What Do You Want to Learn? Plus A Food Gal Giveaway for CourseHorse

Cooking up a storm in a CourseHorse class. (Photo courtesy of CourseHorse)

Cooking up a storm in a CourseHorse class. (Photo courtesy of CourseHorse)

 

One of my great regrets in life is not learning Cantonese as a child.

I blame my oldest brother for this.

You see, my parents sent him to Chinese school so he would learn the native tongue of my grandparents. They thought he was doing great — until my uncle let it slip that he saw my oldest brother playing basketball after school every day, which is when he should have been in Chinese school.

So much for that.

My parents, no doubt defeated by that experience, never even tried to send my other brother or me to Chinese school.

In high school, I had another chance to study Chinese. Mine was one of the few high schools at the time that offered courses in Mandarin. Not exactly my family’s mother tongue, but at least in the ballpark.

But what did I do instead? I took French, because I thought it sounded so pretty.

Yup, that one I have only myself to blame.

If only there was an easy way to learn now. Well, there just might be. CourseHorse is a start-up educational program that offers access to classes on everything from — yes — Mandarin to architecture to computer programming to pilates barre to sushi making.

I haven’t had time to check out that Mandarin class. At least not yet. But CourseHorse offers classes in a host of cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, DC. It is in beta launch right now in San Francisco, too. For a full list of cities, click here.

CONTEST: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a free class valued at up to $50 from CourseHorse. Entries, limited to those who can take a class in the locations served by CourseHorse, will be accepted through midnight PST April 1. The winner will be announced April 3.

How to win?

You’ve already read what I regret not studying in life. Just tell me what you most want to learn — and why. Best answer wins the gift card.

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6 comments

  • Best way we learned Cantonese was just speaking it at home. Studying it is really hard. Which is why I can’t read Chinese characters.

  • LOL. That’s sorta what I did when I wanted to skip Chinese school. 😀

  • LOL, I remember my Chinese school at the church…I hated, and now I thank my parents for all the effort they went through…
    It’s never too late to learn!
    Have a great week Carolyn 🙂

  • Sausage making in Berkeley!

  • Carolyn,
    No worries, even if you don’t speak formal Cantonese, I bet you speak “dim sum” and you can get by in a Cantonese restaurant. Funny when I was growing up in the Bay Area, speaking Chinese meant speaking Cantonese. Boy have times changed and now we’re in the minority with the flood of Mandarin speaking families from Taiwan, China and elsewhere. I think I’d rather learn Italian than Mandarin.

  • Debbie: It’s true — besides being able to count to 10 (!!!), saying “thank you,” “how are you?” and “happy new year” — the only other Cantonese words I know are all food-related. Too funny!

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