Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David.
Nicole: 大家好,我係 (daai6 gaa1 hou2 , ngo5 hai6) Nicole.
David: And we’re here with the lesson that is Absolute Beginner Season 2, Lesson 11.
Nicole: “Hong Kong Hotels”.
David: Right, so, our dialogue here is all about someone checking into a hotel.
Nicole: Or booking one.
David: Or booking one, true. So, you’ve got a dialogue that’s all about this and as usual, everyone is speaking casual Cantonese.
Nicole: Definitively.
David: So this a language you can use right away. Before we get to that, we want to remind you if you have any questions, if you have any comments.
Nicole: Visit our site and post it.
David: Yes, Nicole is reading every day, so if you have any questions, she’s going to get back to you.
Nicole: As soon as possible.
David: Yeah and if not, you can leave another message complaining to Nicole. Anyway, with that said, let’s get to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
A: 我要訂房。(ngo5 jiu3 deng6 fong2.)
B: 咩房?(me1 fong2?)
A: 標準房。 (biu1 zeon2 fong2.)
B: 幾間? (gei2 gaan1?)
A: 一間。 (jat1 gaan1.)
B: 好。(hou2.)
A: I want to book a room.
B: What kind of room?
A: A standard room.
B: How many?
A: One.
B: Okay.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So, this lesson is all about what you need to know if you want to book a hotel in Hong Kong.
Nicole: Yeah. Or checking in.
David: Yeah and a standard room can be between really little, 5 square meters and 30 square meters, depending on which hotel you’re at.
Nicole: That’s right.
David: If you’re looking on the expensive side, if you’re looking on the cheap side, we know a couple of good places, so send us an email and we’ll send you some tips. With that said, let’s get into the vocab which is really important to know if you’re doing this stuff yourself.
VOCAB LIST
Nicole: 訂。(deng6)
David: “To book”.
Nicole: 訂, 訂, 標準房。(deng6, deng6, biu1 zeon2 fong2.)
David: “Standard room”.
Nicole: 標準房, 標準房, 雙人房。(biu1 zeon2 fong2, biu1 zeon2 fong2, soeng1 jan4 fong2.)
David: “Double room”.
Nicole: 雙人房, 雙人房, 單人房。 (soeng1 jan4 fong2, soeng1 jan4 fong2, daan1 jan4 fong2.)
David: “Single room”.
Nicole: 單人 房, 單人房, 總統套房。(daan1 jan4 fong2, daan1 jan4 fong2, zung2 tung2 tou3
fong2)
David: “Presidential suite”.
Nicole: 總統 套 房, 總統套房, 退房。(zung2 tung2 tou3 fong2, zung2 tung2 tou3 fong2, teoi3 fong2.)
David: “To check out”.
Nicole: 退房, 退房, 大堂。(teoi3 fong2, teoi3 fong2, daai6 tong4.)
David: “Lobby”.
Nicole: 大堂, 大堂, 間。(daai6 tong4, daai6 tong4, gaan1.)
David: “Measure word for rooms”.
Nicole: 間, 間。(gaan1, gaan1.)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: Let’s have a closer look at some these words and phrases. When you step into a hotel, the first thing you want to do is ask “Do you have any rooms?”
Nicole: 有冇房? (jau5 mou5 fong2?)
David: “Do have any rooms?”
Nicole: 有冇房? (jau5 mou5 fong2?)
David: And we’re hearing the word for “room”, there.
Nicole: 房。(fong2.)
David: They’ll either say they have or they don’t have.
Nicole: 有。(jau5.)
David: “Or”.
Nicole: 冇。(mou5.)
David: Let’s assume that they have space. They might tell you “We have a standard room”.
Nicole: 有標準房。(jau5 biu1 zeon2 fong2.)
David: “We have a standard room.”
Nicole: 有標準房。 (jau5 biu1 zeon2 fong2 .)
David: “Or maybe we have a double room.”
Nicole: 有雙人房。 (jau5 soeng1 jan4 fong2.)
David: “We have a double room.”
Nicole: 有雙人房。(jau5 soeng1 jan4 fong2.)
David: Or maybe they’ll give you a choice, standard room or double room.
Nicole: 標準房 定 雙人房。(biu1 zeon2 fong2 ding6 soeng1 jan4 fong2.)
David: “Standard room or double room.”
Nicole: 標準房 定 雙人房。 (biu1 zeon2 fong2 ding6 soeng1 jan4 fong2.)
David: And the double room is literally twin or two people room.
Nicole: 雙人房。(soeng1 jan4 fong2.)
David: We have a single room in our vocab section as well.
Nicole: 單人房。(daan1 jan4 fong2.)
David: You can always ask them “Can I see the room?”
Nicole: 可唔可以睇下房? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 tai2 haa5 fong2?)
David: “Can I see the room?”
Nicole: 可唔可以睇下房? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 tai2 haa5 fong2?)
David: And that’s “can” or “cannot”.
Nicole: 可唔可以? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5?)
David: “To see”.
Nicole: 睇。(tai2.)
David: “The room”.
Nicole: 房。(fong2.)
David: “Can I see the room?”
Nicole: 可唔可以睇下房? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 tai2 haa5 fong2?)
David: What’s that 下? (haa5?)
Nicole: 下 (haa5) is “have a bit”, “to do something for a little bit”.
David: For a little bit, so “Can I see quickly the room?”
Nicole: 可唔可以睇下房?(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 tai2 haa5 fong2?) You can leave it out if you don’t like it.
David: Yeah. Last but not least, when you’ve got the room. You’re going to ask them “What time is check out?”
Nicole: 幾點退房? (gei2 dim2 teoi3 fong2?)
David: That has a word “to check out”.
Nicole: 退房。(teoi3 fong2.)
David: We’re just putting “what time”.
Nicole: 幾點? (gei2 dim2?)
David: In front of it.
Nicole: 幾點 退房? (gei2 dim2 teoi3 fong2?)
David: “What time do I check out?”
Nicole: 幾點 退房?(gei2 dim2 teoi3 fong2?)
David: Okay. So, a lot of really useful vocab there. Now, that’s just if you show up at the hotel, though. If you want to book a hotel in advance, you’re going to need to listen to our grammar section.

