Popup Cantonese

It's not that we don't like the gym. It's that our enthusiasm for thirty minutes on the treadmill is highly contingent on the time of day, and what you're suggesting means getting out of bed at six in the morning and biking downtown before the subway even opens for the day. That might interest other people. But not us. Because if the sun isn't up then neither are we. Learning Cantonese? If you're...

Up until he turned five, Henry had never known the darker side of life, and his existence passed as a series of pleasures which ran one into the next. As he grew the boy discovered in turn the joy of self-locomotion, the power of speech, and the pleasure of socializing with a group of well-adjusted peers. And yet these happy times were not to last, as events beyond the young boy's control conspire...

The thought was too horrible to bear: could the household be passing through wartime rationing? The mid-afternoon milkings which had once satiated them as kittens had become at first irregular before disappearing completely. Debating this crisis from the comfort of the third floor sundeck, Edmund and Lucy decided the time had come for action. If they were not to live their lives at the mercy of ot...

The moon had been hidden behind a layer of clouds blown in off the ocean, lending some credence to the claims of the parking lot staff not to have seen the actual killing. But while the evidence against the main suspect was admittedly circumstantial, the political pressure to secure his conviction was more intense than in any similar case, as it was clear to those in power that the murder of Andre...

It's hard to pull off being passive aggressive in a Cantonese. It isn't just that you need to keep your words in the right order, master those tones, and avoid flubbing the grammar, but you also have to perfect a certain je ne said quoi , a sort of supercilious attitude that never lets the other person be sure if you're really playing with them. Want to learn the ropes? Then consider yourself luck...

Normally, Allan spent thirty minutes on the treadmill and then another half hour lifting weights, or at least hovering in the vicinity of the weight-lifting equipment soaking in the general vibes of the health equipment. As he woke up this morning with a slight headache from last night's business dinner, he wondered if perhaps it would be better to drop the cardio completely today and focus one hu...

Melody was halfway through chapter five by Tuesday morning. As is traditional with children's stories, her novel had started with the somewhat cliched passage of the children heading off to school. But it was now thickening with hints of the titanic struggle between good and evil to come, a clash that would test the extremes of both friendship and magic. As she finished another paragraph, the auth...

Learning Cantonese? Trust us that no matter how fluent you get, at some point your language skills will fail and you'll find yourself resorting to pointing and grunting. Which is where this podcast comes in. In this Cantonese lesson for relative newbies, we teach you how point to things and express your opinion about them. Useful for everything from ordering room service at the Peninsula to buying...

Planning to spend the next few years walking around Hong Kong buck naked? Both we and the local police are guessing not, which means that at some point you'll have to head out and purchase clothing from a local shop in Hong Kong. And while the good news is that Hong Kong is considered a mecca for exactly this activity, the bad news is that if you don't speak Cantonese you're at a bit of a disadvan...

Grovelling isn't exactly our forte, but sometimes you need to put that dignity behind you to salvage whatever you can from your marriage. Like the time one of us arrived home at one o'clock in the morning after a grueling karaoke session only to find that it might not have been the best day in the year to miss dinner with the family for beers with the boss. Learning Cantonese? In this lesson we'll...

If you think the sheer population density of Hong Kong is impressive, wait until you experience the island's fast-food density. By our admittedly unscientific survey, conducted on the way to lunch one day, there are several hundred McDonalds prowling the Kowloon area alone, all beckoning to potential customers with free wifi, air conditioning, and sometimes even food.... Learning Cantonese? In thi...

Learning Cantonese? Our free Cantonese podcast today takes place in a hospital, where a doctor and patient are having an intimate discussion about treatment options. And so while we hope you won't have to visit a hospital while in Hong Kong, this lesson should be useful to you even if you're in perfect health. Since in addition to a lot of high frequency Cantonese vocabulary, we learn to talk abou...

Assuming you've been watching the same Hong Kong films as the rest of us, you must be familiar with the scene: our protagonist is making a mad dash across Hong Kong in the middle of rush hour. Yet despite the standstill traffic, he makes considerable progress by embracing creative driving techniques: pushing his Lexus over sidewalks, taking hairpin turns down pedestrian walkways, and even crashing...

