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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Adventures in Cantonese

We're planning a trip to Asia this year and are looking into basic phrases that may prove useful in our host countries.

First stop: Hong Kong, where Cantonese and English are the official languages.  Considering English is only spoken daily by less than 5% of the population, though, I figured we should probably learn some Cantonese.  Here are the top 25 phrases* that I'm going to have us memorize (...as my traveling companion goes, "Yay!"):
  1. Hello.  你好 (néih hóu)
  2. I’m fine thanks. and you?  我幾好,你呢? (ngóh géi hóu, néih nē?)
  3. What's your name?  你叫乜野名呀? (néih giu mātyéh méng a)
  4. My name is...  我叫... (ngóh giu...)
  5. Where are you from?  你係邊度人呀? (néih haih bīndouh yàhn a?)
  6. I'm from...  我係...人 (ngóh haih ... yàhn)
  7. Pleased to meet you.  好開心見到你 (hóu hòisàm gindóu néih)
  8. Good morning.  早晨 (jóusàhn)
  9. Goodbye.  再見 (joigin); 拜拜 (bāaibaai)
  10. Excuse me.  請問 (chéngmahn) - to get attention; 唔該 (m̀hgòi) - to get past
  11. How much is this?  呢個幾多錢呀? (Nīgo géidō chín a?)
  12. Sorry.  對唔住 (deuim̀hjyuh)
  13. Thank you.  多謝 (dòjeh) - for a gift; 唔該 (m̀hgòi) - for a service
  14. You're welcome.  唔駛 (m̀hsái)
  15. Where's the toilet?  洗手間喺邊度呀? (sáisáugāan hái bīndouh a?)
  16. Do you speak English?  你識唔識講英文呀? (neih sīkm̀hsīk góng yìngmán a?)
  17. I don't speak Cantonese.  我唔識講廣東話 (ngóh m̀hsìk góng gwóngdùngwá)
  18. Please speak more slowly.  請你講慢 (chéng néih góng maahn di)
  19. Please say that again.  唔該你講多一次? (m̀hgòi néih góng dō yātchi a)
  20. Sorry, I didn't get that.  對唔住,我唔明白 (deuim̀hjyuh, ngóh m̀h mìhngbaahk)
  21. I understand.  我明白 (ngóh mìhngbaahk la)
  22. I don't understand.  我唔明白 (ngóh m̀h mìhngbaahk)
  23. Do you have an English menu?  你地有冇英文餐牌呀? (néihdeih yáuhmóuh yìngmán chāanpáai a?)
  24. Help!  救命呀! (gau mehng a!)
  25. My hovercraft is full of eels.**  我隻氣墊船裝滿晒鱔 (ngóh jek heidínsyùhn jòngmúhnsaai síhn)
Full disclosure: I actually spoke informal Cantonese with my grandmother until she passed when I was 11 years old.  While we may get lost in our Hong Kong meanderings, we will likely not starve, thanks to my food-focused childish vocabulary.

*Source: Omniglot (http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/cantonese.php)
**Hovercraft drawing: Google Image

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yay (said with little enthusiasm).