You may be asking yourself “why learn cantonese ?” Actually Cantonese (GuangDongHua, 廣東話) is spoken by million of people in the southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi and in neighboring areas such as Hong Kong and Macao, as well as throughout South-East Asia. Due to the migration of Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong and the Guangdong area, Cantonese is the dominant form of Chinese spoken in the Chinatowns of many major cities in the United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. However, through years of mass media and pop culture influence, Hong Kong has now truly become the cultural centre of Cantonese.

Cantonese (“Yue” 越) is one of the five major Chinese languages. These are often called “dialects”, but in actuality their differences are great enough to consider them separate languages.

Learning the language is a must if you plan on living or spending a lot of time in a Cantonese speaking area and want to gain more than a superficial understanding of the culture. Cantonese grammar is surprisingly simple in many respects.  There is no need to learn conjugations for verbs, and there is virtually no prefixes or suffixes to worry about learning.  On the other hand, there are many root words which help in learning new vocabulary as they are used and reused in combination with other roots.

Cantonese is a completely tonal language, having 9 different tones:

• Tone 1- High Falling
• Tone 2- Low Falling
• Tone 3- Mid Rising
• Tone 4- Low Rising
• Tone 5- Mid Level
• Tone 6- Low Level
• Tone 7- High Level
• Tone 8- Mid level
• Tone 9- Low level

There are many useful phrases one could consider using when visiting Hong Kong or Guangdong:

Common Sentences:

Hello:   Way. 喂
How are you?:  Lee Ho Ma? 你好嗎
Fine, thank you: Butt Chor 唔錯 <ng chor>
What is your name?: Lei Gill Mut Man?  你叫乜名
My name is Ricky: Or Qua Man Gill Ricky.  我個名叫ricky
Nice to meet you:  Ho Ko Hing Ying Sic Lee 好高興認識你
Please:  Ching . 請
Thank you: Ng Gooi. 唔該
Thank you (“when someone gives you a gift”): doh jeh. 多謝
You’re welcome: Ng Sai Hart Hei. 唔使客氣
Yes: Leigh. 係(hai)
No: Ng Leigh. 唔係(hai)
Excuse me. (getting attention): Ma Fang Lee 麻煩你
Excuse me. (begging pardon): Ng Ho Yee See. 唔好意思
I’m sorry: Dui Ng Jue. 對唔住
Goodbye: Joy Gin. 再見
I can’t speak cantonese: Or Ng [Heigh Ho] Sic Gong cantonese 我唔(係好)識講[廣東話] Gwong2 dung1 waa6
Do you speak English?: Cheng Man Lei Sic Ng Sic Kong Ying Mun? 請問你識唔識講英文
Is there someone here who speaks English?: Ceing Man Yao Mo Yan Kong Ying Mun? 請問有(冇/無)人講英文
Help!: Kao Man Ar! 救命呀!
Look out!: Siu Sum! 小心!
Good morning: Joe Sun. 早晨
Good evening: Moun On 晚安
Good night: Moun On. 晚安
Good night (to sleep): “Moun On” or “Cho Tao”. 晚安 or 早抖(Joe Tao)
I don’t understand: Or Ng Ming Pa. 我唔明白
Where is the toilet?: Chi Saw Heigh Bin Dou? 廁所係邊度?

Number:

1 – yat
2 – yee
3 – saam
4 – say
5 – mm
6 – lok
7 – chat
8 – bat
9 – gow
10 – sap

Double-figure numbers are combined like addition. For example, if I wanted to say twelve in Cantonese, I would take sap which is ten and write that down and I would add yee which is two. In a sense it’s like this: 10 + 2 Which is pronounced “sap-yee”.

However for twenty, it would be yi-sap. Yi is two and sap is ten. So it’s like this: 2 x 10.

Directions:

Turn Left: Jin Joh
Turn Right: Jin Yao
Stop here: Yau lok
go straight: Yat  Jik Hang 

I used those sentence almost every day. People are quite surprised and happy that i made this effort. I encourage you to do it as well, you will definitively appreciate their reaction.

Feel free to share your experience with us on this post.

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• Greetings in Cantonese
• How to get a Chinese Visa from Hong Kong
• Choosing the best Hong Kong Mobile Phone Service Provider
• How to go to Shenzhen from Hong Kong
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