a. keep your mouth shut
b. use a circumlocution (e.g. “smelly” + “fruit” for ‘durian’)

c. code-switch to English
d. gesture or point (e.g. I want one of “THOSE”)
e. look up the word in a dictionary
f. ask the person you’re talking to

There’s no right or wrong answer. But there will be implications for your learning of Cantonese depending on which you choose. Clearly some of the options have more desirable outcomes than others.

Choose a. and you lose in two ways. First, you won’t get what you want because nobody understands what you’re trying to say. Second, you won’t learn any Cantonese or practice what you already know. At least if you choose b. you can practice using Cantonese.

Option c. is also pretty useless and is essentially a cop out. You don’t get to practice speaking Cantonese. Neither do you learn anything new. You also reinforce a pattern of communication that’s all too common in Hong Kong – locals speak English to “outsiders” – even when the outsider can speak Cantonese. All it takes is one tiny dis-fluency and a Cantonese conversation can quickly change into an English one. If you’re a serious learner of Cantonese, you’ll surely want to avoid this.

Option d. will likely get you what you want – assuming it’s a concrete object. You won’t learn any new words, though.

How about e.? Well, it has its pitfalls, too. Look up the word in a dictionary and you risk finding an outdated, incorrect or just plain different word from that used by most Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong. This option may or may not be helpful for your Cantonese. Unless you carry a dictionary around with you, you also won’t get to practice speaking Cantonese. Even if you do, will your average stressed out Hong Konger have the time and patience to help a struggling Cantonese NooB learn a new word in their language? Go ahead and see what happens. I wish you luck!

This leaves us with option f. Potentially, you win in two ways. First, you get to ask in Cantonese. Next, assuming the other person understands you and wants to help, you will learn a new Cantonese words.

What I described above is a “communication strategy”. It is a way of handling situations where your language skills are lacking. As a beginning language learner, these situations will be all too numerous. But, with a few simple Cantonese phrases, you can prepare yourself for the inevitable. Even better, though, is that by understanding how communication strategies work, you’ll be able to choose positive techniques for building on your existing skills and therefore compensating for any deficiency.

Choices such as a. and c. above are the least helpful. These are actually “avoidance strategies”. By using them we make no attempt to resolve our deficiency. In Hong Kong, you will frequently have the ultimate avoidance strategy at your disposal – speaking English.

On the other hand, option e. is the ultimate compensatory strategy that puts you in control of the communication AND also adds to your linguistic inventory. Even if the other person insists on speaking English, you are making it practically impossible for them NOT to speak Cantonese (one word, at least!). Regardless of who you are communicating with, by using this strategy, you have a good chance of adding to your daily vocabulary, while at the same time actually communicating in Cantonese.

My latest video for learning Cantonese is aimed at NooBs. It teaches you one phrase that will help you gain control of communicating in Cantonese – even though your vocabulary may be very small. If you don’t know a word in Cantonese, and you think your interlocutor speaks some English, just learn how to use the phrase in this video. It will be a step in the right direction for taking control over your own Cantonese language learning.

Of course, if you are a Cantonese NooB, you’ll certainly want to find a Cantonese language course in Hong Kong. There are a number of places that offer Cantonese courses. But, in the end, how successful you are in learning the language may depend on how you – the learner – go about it. You may have much to gain from emulating the best practices and learning strategies of successful language learners.

I’ve assumed a bilingual situation where the person you’re speaking to knows some English. If you find yourself in the company of unilingual Cantonese speakers, simply change “How do you say ’some English word’ in Cantonese”, to “How do you say THAT (pointing at some object) in Cantonese”. I’ll make another video for that one day.

Other options:

ask somebody to write down the Chinese characters
ask them to repeat the Cantonese word – this time slowly etc etc.

For Cantonese learners hungry for authentic interaction, the possibilities are endless.

If you are a NooB, what are you waiting for? Make the Cantonese-speaking world your teacher now!

