Learn to Speak Taishanese 1: A Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Conversational Taishanese Chinese

When is it too late to learn about someone’s past? Or even the present?

To Amy, a 20-year old college student from San Francisco, life was too busy to wrap her mind around silly questions like this one, until she found out that her grandmother, or Popo in Chinese, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This memory disorder not only took away Popo’s identity, but also her speech abilities, leaving her with the use of only her mother tongue: Taishanese.

With Popo’s progressive memory loss each day, Amy knew the answer to her question was: tomorrow would be too late. The only way to connect with Popo again was by building a bridge between them. Learning Taishanese was that bridge.

In this book, you will join Amy’s journey to reconnect with her grandma using Taishanese in San Francisco’s Chinatown. From having dim sum to describing her favorite pastimes, Amy will teach you everything you need to know to master basic conversational Taishanese.