Popup Cantonese

1. What does 咩事 mean? a) what time is it b) what is it c) who is it d) why is it 2. If someone says 唱乜鬼歌啫 to you, he probably means a) don't sing b) please sing along c) what song do you want to sing d) please sing an English song 3. What does the character 乜 mean in the sentence 唱乜鬼歌啫 a) it means “what” b) it adds emphasis c) it softens the tone of the sentence d) it makes it a reque...

你係到睇緊咩 What are you reading? 睇緊一本書 I'm reading a book. 我知啊 I know. 咁你仲問咩 So why did you ask? 睇緊咩書 What book are you reading? Learn this vocabulary

八、九、十...... Eight, night, ten... 好，加油！ Good. Come on! 睇下，肌肉！ Look. Muscles! 哇，勁！等我嚟！ Wow. Impressive. Let me have a try. Questions: 1. What is 五(ng5) plus 三(saam1)? a) 七 b) 八 c) 九 d) 十 2. Which of the following means the opposite of “good”? a) 好 b) 正 c) 勁 d) 渣 3. Which word would you say when you're impressed? a) 好勁 b) 肌肉 c) 加油 d) 正好 4. Which of the follow...

呢個係咩？ What's this? 呢個？ This one? 唔係，嗰個呀！ No, that one! 唔知喎。 Don't know. Learn this vocabulary

你又遲到？ You're late again? 對唔住。 Sorry. 你遲咗一個鐘啊！ You're an hour late! 真係對唔住。唔好意思。 I'm really sorry. Sorry. 你再遲到，就唔使再出現喇！ If you're late again, don't come at all.

你幾歲呀？ How old are you? 二十四，你呢？ Twenty-four, how about you? 六十五。 Sixty-five. 係真唔係呀? 你睇嚟好後生喎! Are you serious? You look very young. 我成日瞓覺囉! I sleep a lot!

你哋有幾種雪糕呀？ What kinds of ice cream do you have? 三十一種。 Thirty-one kinds. 三十一種？咁多呀？ Thirty-one kinds? That many? 全部都係朱咕力味。 They're all chocolate. Learn this vocabulary

哇，你睇下個男仔幾靚仔！ Wow, look how handsome that guy is! 靚咩仔吖，成個女人咁 What do you mean handsome? He looks just like a woman. 你識咩吖，今年興啊！ What do you know? That's the fashion this year! Learn this vocabulary

我愛你 I love you. 你愛我，但係我愛佢 You love me. But I love him. 佢愛你咩？ Does he love you? 佢愛你啊！ He loves you!

唔該晒 Thanks 唔使 Don't mention it. 真係唔該晒 Thank you so much 唔使唔該 There's no need to thank me 多謝晒 Many thanks. 都話唔使客氣咯！ I told you not to be so polite! 真係多謝晒 Many thanks indeed. 放手！放手啊！ Let go of me Learn this vocabulary

呢個十蚊 This one is ten bucks. 五蚊 Five bucks. 十蚊 Ten bucks. 七蚊 Seven bucks. 十蚊 Ten bucks. 好，十蚊 Okay, ten bucks. 分 cent ⼀ one ⼆ two 兩 (two) 三 three 四 four 五/伍 five 六 six 七 seven ⼋ eight 九 nine 十 ten Learn this vocabulary

唔該，借支筆得唔得啊？ Excuse me, can I borrow a pen? 仲借？第五支啰喔！ You still want more? It's the fifth one! Learn this vocabulary

哇，你男朋友啊？ Wow, your boyfriend? 唔係，我男朋友... No. My boyfriend... 咁樣衰，你都啃得落？ So ugly... You're dating him? 我都話嗰個唔係我男朋友咯 I told you that one is not my boyfriend 你啲taste真係好差啊！ Your taste is awful! Learn this vocabulary

咦，我銀包去咗邊啊？ Hmm, where did my wallet go? 喺你手袋啊。 It's in your handbag. 咁...我鑰匙去咗邊啊？ Then...where did my keys go? 喺你衫袋啊。 They're in your shirt pocket. 哦... Ah... 唉... 你個腦去咗邊啊？ ...Where did your brain go? Learn this vocabulary

阿 Sir 啊... Sir? 咩事？ What is it? 我想去廁所啊...... I need to go to the toilet. 去乜鬼廁所啫?！呢度都冇！ What do you mean toilet? There's no toilet here. Learn this vocabulary

Admittedly, this lesson doesn't have much to do with life in Hong Kong, if only because none of us can remember the last time we've actually driven on the island. In our car that is, because while we definitely enjoy shuffling around in a cab every now and then, if said cab happened to break down there is absolutely zero chance we would get out and help the driver push given the near 100 percent h...

Mrs. Robinson had pushed her daughter to get involved with the university sports program. "You spend too much time in the library," she gestured dismissively at the concrete edifice. "Why don't you try to make different kinds of friends and broaden your experience here." And then had come the dinner parties, end-of-year gatherings and various minor sports celebrations: supportive parenting at its...

There are a couple of ways to get an iPad. The most expensive is to walk into the IFC and just buy one. But why wait in line? Or risk falling down that glass staircase and breaking your neck? We have your interests in mind, which is why this week we're going to talk about safer, alternative methods of iPad procurement. Oh, and we'll be chatting about Nicole's crazy father as well. Learning Cantone...

You think you have a love-hate relationship with China? Ever since 1997 we've been privvy to nothing but complaints over the water cooler about those guys. And then they complain back at us. No wonder 2012 was such a rough year in the annals of Hong Kong - China relations. That said, we're progressive people and are sick of the constant moaning. Which is why for this advanced Cantonese podcast, we...

The temperature in Kowloon Financial's head office had risen steadily through the day, from a comfortable twenty degrees at opening to its current sweat-inducing thirty degrees. James would have opened the window to create a draft, but with the temperature outside several degrees higher than this, and not even the least wind blowing in off the bay, it seemed that the only thing to do was suffer th...

This week we're happy to release an advanced show that's one hundred percent native Cantonese. In our studio this week are Aldo and Melody, who take to our studio to chat about relations between Hong Kong and China, and why we don't particularly mind being called running-dogs by certain members of the mainland political establishment. So if you're living in Hong Kong and working towards fluency, g...

Mary had expected the long hours and the occasionally soul-crushing minutiae of handling the international accounts. Carpenter & Wilkins was one of the leading law firms on the island and catered to a top-tier clientele of financial firms, which meant a constant inflow of new legal issues. But even though her work environment was challenging, Mary found her job a lot less social than she had e...

One of the best things about living in Hong Kong is the amazing culinary diversity in the city, and particularly the whole range of Asian cuisines. If you're planning on taking full advantage of life in the culinary metropolis that is Hong Kong, you'll need to know the Cantonese to talk about tastes and flavors. Which is where this podcast comes in, eager to cover all the bases from sweet to sour....