If you are new (or not so new) and want to learn Cantonese in Hong Kong, this short list will help you find a suitable course.

The Cantonese courses offered by the non-profit YMCA are probably the best deal price wise. There are 3 levels and the cost works out to just HK$50 per classroom hour. Here is a link to a pdf with the information.

The HKLLC is “a leading language school in Hong Kong which specialises in Cantonese and Mandarin Learning programmes in conversation and Chinese Reading and Writing for expatriates, locals and overseas Chinese”.

There is not much concrete information on the website, despite quite a few links. To learn how much their courses actually cost, you need to send an email. It took me around an hour to receive a reply.

They have both intensive and short term courses. The intensive 40 session course has lessons from M to F and consists of a 50-minute teaching hour, a 50-minute conversation hour, and an extra 1 hour language lab. The Course Fee is HK$8,200- (material fee included).

The short term 10 session Cantonese course is identical to the intensive in its format. The Course Fee is HK$2,300- (material fee included)

Because it’s not clear how much of the course fee should be allowed for the language lab, we can only come up with a rough figure of around HK$100 per hour for the HKLLC course.

The CUHK offers Cantonese evening courses for Non-native Chinese Speakers at 3 levels. These courses are 40 sessions held twice weekly. Each session is from 19.00 – 20.50. Here is a link to a pdf with information on the CUHK’s Cantonese courses.

EDC Languages, located in Admiralty, offers both private (From HK$155 – HK$190 per 45 minutes) and group Cantonese lessons. The group course fee is HK$2,940 for 30 hours, (Rate Per Hour HK$98), HK$3,680 fort 40 hours, (Rate Per Hour HK$92) and HK$5,280 (Rate Per Hour HK$88).

The Global Language Centre, located in Central, on Des Voeux Rd has private Cantonese classes for from HK$155-187/Hour and group classes (2-3 learners) for from HK$90-110. The fees vary according to when you study. It’s slightly cheaper during the day than in the evening.

The Hong Kong Language Training Centre offers Cantonese classes ranging from HK$250-/per hr/per class for 1-2 students for 24 or above hrs. to HK$330-/per hr/per class for 5 students and over. There are other rates for fewer students and fewer hours.

You can find HKLTC’s prices here for their Cantonese immersion courses with rates in USD.

Here is a link to a pdf with information on the International Language Centre’s Cantonese courses. Tuition per student for a 36 hour course is HK$4320 for the Beginner Level and HK$4520 for the Intermediate Course.

The Hong Kong Institute of Languages, located in Central, offers a 10 week, 20 hour Foundation course in Cantonese. The course fee ranges from HK$2,388 – HK$ 2,988, depending on the number of students and the time offered. The HKIL also teaches Cantonese courses for companies, schools, teens and children.

Chinese Language Professional gives information on their Chinese language courses here. There is only a price for an Intermediate Cantonese Course – a 36 hours Conversation Course for HK$5,398 and a 48 hour Conversation, Reading and Writing Course for HK$6,698.

The Talking Mandarin Language Centre, in spite of their name, also teach Cantonese. To get their rates, however, you’ll need to fill out an online form and give them your mobile number.

This charity has Cantonese courses for “ethnic minorities”. You will have to figure out if you fit in this category. Here is their brochure.

http://www.christian-action.org.hk/cdp/Lang_Prog_leaflet_Eng.pdf

Eventually I’ll have all the 50+ dialogues from the 15 lessons of Cantonese FSI Volume 1 made into YouTube videos. To date I’ve managed to churn out over 20 of them. No claims that these are great videos – just a modest attempt at experimenting with materials for learning a neat language online.

Hate these rather crass and vulgar efforts at “edutainment” a la YouTube? Question their pedagogical value? Never mind – you can always just download the .zip of the dialogues as mp3s.

