Science and Technology -
Language Centre
can then type the accent marks in Cantonese Yale
or Putonghua Pin Yin (this font is developed by Pui Ching Middle School)
Links and Tips Home
A. Links - Cantonese / Chinese / Electronic
Speaking Dictionary / Media / About Hong Kong
B. Tips - Learner's questions / Choosing books
| Dictionary | the searched results are mainly in written form instead of daily spoken form. (unless the spoken form is included in their traditional hard-printed dictionaries) |
| A Chinese Character Database | character dictionary - Chinese to English |
| On-Line Chinese Tools | character dictionary (no compound word) |
| MDBG Chinese English Dictionary | For the part "character dictionary", Cantonese romanization is available. For the part "word (compound word) dictionary", only Mandarin pin-yin but no Cantonese romanization |
| Online learning | |
| The
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - Language Centre |
Cantonese Listening Exercises, with audio files |
| Talk now Cantonese | from the book "Colloquial Cantonese", with audio files |
| Adam Sheik web site | vocab, characters, flash cards etc. |
| China-West Exchange | online learning, with sound files |
| Learn Cantonese | vocab |
| Others | |
| The Chinese Languages | there's a Cantonese forum |
| A Japanese web site | sound files for Cantonese initials, finals and tones |
| Typing tone marks | Typing tone marks in MS word |
| Typing tone marks by installing special font | Download
the font and install in your computer can then type the accent marks in Cantonese Yale or Putonghua Pin Yin (this font is developed by Pui Ching Middle School) |
| Dictionary | dictionaries for both characters and compound words, Chinese-English and English-Chinese |
| Lin Yutang | |
| MDBG Chinese English Dictionary | |
| Dictionary and resources | |
| Learning Chinese Online | resources, dictionaries |
| On-Line Chinese Tools | resources, dictionary |
| Chinese Languages | resources, dictionaries, forum |
| Zhongwen.com | resources, dictionary |
| Characters | |
| On-Line Chinese Tools | Chinese character flashcards |
| CSULB-Learning Chinese Online | Character writing animation Examples |
| Converters | |
| Chinese-tools.com | resources, dictionaries, converters |
| HSK | |
| Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) | HSK introduction |
| Others | |
| Chinese Language Information Page | links |
A3. Links - Electronic Speaking Dictionary
| Electronic Speaking Dictionary | |
| Instant-Dict (Model MD8100) |
English-Chinese-English dictionary (can
speak Mandarin or Cantonese) Handwriting recognition and so a user can write a Chinese character and it can return the English explanation. Cantonese romanization (not yale) can be shown but it doesn't show which tone it is. The data is based on written Chinese but not the spoken Cantonese. Therefore it may use formal written form words but not the common spoken version. People may still find it's useful for reference, especially for those who know Cantonese as well as Chinese. People can try different models at their show
room: They are available in the electrical appliances chain store "Broadway" in Hong Kong. |
A4. Links - Media in HK (with Cantonese or Chinese)
| Newspaper | |
| Singtao | http://www.singtao.com |
| Ming Post | http://www.mingpao.com |
| Apple Daily | http://appledaily.com |
| Orient Post | http://orisun.com |
| Radio | |
| RTHK | http://www.rthk.org.hk |
| Commercial Radio | http://pshweb01.881903.com |
| Metro Broadcast | http://www.metroradio.com.hk |
| TV | |
| TVB | http://www.tvb.com.hk/ |
| ATV | http://www.atv.com.hk/ |
| Others | |
| Famous comics in HK | http://www.oldmasterq.com/comics.html |
A5. Links - Media in HK (English)
| Newspaper | |
| South China Morning Post | http://www.scmp.com.hk |
| The Hong Kong Standard | http://www.thestandard.com.hk |
| Information | ||
| Community Advice Bureau CAB |
Their English speaking volunteers answer questions on any subject relating to living and working in Hong Kong | |
| CentaMap | You
can search by name or address and it can do exact or
substring search |
|
| AsiaXpat | It includes lots of information about HK | |
| Hong Kong Observatory | ||
| Charity | ||
| Agency for Volunteer Service | Your organisation need a volunteer or you want to be a volunteer | |
| Crossroads International | They
receive unwanted goods and redistribute them as gift
donations to people in need, locally and internationally.
