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Course

Cantonese for Communication I

LACH-40021

Over 85 million people in the world speak Cantonese.  It is the third most spoken language in China, and it is also widely spoken amongst Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, and throughout the Western world. This three-credit introductory course is designed for heritage Cantonese speakers, Mandarin speakers and non-Chinese speaking learners who are interested in Cantonese language and culture. In this course, introduction to Cantonese Phonetic Jyutping, and topics of daily life such as basic greetings and conversations, numbers, dates and times, money, and family will be taught. The course focuses primarily on speaking skills and listening comprehension and will be oriented towards proficiency in basic Cantonese characters and sentence patterns.

https://extendedstudies.ucsd.edu/about-us/academic-calendar
 

Course Information

Live Online
3.00 units
$395.00

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Course sessions

Closed

Section ID:

198898

Class type:

Synchronous web-based class meetings that are scheduled to meet online at published times (time/date).

Textbooks:

Modern Cantonese Book 1: A textbook for global learners 1st
by Siu-lun Lee
ISBN / ASIN: 9780367539092

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 6/25/2026

Schedule:

Date Day Start End
6/22/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
6/24/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
6/29/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/1/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/6/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/8/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/13/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/15/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/20/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/22/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/27/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
7/29/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/3/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/5/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/10/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/12/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/17/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/19/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/24/2026 Mon 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
8/26/2026 Wed 3:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
Closed

Instructor: Areana Chen

Areana Chen
Areana Chen is a native of China with over 31 years of experience teaching Chinese language and culture to non-heritage students of all ages at different institutions, both in USA and Canada. Areana earned her MD in China and MSc in Canada. She’s been teaching at San Diego State University and UC San Diego for over ten years. In addition to her teaching experience, Areana is also a professional translator and interpreter who works for CDE (California Department of Education), CABE (California Association for Bilingual Education), SDCOE (San Diego County of Education), and SBSD school district.  She is also a reviewer for one of the most popular Chinese series textbooks “Zhen Bang”. Areana develops her curriculum and teaching plan with the goal of students’ learning and advancement. She ensures learners will understand that in an era of global community, learning about the language and culture of those who are different than us is essential.
Cantonese Chinese is the third largest spoken language in China and over 85.5 million people speak Cantonese worldwide. Areana wishes that more people would have the opportunity to explore Cantonese language and culture.  
 
Full Bio
Closed

Section ID:

198971

Class type:

Synchronous web-based class meetings that are scheduled to meet online at published times (time/date).

Textbooks:

Modern Cantonese Book 1: A textbook for global learners 1st
by Siu-lun Lee
ISBN / ASIN: 9780367539092

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 6/26/2026

Schedule:

Date Day Start End
6/23/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
6/25/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
6/30/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/2/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/7/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/9/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/14/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/16/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/21/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/23/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/28/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
7/30/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/4/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/6/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/11/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/13/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/18/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/20/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/25/2026 Tue 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
8/27/2026 Thu 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
Closed

Instructor: Jia Ying (Jade) Wu

Jia Ying (Jade) Wu

Jade Wu completed her Teaching Certificate Program in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and TCSOL (Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages) from Teachers College, Columbia University and Beijing Language and Culture University in 2016. She has taught Chinese in classrooms of different sizes and ages, in both the U.S. and China.
 
Jade was born and raised in Guangdong, China, where Cantonese is one of the main dialects. She moved to Swartz Creek, Michigan at the age of 13 and spent most of her young adulthood living in New York City. Experiencing both Chinese and American cultures, she was often confused yet fascinated by the differences between them. In 2014, she created her website to teach Cantonese, Mandarin, and Taishanese to non-native speakers and develop her own Romanized system for Taishanese. She currently hosts two Cantonese language podcasts called Learn Cantonese Daily and Cantonese Diaspora. A former instructor at CUNY and NYU, she is the author of five language insturctional books: Learn to Speak Cantonese 1, Learn to Speak Cantonese 2, Learn to Speak Mandarin 1, Learn to speak Taishanese 1, and Journaling in Chinese.

Full Bio