Dialogue 2
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Dialogue 3
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Dialogue 4
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Dialogue 5
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Dialogue 6
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Dialogue 7
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Free pdf of the book and mp3 audio files for all dialogues can be downloaded from http://cantonesecourse.com

The paperback will be out soon!

Woman: 早晨, 黃生. 你知唔知而家幾點鐘呀?
Man: A, 早晨, 陳小姐. 我個錶而家係九點搭一.
Woman: 你個 錶 係唔係快些少呀?
Man: 或者係. 我唔知.
Woman: 你知唔知李太幾點鐘學廣東話呀?
Man: 我知道. 係十點半.

Woman: Jóusàhn, Wòhng Sàang. Néih jì m̀hjì yìhgā géidímjūng a?
Man: A, jóusàhn, Chàhn Síujé. Ngóh go bīu yìhgā haih gáu dím daahp yāt.
Woman: Néih go bīu haih m̀hhaih faai sèsíu a?
Man: Waahkjé haih. Ngóh m̀hjì.
Woman: Néih jì m̀hjì Léih Táai géidímjūng hohk Gwóngdùngwá a?
Man: Ngóh jìdou. Haih sahp dím bun.

Woman: Good Morning Mr Wong. Do you know what time it is now?
Man: Oh, Good Morning, Miss Chan. I’ve got 9.05.
Woman: Is your watch a little fast?
Man: Maybe it is. I don’t know.
Woman: Do you know what time Mrs Lee go to Cantonese class?
Man: Yes. At 10.30.

Me, too.

On a bad day, I’d be less polite and 叫阿祖食屎!

But, like it not, the US is having an election and the rest of the world has little choice but to watch – if not react.

So, how to turn all this into a positive learning experience?

Here’s what I do. I try and figure out how the English media jargon will get translated into Chinese.

Take “Joe the Plumber”, for example. Any bets on how to translate this? I wasn’t sure. The last time I lived in China you could just use 师傅 for any worker/tradesperson. It sure made communication simpler. But what’s the usual word for “plumber” these days? Back in Taiwan in the late 70s I learned 木匠 for “carpenter”. That seemed to have a Southern flavour, though. By analogy, would 水匠 work for “plumber”? I wasn’t certain but I tried “水匠 Joe” into Google, anyway.

Here’s what I found:

水喉匠阿Joe Wikimedia
水喉佬阿祖 Ming Pao
水管工喬 Fortune China

I doubt if you’ll find 水喉匠 in your Chinese dictionary. The å–‰ here is originally an English loanword in Hong Kong Cantonese and serves for “hose”. I first noticed this on a fire hose box in the MTR in HK. A slight semantic extension to “pipe”, as in Standard Chinese 管, gives us a perfectly normal word for “plumber”. Where Standard Northern Chinese uses å·¥, 匠 is fairly widespread in the South.

The Ming Pao’s translation 水喉佬阿祖 will get frowns from your Mandarin teacher – but is surely the most suitable for colloquial Hong Kong Cantonese. The 佬 is equivalent to “guy”. It’s the same 佬 we find in 鬼佬 as in “foreign devil”, or maybe “whitey” (the most common way of talking about white guys or “Caucasians” in HK when they think we can’t understand Cantonese ^^). I never felt it was especially racist. A good friend of mine in HK always addressed me as 阿鬼佬. I reciprocated by referring to him as 阿老人家 – the “old guy”.

(Thankfully the politically correct language police have not yet made it to HK. If they did, the language would surely lose its character – if not most of its vocabulary!)

The 阿 is frequently tacked onto the beginning of names in Southern Chinese. 祖 is used here because the Cantonese pronunciation is close to “Joe”. Standard Chinese prefers å–¬.

I, too, am sick of Joe the Plumber. I don’t know why, but somehow 水喉佬阿祖 has a warm and fuzzy feeling that “Joe the Plumber” just doesn’t have.

(BTW, the Deng Lijun song is in Hokkien – not Cantonese.)

