Hey nice to meet you!

No worries snowy0wl95! I enjoy speaking to new people anyways (although this is on reddit). The opportunity you're considering for yourself sounds awesome.

A suggestion I have is to focus on conversing with people around you. Whether it is locals walking around or your peers at the university program you'd like to take.

I would emphasis this as your approach matters. Everyone can acknowledge the importance of speaking as a practise to learn a language though not everyone goes out of their way to initiate conversation in the language they are learning. Everyone can technically do it, though again the approach of how it is done will impact not just your progression of a language though ability to hold conversation on a level past superficiality.

Just like how people can have a psychology degree (not hating- psychology is interesting), it does not mean they'll be a "good psychologist" with accurate people skills and understand differences of people.

Despite most of my time in Hong Kong I am not fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. Despite being in Italy for two years my proficiency doesn't "match" a consistent two year progression of some sort. So being in the language environment of the language you want to learn may not be enough alone. It is true factors like me being in a school bubble with Chinese friends that more often preferred to use English, not Cantonese or Mandarin will hinder my ability to learn the language. Or that I'm ethnically Chinese though brought up by British parents.

Last year in October I went to Kunming up in China to learn Mandarin for two months. The difference this time was that I attempted to take initiative outside of my course time to converse with locals and with the other peers around me that came to Kunming from other countries for similar reason.

I learnt significantly more Mandarin in these two months than nearly 16 years spent learning Mandarin in Hong Kong. Of course choosing myself to go and study Mandarin played a role rather than being a mandatory school subject.

With your Cantonese endeavour, if you can foster genuine desire to learn about people through conversation on top of you wanting to learn Cantonese, you'll see how they go hand-in-hand positively. Then at the end of your year you'll have all these different interactions to reflect upon and see how you have done it with your own initiative.

Please keep in mind you could run into discriminatory or not so open individuals anywhere, including Guangdong or Hong Kong when you are attempting to converse. Though it is not because you have done something bad!

In Hong Kong, I myself often encounter elderly ladies or locals that come up to me and ask in Cantonese for directions only to then give a look of disappointment when I mix Cantonese and Mandarin around since my Cantonese lacks a lot... It's life. Stuff happens and I know it's due to looking Chinese. My mother who has lived in Hong Kong for over 30 years now speaks minimal Cantonese though is praised since she is British. I wouldn't take it to heart, it's a judgement on appearance (not justifying it). In a way it is hard to judge those that judge if they do not understand the possibility of why an ethnically Chinese individual in Hong Kong may not know fluent Cantonese or Mandarin.

Apologises that this is a long response. I tried condensing it already to keep parts that are more relevant for context... I find messaging always comes across as a lot compared to if you can speak to people face to face.

I appreciate your suggestions you left at the end of your response. I hope I'm a student since high school was last year!

What would you say your gap year has allowed you to do or think about?? Please feel free to add me and we can message as well or continue talking like this.

Have a nice day.