1. Make the choice of focusing on speaking only
Interesting enough, this is the same approach as Benny.
Carlos said it is tempting to want to learn to read and write Chinese but he would rather be really great at speaking only, than to be average in speaking, reading and writing. If you are only average in speaking, reading and writing, there is no “wow” factor at all. If you are great at speaking Cantonese only, you are able to not only wow the locals every time you open your mouth, you can also communicate with the natives more effectively.
2. Learn the romanization of Cantonese first, do not learn by ear
Carlos uses the Yale romanization system which was developed for English speakers and takes into account the sound and the 6 tones in Cantonese.
He recommends using a romanization system so you are taking out the guess work and inconsistency of playing it by ear. Imagine learning English without the alphabet and only learning by ear.
Who would do that? No one.
Why would anyone attempt to learn a language with 6 tones without a romanization system? It is pretty crazy if you think about that, no wonder Cantonese is “difficult”.
3. Learn the basic structure of Cantonese by speaking
Since you have an idea of how the tone and sound works, you can learn the basic sentence structures by practicing your speech with native speakers.
Cantonese is not a tense language, which means it does not distinguish past, present, and future in verb forms. There is no verb conjugation chart to study and there is no gender in the language unlike the Romance languages (woohoo). The structure is pretty straight forward and all it takes is practice.
4. Learn new vocabulary by writing it down
When you hear a new word that you don’t understand, try to write it down in romanization, then reproduce it to a Cantonese speaker.
The native speaker will understand you even if you are saying it correctly or not. In this way, you are training your listening and speaking skills at the same time.
5. Memorize new words
Once you double check the correct pronunciation and meaning of the words with a native speaker, you can memorize it.
Carlos memorizes new words by writing it down on a piece of paper as a list. You can try this technique as well.
Cover all the words except for the vocabulary at the top and move down the list by saying the words and the meaning out loud, one at a time, until the very last word on the list.
If you can’t recall a word at any time, start from the very top and try again.
6. Rinse and repeat 3-5
That’s it!