You can donate them household, office and classroom
furniture, bedding & fabric supplies, medical
provisions, electrical goods, office equipment, household
goods, clothing, stationery, books and educational toys. There are many English speaking volunteers and they can go to your place to pick them up |
|
| WEEE | Recovery
Programme for Waste Computers and Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (They will come to your place to
pick them up, no matter it works or not. Computers can be
as old as 386) |
|
| Christian Action | Clothings,
shoes, handbags, soft toys, small domestic electronic
appliances. |
|
| Outlet for used items | You can donate used items to these local charity organisations | |
| Others | ||
| Hong Kong Vegan Society | There are recommended vegetarian restaurants | |
| Dragon Radio | Music from Asia | |
B1. Tips - Learner's questions
| 1: | I've learnt Cantonese for some time, but I don't know how to have small talks with my friends |
| Never mind! Hong Kong people don't small talk as much as foreigners. Usually they won't say "Are you busy?" or "What did you do last weekend?" Of course they would chat like "How is everything going?" with old friends if they haven't met for a certain period of time. Quite often, people smile and nod their heads to show greetings to other people, e.g. to a care taker. | |
| 2: | I find there is no progress in my Cantonese. I even find that it's getting worse. |
| Use it or lose it, I'm sorry that your losing rate is faster than the learning rate! Try to use it more! There's no point learning Cantonese if you don't use it or don't use it "enough". | |
| 3: | How can I practice my Cantonese? Hong Kong people always speak too fast. |
| The only person who doesn't mind that you are too slow is yourself. Therefore speak Cantonese to yourself DAILY. Set a target, let's say five minutes a day. After 3 months, set it 10 minutes a day and so on! No need to use complete sentences, just simple vocabulary is fine. You can also combine both English and Cantonese in your sayings! | |
| 4 | I speak Cantonese with Hong Kong people, I think the sound is right, but they still don't understand. |
| Maybe they thought you were speaking English instead of Cantonese. Therefore they tried hard to figure out what the "English words" were. Try to say "please /mh goi/" in Cantonese at the beginning can usually let them know you are speaking Cantonese instead of English. | |
| 5: | I hear Hong Kong people say "good morning". However I don't hear them saying "good afternoon". |
| Normally, Hong Kong people don't say "Good afternoon", "Good evening" and "How are you?" (Mandarin speakers do). Some conversation books teach you to say, "How are you?" in Cantonese just because they know it's your habit. | |
| 6: | Hong Kong people always say "a", "la", "ga" etc at the end of sentences, I don't know the meanings of these sounds. |
| These are "modal particles". They don't take literal meanings, they just give intonations to the sentences. If you are not sure of the usage, it's better you skip them as people can still understand what you want to say. Wrong modal particles may give odd intonations. If you are quite sure about the usage, feel free to use them! | |
| 7: | I copied some simple words from Hong Kong people. However, when I try them, people do not understand. |
| Maybe you copied the sounds but not the tones (pitch levels of the sounds). For example, the sounds for Monday and Sunday are the same, just the tones are different. Usually if your sounds are correct, but your tones are wrong, Hong Kong people can still understand because of the context. However when you talk about something like place names and street names, maybe people do not understand then. | |
| 8: | I don't think I can manage different tones in Cantonese, should I give up? |
| Never mind, people can still understand you if you can speak initials and finals of the sounds fairly right. | |
| 1: | Points to notes when choosing Cantonese books |
| 1. | The
romanization system adopted As Cantonese romanization systems are not standardised as that in Putonghua pin-yin, it's better to choose books which adopt the same romanization system that you are familiar with. In Hong Kong, most Cantonese books for foreigners use "Yale". |
| 2. | Some
books don't put space or hyphen between syllables in
compound words. As there are confusion for some letters
such as "m", "n", "g",
"p", "t" or "k" maybe
either the first letter or the last letter of a syllable
in Cantonese, they are harder to read. It's specially important in critical cases - a learner can't tell where to cut the different syllables. For example, if "Vancouver" is just written as "Wangowah", someone may wrongly pronounce it as "Wang-o-wah" instead of the right one "Wan-go-wah". If "digestive system" is just written as "cheuhngwaih", someone may wrongly pronounce it as "cheuhn-gwaih" instead of the right one "cheuhng-waih". Some books put a comma to separate two different syllables in critical cases. Some books just don't. |
| 2: | "English to Cantonese" dictionaries |
| 1 | English-Cantonese Dictionary <The Chinese University
of Hong Kong> Lots of words are included but it's hard Available at: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Commercial Press (Tel: 28908028) |
| 2 | A Practical English-Chinese
Pronouncing Dictionary <Tuttle Language Library, by
Janey Chen> With Chinese characters, Yale in both Cantonese and Mandarin, words included are less than the above one but with clear presentation and clear explanation for different options. (Quite often, there are different Cantonese options for one English look up) Available at: Swindon Books Co. (Tel: 23668001) |
| 3: | "Cantonese to English" dictionaries |
| 1 | Chinese-English Dictionary <The Chinese University
of Hong Kong> With Chinese characters, Cantonese Romanization in Yale, Mandarin Pinyin The "base" is Chinese instead of Cantonese. Therefore it doesn't include Cantonese words if they are only used in spoken form but not in written form. Available at: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Commercial Press |
| 2 | A Practical Cantonese-English
Dictionary <The Government Printer> With Chinese characters, Cantonese romanization in Sidney Lau instead of Yale The "base" is Cantonese and so it does include lots of daily spoken words Available at: The Commercial Press (Tel: 28908028) |
| 4: | Locations of the mentioned bookstores |
| 1 | The
stocks for the dictionaries are not always available or
they are only available in certain branches, you can ring
to check it first. Besides, these book stores also sell some other Cantonese or Chinese books. |
| 2 | The
Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Ltd.(It's a large chain book
store in Hong Kong) Causeway Bay branch: 9 Yee Wo Street., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Tel: 28908028 |
| 3 | Swindon
Books Co. Ltd. Main store: 13-15 Lock Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: 23668001 |