Cantophilia - Love of the Cantonese Language

Try Our Breast

2008-09-15T09:00:00.009-04:00

I have been laughing my head off in the past few days watching this news clip. Indeed, I am still laughing while writing this post. Gary Chan (陳克勤) has been elected as a LegCo member last week. At the age of 32, he has become the youngest elected Legco member in the HKSAR. This interview was conducted right after he was elected and was broadcast live. Don't worry if you cannot pick up the

Doraemon

2008-08-30T00:42:00.013-04:00

Doraemon (ドラえもん) is a popular Japanese manga series which has become an anime series and Asian franchise. Everyone from East Asia, from old to young, should know about it. Here is one of the episodes. I have transcribed the first half. The second half will come later. Transcript / Jyutping / Translation 將來的自己 zoeng1 loi4 dik1 zi6 gei2 The future self 爸爸, 真係要幫幫手呀 baa4 baa1, zan1 hai6 jiu3

No Problem

2008-06-19T00:30:00.002-04:00

A service guy was fixing my garage door today. He was a Polish immigrant living in Toronto for many years. I thanked him after his job was done. He replied in Cantonese loud and clear: "冇問題"! "冇問題" (mou5 mun6 tai4) can mean "no problem" or "no question" depending on the context. It is a useful phrase very easy to learn. Dashan (Mark Rowswell) has demonstrated it in this TV advertisement.

Protests

2008-05-02T23:33:00.008-04:00

People in Hong Kong love to protest. Protests from large to small scale are on the news everyday. Fortunately, most of these are peaceful and unlike in many other places, people in Hong Kong rarely go on real strike. The slogans shouted out in a protest are usually short, simple, and rather repetitive. You might find them hard to understand through the loud speaker at first, but once you know

Suggestions on Materials to Transcribe

2008-04-13T13:35:00.008-04:00

Some of you might have already figured out, by the lack my posts in the past few weeks, that I have been extremely busy. You are right! In the past, it took me time to transcribe the materials. This is fine with me, as I regard this as my contribution to the learner's community. But then I find it equally time-consuming just to look for suitable materials to transcribe. I wonder if my readers

Sam Sullivan

2008-03-01T16:30:00.001-05:00

The legendary Hong Kong actress Lydia Shum (沈殿霞) passed away on February 19, 2008 from liver cancer, aged 62. Lydia's body was later transported from Hong Kong to Vancouver for burial. On February 26, 2008, the mayor of the City of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, proclaimed the following June 1 to be "Fei Fei Day" to commerate Lydia. Here is the major talking about Lydia ... in Cantonese!! Sam

English Tutoring

2008-02-17T16:00:00.006-05:00

The Internet English tutor Mr Siu (蕭Sir) has turned famous in a short period of time. His blog "Learn English starting from the F-word " (英文由F字學起) has attracted millions of viewers, and the number is growing rapidly. He teaches people how to get rid of their Hong Kong English accent. He has made a lot of video clips in Youtube. Here is one of them: Transcript / Jyutping / Translation

Vivek Mahbubani

2008-02-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

I recently came cross this YouTube clip. Vivek is a young Indian raised up in Hong Kong, and he speaks native Cantonese. The following clip contains one of his jokes from the same performance. Listening to stand-up comedies in a foreign language is always challenging. The performers usually speak very fast, use a lot of slangs, and touch on many culture-specific aspects. Intermediate learners

Wendy Vo

2008-01-31T18:30:00.000-05:00

Wendy Vo is an 8-year-old Vietnamese girl who can speak multiple languages. She has demonstrated her ability in a couple of video clips posted on YouTube. I have clipped out part of her Cantonese conversation from this video clip, between 2:16 and 3:18. The conversation is trivial and should be a good material for novice learners. Please take note that both speakers have slight accents. Normal

Be My Guest - Gigi Leung (Part 1-4)

