This is me holding an International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) chart
My Language Adventures
When I was nine years old, I asked my Dad to buy me some audio books and a dictionary in order to learn French. After about a year of study, I stopped, so I’ve forgotten most of what I’ve learned.
Back in 2010, I heard a Chinese (Mandarin) song while with some friends in a karaoke bar. I fell in love with the language and started learning it on my own. I then took a summer course in Dalian, China in 2011. After getting back to my country, I continued my studies at the Ateneo Confucius Institute, going through Intermediate three through six. In 2013, I took a basic Korean language course at the Korean Cultural Center of the Philippines. Recently, I’ve started learning Hiragana just to vary things a bit. Since I often go to Hong Kong as part of my work, I managed to pick up a smattering of Cantonese too.
Chinese Learning Resources
“千里之行，始于足下” — 老子
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Zi
Chinese is a challenging language to learn, but with commitment, it can be done even if you have no background at all. Here are some free resources to get you started.
Online Courses
Podcasts
Blogs
Language Exchange Meetup Groups (Philippines)
Cantonese
With help from The Eater’s Guide to Chinese Characters (J. McCawley).
jīnfried炒 cháaustir-fried煮 jyúboiled炸 jadeep-fried炆 mānsimmered炖 dahnstewed焗 guhkbaked蒸 jīngsteamed
http://wikitravel.org/en/Cantonese_phrasebook
https://sites.google.com/site/learncanto/lessons/unit-3/lesson-8
The word 啲di1 also serves the purpose of comparisons, like adding “-er”
Ex. Peng4di1平啲 – cheaper, faai3di1快啲 – faster
More Links
Notes
Hokkien / Fookien Notes
Chinese Talking Club
There are many more resources in ther internet, but the most important thing is to start now and develop a consistent habit of learning. Feel free to suggest other resources. I’ll continue to update this document as time goes by. 祝你学习愉快！