Language Expert Cantonese / Mandarin

16/03/2020

[Culture - Slang]

Interesting article!

Which slang is your favourite? What else do you know?

09/02/2020

400 likes! Haven't updated the page for a year...still getting new likes every other day. No matter where you are from , I really appreciate your likes and support for my page and posts. This motivates me to continue to share with you some fun things about Chinese language and culture, particularly Cantonese language and Hong Kong/Guangdong culture.
The theme of my page is FUN. If you don't like fun stuff / are looking for something more academic, tell me and I will point you to the right direction. Stay tuned and have fun learning! 😄🙌

30/12/2018

[Culture-Food]
Have you ever had/ seen roast chestnuts in Hong Kong?

Check out the link! Video in English/Cantonese.
British girl learns how to roast chestnuts and bake yam from the Chinese owner.

[Word of the Day]
chestnut - leuht ji

一到秋冬，街頭上偶然會看到栗子車，檔主拿着鐵鏟炒得沙沙作響，濃濃黑煙白煙之間，栗子香氣隨風而散，吸引...

19/08/2017

What makes a Hongkonger?
A permanent HKID card?
A HKSAR passport?
Born in Hong Kong?
Being able to speak native Cantonese?
Or not living in Discovery Bay?

In the end, 'Hongkonger' is only a label. Why bother? 🇭🇰

Peter Kammerer does not agree with those who regard ethnicity and language as the defining characteristics of a Hongkonger. Other considerations matter, such as a sense of belonging

11/07/2017

Any ideas where to get this in the airport? 😳🕵🏻

A special prize will be given for the correct answer🎁

03/06/2017

Languages encode certain kinds of knowledge ... so if the language dies out, that knowledge is also lost.

Robert Bauer from HKU is writing a Cantonese-English dictionary that will include colloquial terms, believing language represents culture

31/05/2017

How's your Dragon Boat Festival?
Did you have a lot of dumplings?
Have you ever learnt how to make them?
(Well I did make some dumplings myself in the past two years...not sure if they tasted good though as they were all given to the elderly homes...as far as I knew no one had food poisoning after having them so I considered it a success...)

Check this video out and see how two foreigners learnt to make dumplings from a grandma.
Love the dumplings made by my grandma as well...the best dumplings I have ever had.

Oh, some new words!

Dragon Boat Festival 端午节〔﹣﹣節〕
(M) duānwǔjié
(C) dyūn ńghn jit

Dumpling (the ones eaten during DB Festival)
(M) zòng 粽
(C) júng 糉

Dragon Boat 龙舟〔龍﹣〕
(M) lóngzhōu
(C) lùhng jāu

01/05/2017

A thought provoking article, especially to parents and educators.

Why are Hong Kong parents not teaching their children Chinese?

Does speaking English or other foreign languages give you superiority?
Or does speaking Chinese / being a Chinese person make you feel inferior?
If so, why do you have these thoughts and feelings?
Were you discriminated or looked down upon in the past, because you did not speak any/good English?
Do you think that one language is better than the other?
Do you think that English speaking people (with no Chinese ability) are generally more superior and successful?
Or is it because your friend keeps showing off his/her children's foreign language abilities, and you think you should do the same to your kids?

I feel pathetic if that's what parents think.
I am proud to be Chinese, who master English and Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) equally well. (Thanks to my school and the passionate teachers. I haven't met anyone better than them.)

If others look down upon/discriminate you because you speak Chinese but not fluent English, or just because you are Chinese, it's their problem, not yours.

You should be proud of your own language and culture. Remember, even Trump's granddaughter has been learning Chinese...since one or so.

Another topic I want to discuss is,
In Hong Kong, where most people speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin, should we use Cantonese or Mandarin to teach Chinese?
Why do some parents and educators think that Mandarin is better than Cantonese? Interesting thing is, these parents and educators were taught Chinese in Cantonese all the way (and may not speak a word of Mandarin).
I will discuss this in the coming post. Stay tuned.

All Tea No Shade with Andrea Lo.  One day I overheard a Chinese mother...

29/04/2017

In the previous post, we learnt about places like Bonham Road, Fir Street, Rednaxela Terrace etc, where you probably have not been to/ heard of.

Today, I am going to share with you an interesting MTR map with literal translations (by Justin Cheuk), and it is 2017 version! I am sure most of you have been to/ at least heard of them!

From the translations, you can actually tell a bit about the history, geography and demographics of Hong Kong.

Looks like 'Happy and Rich' (Lok Fu) and 'Health City' (Lohas Park) are good places to live...rather than 'Yellow Bamboo Pit' (Wong Chuk Hang)...

Oh what about 'Green Clothes' (Tsing Yi)...Do people in that area always dress in green?

Actually it is a kind of fish (Choerodon) with literal meaning 'Green (Tsing) Clothes (Yi)'.
Some believe it is because the island looks like this particular kind of fish, while some suggest that it is because a lot of 'Green Clothes' were found in that area.

Among all, how many of them can you pronounce in Chinese? Come and ask!

Check out the following link for more information and the meaning/history of each place/station.

http://www.justincheuk.com/hong-kong-mtr-map-literal-translation-2017-sequel/

20/04/2017

What did I just listen to?!

Let's listen to the Chinese version of
Rolling in the Deep by Adele...

in a mixture of English and Chinese dialect...

Enjoy!

Ps. Most Chinese do not sing English songs in that way...

15/04/2017

[ ] Do you know where they are:
Bonham Street/ Chatham Road/ Fenwick Street
Power Street/ Spring Garden Lane
Queen Victoria Street/ Queen's Road Central
Fir Street/ Pine Street/ Sycamore Street
Rednaxela Terrace?

And do you know these street names were all wrongly translated?

Which one is your favorite? Mine is Rednaxela (Alexander) Terrace...

In Hong Kong, we say

dou -> road
gaai -> street

For example, 'hang gaai (shopping)' literally means walking in the street.

[咁烏龍嘅！] 香港早期的街道係有英文名先，再由師爺譯中文，而當年嘅官員(莫非叫阿Chirs? ) 的英語程度參差，擺咗唔少烏龍。經我地絕對唔烏龍嘅求證，發現呢啲錯誤可分幾個Level... [Lost in translation] In the old days, Hong Kong’s streets were first christened in English before the names were translated into Chinese. Some things did get lost in translation but interestingly they’ve...