2008-01-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

This part runs from 2:19 to 3:12 of the video clip. Transcript / Jyutping / Translation 陳志雲: 你係咪好細個已經長得好高架 nei5 hai6 mai6 hou2 sai3 go3 ji5 ging1 zoeng2 dak1 hou2 gou1 gaa3 Were you very tall when you were very young? Gigi: 都幾細個. 我比同年紀嘅同學仔高好多囉...係呀 dou1 gei2 sai3 go3. ngo5 bei2 tung4 nin4 gei2 ge3 tung4 hok6 zai2 gou1 hou2 do1 lo1 ... hai6 aa3 Quite tall. I was taller then my schoolmates at

Be My Guest - Gigi Leung (Part 1-3)

2008-01-17T23:20:00.000-05:00

This part runs from 1:19 to 2:19 of the video clip. It talks about Gigi's original Chinese name and her current name. Note how we typically reference a Chinese word. For example, 「芝」係「芝士」個「芝」. You may also try to listen to the rest of the clip to see how much more you can understand. Transcript / Jyutping / Translation 陳志雲: 你嘅原名係叫做「梁碧枝」 nei5 ge3 jyun4 meng2 hai6 giu3 zou6 loeng4 bik1 zi1

Be My Guest - Gigi Leung (Part 1-2)

2008-01-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

This part runs from 0:45 to 1:18 of the video clip. Transcript / Jyutping / Translation 陳志雲: 飲杯先 jam2 bui1 sin1 Cheers (first) Gigi: 好 hou2 Yes 陳志雲: 你鍾意飲香賓 nei5 zung1 ji3 jam2 hoeng1 ban1 You like champaign Gigi: 係呀 hai6 aa1 Yes 陳志雲: 香賓好容易醉個喎 hoeng1 ban1 hou2 jung4 ji6 zeoi3 go3 wo3 Champaign can easily get you drunk Gigi: 噉我唔會飲太多嘅, 一杯囉 gam2 ngo5 m4 di1 jam2 taai3 do1 ge3, jat1 bui1 lo1

Cantophilia Discussions

2008-01-09T20:30:00.000-05:00

Cantophilia is now integrated with Disqus. This means the comments are now externalized and laid out in the form of discussion threads. I hope this will facilitate more in-depth discussions from the readers. I believe learners can make drastic improvement by actively participating in discussions on the language they are learning. So I encourage you to post any question you have encountered on

Be My Guest - Gigi Leung (Part 1-1)

2008-01-03T10:30:00.000-05:00

The guest of this episode of "Be My Guest" is Gigi Leung. This part runs from the beginning to 0:45 of the video clip. Transcript / Jyutping / Translation 今日同我共進飯局嘅朋友 gam1 jat6 tung4 ngo5 gung6 zeon3 faan6 guk6 ge3 pang4 jau5 Today, the friend who is going to dine with me 係GiGi梁詠琪 hai6 GiGi loeng4 wing6 kei4 Is Gigi Leung Wing-Kei Gigi自出道已來 Gigi zi6 ceot1 dou6 ji5 lei4 Gigi, since the

Be My Guest

2007-12-31T13:40:00.000-05:00

"Be My Guest" (志雲飯局) is a TV show hosted by Stephen Chan (陳志雲), the General Manager of TVB. In each episode, he would invite and interview a prominent artist in the HK entertainment industry. The show has become a hit since its launch in the summer of 2006. I find interview conversations good materials for language learners, as they usually contains vocabulary and sentences describing personal

Chu Yeh Ching

2007-12-27T13:45:00.000-05:00

This is a Hong Kong TV ads from the late 70's. It is a classic. Chu Yeh Ching Chiew (竹葉青) is a very famous wine from China. It is transparent, yellow-green in colour, slightly sweetish in taste. Here is the summary of the plot. The Caucasian boss of a construction company invited his employees for dinner. To their surprise, he ordered the Chinese wine. The slogan is "You are smart. I am also