Here is the dialogue in traditional Chinese characters, Yale Cantonese romanization, and the English translation:

A: 李生識係識講日本話呀?

B: 識些少.
A: 咁, 佢識係識講英文呢?
B: 都識些少.
A: 邊嗰教佢講英文呢?
B. 係黃生教佢嘅.

A: Léih Sàang sīk m̀hsīk góng Yahtbúnwá a?
B: Sīk sèsíu.
A: Gám, kéuih sīk m̀hsīk góng Yìngmán nē?
B: Dōu sīk sèsíu.
A: Bīngo gaau kéuih góng Yìngmán ge nē?
B: Haih Wòhng Sàang gaau kéuih ge.

A: Does Mr Lee speak Japanese?
B: A little.
A: Does he speak English, then?
B: He speaks a little English, too.
A: Who taught him English?
B: Mr Wong.

In Lesson 2, Mr Ho takes a leisurely evening stroll through the streets of Mong Kok, meets a pretty young lady and asks her her name.

Here is the transcript in Yale Romanization, traditional Chinese and English translation.

Síujé gwaising a?
Ngóh sing Chàhn. Sīnsàang gwaising a?
Síusing Hòh. Chàhn síujé haih m̀hhaih Gwóngdùngyàhn a?
M̀hhaih a. Ngóh haih Seuhnghóiyàhn. Néih nē?
Néih haih m̀hhaih Méihgwokyàhn a?
Haih a. Ngóh haih Méihgwokyàhn.

小姐貴姓呀?

我姓陳. 先生貴姓呀?
小姓何. 陳小姐係唔係廣東人呀?
唔係呀.我係上海人. 你呢? 你係唔係美國人呀?
係呀.我係美國人.

Miss, what’s your name?
My surname is Chan. What’s your name, sir?
My name’s Ho. Are you from Guangdong?
No, I’m from Shanghai. Are you American?
Yes, I’m American.

Attribution and Licencing for photos:
Photo: Sai Yeung Choi Street South Mong Kok taken by Tsui Sing Yan Eric Licenced Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License

Photo of Portland St neon signs is licenced under GNU Free Documentation and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license versions 2.5, 2.0, and 1.0.

Photo MK Portland St cheap motel is licenced under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License

Photo of Brothel price sign for various nationalities on Soy St., HK is © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version

]]> http://hanyu.com/2008/09/18/learn-cantonese-2-getting-to-know-you/feed/ 0 http://hanyu.com/2008/09/04/learn-cantonese-1/ http://hanyu.com/2008/09/04/learn-cantonese-1/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:35:56 +0000 admin http://hanyu.com/?p=80 This is the first in a series of Cantonese learning videos with simple everyday dialogues. Sound files were extracted and recycled from the US Foreign Service Institute’s (FSI) Basic Cantonese 1. Photos of Sham Shui Po are distributed under a Creative Commons licence and/or GNU. Everything else is public domain.

Two acquaintances on their way to computer parts in scenic Sham Shui Po bump into each other outside the Golden Computer Centre.

Here is the transcript in Yale Romanization, traditional Chinese and English translation.

A: Hòh Sàang, jóusàhn.
B: Léih Táai, jóusàhn.

A: Deuim̀hjyuh, ngóh m̀hhaih Léih Táai. Ngóh sing Chàhn.
B: A, deuim̀hjyuh, Chàhn Síujé.
A: M̀hgányiu.
B: Joigin.
A: Joigin.

A: 何生, 早晨.
B: 李太, 早晨.
A: 對唔住, 我唔係李太. 我姓陳.
B: 呀, 對唔住 , 陳小姐.
A: 唔緊要.
B: 再見.
A: 再見.

A: Good morning, Mr Ho.
B: Good morning, Mrs Lee.
A: Excuse me, I’m not Mrs. Lee. My name is Chan.
B: Oh, excuse me, Miss Chan.
A: That’s all right.
B: Goodbye.
A: Goodbye.

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