lady with a pair of glasses on her nose, which is very academically majestic. Before the official exam of , I already felt that although they were mysterious, the response was quick and the attitude was very sincere.
I got up early that day and expected it to take an hour to drive, and I set off about an hour and a half ago.I can take East Railway from Hung Hom , and it seems that I have enough time. who knew that it was about to arrive at Hung Hom, and was told that the route connecting Hung Hom and Kowloon Tong of the East Railway Line was suspended due to the blockage. I want to get out from the ground floor of Hung Hom to the ground and turn to the Tunma Line, take six or seven stations to , big ward and take the bus back. There seems to be no better way. Only in this way can the car be transferred.
On the way, I emailed Dr. Lau and said I might be late. In less than a minute, I received her kind reply. I feel relieved. I arrived at Kowloon Tong Station and ran all the way, and there were still three minutes to nine o'clock.
When I was taking the elevator, I noticed that there seemed to be a lady in a white suit standing there alone in the shopping mall. via phone, I knew that this person was Dr. Lau. When I walked with her, I couldn't help but exclaimed: Wow, she looks younger than me (because I am not young anymore, compared to myself, she is definitely young and promising), and she is already so high! Her clothes and dressing are very fashionable!
And, if nothing unexpected happens, the first time I contacted me by phone, I was sprayed with Dr. Lau (where is there a hole in the ground for me to get into). She also told me that if there is no special reason (for example, for the candidate's own reasons), the make-up exam will basically not be accepted. Because they also have to arrange their manpower time, which is more troublesome. But because of my special circumstances, they decided to accommodate me as appropriate.
After we registered at the university gate, I followed Dr. Liu to turn from here to there. When I was ready, it was almost 9:30. I came to the examination room, and I was the only candidate in the examination room. Dr. Liu asked me to relax first. She spread out the materials to be read in front of me and told me that the current one is pronunciated, and the one for the formal exam will not be pronunciated later.
Then she asked me if I was ready, and then I started. At this time, the scene was silent... (only she and me) Then Dr. Liu pressed the recorder and said that it was possible to start now. then! ! A broadcaster suddenly broadcasted on the scene, saying that a fire drill is going to be done now! And the broadcast is constantly repeated.
Dr. Liu was a little confused... The manpower time he had finally collected wasted again. This little episode made me calm down, and my nervous heart began to calm down (Dr. Liu would do this, what are you afraid of), and then I asked to try it after the radio stopped.
Fortunately this time, no sound appeared again, and I also completed the exam quietly. After the exam was completed, I felt that this morning was quite interesting. I am very grateful to them for taking time and staff to arrange the exams for me alone.
The exam was completed early in the morning, and no one was seen on campus
When I first started learning Cantonese, the comments I received were positive. What a shame, you can speak Cantonese! Before work, the use of Cantonese is limited to understanding and communicating with locals, so the reason for these comments is that the expectations are not too high. In the working environment, local people use local accents as the standard. When everyone else is fucking an authentic accent, if you can't catch one and a half of your voice, the audience will feel something strange. This is not because my Cantonese language has become worse, but because the audience requirements have increased.
Thank you very much for having such a group of people in Hong Kong who silently contribute to our language learning, provide free high-quality textbooks and provide considerate make-up exam arrangements for making exceptions. I also feel that language is just a way to understand. As long as everyone starts from the heart and understands each other, the mood will always be a sunny day.
(Author of this article: Ms. Koo)
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