Christmas Greetings

2007-12-24T12:30:00.000-05:00

You can find 64 TVB artists saying their Christmas Greetings here. The corresponding YouTube versions can be found here: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3. The following is the transcription for the first 2 greetings, by Macy Chan (陳美詩) and Moses Chan (陳豪). Intermediate and advanced learners, try to listen to the rest and see how much you can understand. As one would expect, season greetings are

First-Month Feedback Needed

2007-12-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

Cantophilia has been launched for a bit more than a month now. I would like to thanks all my readers for your support. In order for me to set the right track, I would need feedbacks from all of you, in particular on the materials this site provides. You may comment on the following areas as well as others: ContentDifficultyFormatSuggestions are also welcome on other things you would like to see

Fight over the Bill

2007-12-18T23:00:00.000-05:00

It is a very common custom for Chinese people to fight over the bill at the end of a meal. Some people do it sincerely and others fake it. At the advanced level, you just cannot tell the difference. Here is how you would do it. Listen to these lines towards the end of the song "Yum Dom Cha" (Drink some tea) from the Chinese-American rap artist ABC Jin. The last line "dang2 ngo5 bei2 laa1" is

Barry Cox

2007-12-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

From a shelf-stacker to a Canto-pop singer, the story of the British Barry Cox is definitely inspiring. Barry has been working so hard through the years. He has recently found an opportunity to perform at the Venetian hotel, the new mega-casino at Macau. The British Telegraph had an article on him last week. Here is another news article on him 2 weeks ago. Here is Barry performing at the casino

Ordering Food

2007-12-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

This McDull video can teach you how to order food. It is quite repetitive and it might get a bit irritating after a while. The clip is a bit long, so I have split it up into 5 parts. Transcript / Jyutping / Translation McDull: 我要一個常餐吖。 m4 goi1, ngo5 jiu3 jat1 go3 soeng4 caan1 aa1. Please, I want a set-meal. Mom: 常餐？常餐有咩食架？ soeng4 caan1? soeng4 caan1 jau5 me1 sik6 gaa3? Set-meal?

Digital Life

2007-12-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

Learning numbers does not have to be boring. In fact, it could be quite fun if you learn them through this song. The song "Digital Life" (數字人生) sung by George Lam (林子祥) was a classic hit in the 80's. Learn to sing the first few lines now and impress your Cantonese buddies! You may of course recognize part of the song comes from a Bach's piece. Lyrics / Jyutping / Translation 30624700 saam1

Poor Language Skills

2007-12-09T22:30:00.000-05:00

The following audio clip is extracted from a Cantonese radio show in Canada. In this episode, Mr Wang Tingzhi (王亭之) ranted about the Proper Pronunciation Movement and of course, its leading figure, Dr Richard Ho (何文滙). The clip starts from around 14 minutes and 18 seconds into the program. Mr Wong talked about today in Hong Kong, some employers are refusing to hire young people who have adopted

Your Chinese Is Better Than Mine

2007-12-06T23:00:00.000-05:00

Here are a useful phrase from Mr Tung found in my previous post. The line appears right at the beginning. Learners could say this to your Cantonese-speaking friends. You could substitute 'English' with other languages. Normal Slow Transcript / Jyutping / Transliteration / Translation 我(I) 唔(Not) 知(Know) 係(Is) 你(You) 嘅('s) 中文(Chinese) 好過(Better than) 我(I) 呢 ngo5 m4 zi1 hai6

Stephen Chow's Joke

2007-12-05T22:37:00.000-05:00

Here is Stephen Chow (周星馳) telling a joke. The Cantonese you will hear is quite colloquial. Transcript / Jyutping / Translation 噉有個朋友呢見到另外一個朋友 gam2 jau5 go3 pang4 jau5 ne1 gin3 dou2 ling6 ngoi6 jat1 go3 pang4 jau5 There is a friend who sees another friend 噉另外一個朋友呢就悶悶不樂噉樣樣 gam2 ling6 ngoi6 jat1 go3 pang4 jau5 ne1 zau6 mun6 mun6 bat1 lok6 gam2 joeng2 joeng2 This other friend looks troublesome