Jane stared at her production schedule with resigned disbelief. It was clear at first glance that the board's target would be difficult if not impossible to meet, but the deadline still meant it was crunchtime for everyone at the office, and especially her and her team. With only two weeks... she was just doing the math again when Jane realized Harold had stepped into her office. He was one of her...

Less than an hour after the salesperson had begun demonstrating the device, Sarah lugged her new lie detector onto the kitchen table with a sense of satisfaction. For the last few weeks she had become increasingly distraught over Philip's evasive answers at the dinner table. When pressed over the boy's time in school, or even asked simple questions about his English studies, her son would grow eva...

"This lesson has nothing to do with Sleeping Beauty," Nicole was feeling pedantic, probably because we'd just given her about fifteen hours of data entry work, and then added annotating this lesson on top. "I mean... what does this podcast even have to do with France." The lack of an answer from our side of the office failed to deter the complaints. "And honestly David, have you ever seen a castle...

"You can have any flavor you want," the clerk made a vague waving gesture at the empty shelves, or perhaps the storeroom behind him. Jessica arched her head to gaze behind the counter, but even so only managed to catch a glimpse of a carton of half-melted chocolate ice cream. "Is that the only flavor you have," she blurted out in surprise, visibly relieved when the clerk shook his head and handed...

The three of them had spent the night crying, although for entirely different reasons. Ever since Sandra's affair with Michael had been exposed on national television, her relationship with Sam had been ripped apart. And Michael's friendship with Sam had been tested as well, as undercurrents of anger, jealousy and resentment shifted the ground beneath all three. If you're just starting to learn Ca...

Ever heard of Hong Kong's famous Tuen Mun yoghurt or the blue cheese of Leung Shuen Wan? We're betting you haven't, if only because neither happens to exist. And sad as that may be to consider, it's hardly surprising given the appalling state of the Hong Kong dairy industry. There is probably not another place with a lower cow-to-human ratio outside the Maldives, which at least has nice beaches. S...

The creaking gate stirred Tuan Tuan from his slumber. It was eleven o'clock, and Yuan Yuan, who had been sleeping peacefully in the thicket beside him, growled at the disruption. They were not the best of friends, but on this the two creatures could agree: what fools they had for keepers! Tuan Tuan briefly contemplated shifting slightly to express his displeasure at the interruption, but his natur...

We'll admit that male grooming patterns in Hong Kong continue to mystify us even after several years of exposure. But while we aren't this mean in real life, it's inevitable that sometimes you might want to be, because it doesn't take a lot of getting quoted the foreign prices before you'll want to toss out a bit of fluent Cantonese to drag the prices down. And that's exactly where this Cantonese...

Now that we're at the advanced level we can afford to be straight with you: Hong Kong is not as perfect as we have led you to believe. Sadly, the city still has the occasional faults. And while there aren't many of them, we'd be doing you a disservice to gloss over the worst this city has to offer. And that's why Nicole is joined today by two friends on a mission to expose the seamy underbelly of...

Being in the global trade business meant frequent trips around Southern Asia strengthening connections with suppliers. At one time this had been a major benefit of working in the field, and one of the reasons Nancy entered the sourcing industry. Yet this time was different, because no matter how beautiful the scenery, Nancy couldn't help but think of the new puppy she had been forced to leave at h...

Learning Cantonese? One of the things you'll learn about us here at Popup Cantonese is that we move at a pretty fast pace. But we know some of you are struggling to keep up, which is why in today's lesson we take a step back and review some of the things we've learned at the Beginner level up to now. And if you've been following along you have no excuse not to know the answers to these questions....

We've heard women complain that Hong Kong men can't be romantic, and then we've heard the same men complain about the same women that they just don't appreciate the finer things in life. So we don't really know where we stand, except that when it comes time for planning a romantic night out, you're probably best off avoiding our advice and steering by your own compass. Want to learn Cantonese? In...