St. Neots Chinese Society

UPDATE - Unfortunately the Chinese classes were cancelled in 2004, due to the local council not renewing their grant. The society still exists though.

The St. Neots Chinese Society run a friendly Chinese class at Ernulf School on Sunday mornings, 10am-11.30am. This class is taught by unpaid volunteers and they do an excellent job.

St. Neots is about a 25 minute drive from both Peterborough and Cambridge in the UK.

There are currently two classes running.

A beginners class, open to anybody who has an interest in learning the language. This is the class I go to and it has been running for two years. If you are a complete beginner you can still come along and we will help you learn the basics! The class does often focus on writing Chinese so bear that in mind if you only want to learn how to speak.
Intermediate - for fluent Chinese people who wish to continue their studies in reading and writing.

At the time of writing there is no charge for these Cantonese lessons aside from a £5.00 deposit for the text books.

It is undeniable that Cantonese is a difficult language for a westerner to learn. That said, after a few months of going to this class, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to read and write dozens (maybe over a hundred) chinese characters. These characters have the same meaning in Cantonese or Mandarin, so you are effectively learning two languages at once. You will also be able to speak and understand some basic sentences - definitely enough that you will understand the odd bit from a Hong Kong kung-fu film!

The society also teaches classes in Chinese Cookery (currently discontinued) and holds informal events to celebrate various Chinese Festivals.

If you are interested in going to one of the classes, please contact me for more information.

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