Lesson focus

David: It’s grammar time! Our grammar point today is about how you book something. In this case, a hotel room.
Nicole: 訂房。 (deng6 fong2.)
David: In the dialogue, we heard this in this line.
Nicole: 我要訂房。(ngo5 jiu3 deng6 fong2.)
David: “I want to book a room.”
Nicole: 我要訂房。(ngo5 jiu3 deng6 fong2.)
David: “I want to book.”
Nicole: 我要訂......。(ngo5 jiu3 deng6 …...)
David: And you can add whatever you want to book after this.
Nicole: That’s right. Let’s say you want to book a table. 我要訂枱。(ngo5 jiu3 deng6 toi2.)
David: “I want to book a table.”
Nicole: 我要訂枱。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 toi2.)
David: Now in our dialogue, we weren’t very specific. We just wanted to book a room.
Nicole: Yeah. 我要訂房。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 fong2.)
David: If you want to be more specific, you can say “I want to book a single room”.
Nicole: 我要訂單人房。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 daan1 jan4 fong2.)
David: “I want to book a standard room”.
Nicole: 我要訂標準房。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 biu1 zeon2 fong2.)
David: And if you’re just back from Macau, and you’re flushed with money, you want to book the presidential suite.
Nicole: 我要訂總統套房。(ngo5 jiu3 deng6 zung2 tung2 tou3 fong2.) You say it with pride.
David: Yes. “I want to book the presidential suite.”
Nicole: 我要訂總統套房。(ngo5 jiu3 deng6 zung2 tung2 tou3 fong2.)
David: Right. So, our keyword here is the word “to book”.
Nicole: 訂。(deng6.)
David: Or “to order”. So that’s hotels. As we’ve already said, you can book a table at the restaurant too.
Nicole: Mm-hmm, 我要訂枱。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 toi2.)
David: Here, you can also be more specific. You can book a table for one person.
Nicole: 我要訂單人枱。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 daan1 jan4 toi2.)
David: Or, “I want to book a table for too.”
Nicole: 我要訂雙人枱。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 soeng1 jan4 toi2.)
David: It’s exactly the same as hotel rooms. What if you’re trying to book a hotel for six?
Nicole: 我要訂六人枱。 (ngo5 jiu3 deng6 luk6 jan4 toi2.)
David: So, we’re saying “one person table”, “two persons table”, “six persons table”.
Nicole: Exactly.
David: Okay. So a really simple grammar point about booking tables and rooms.

Outro

David: That brings us at the end of our lesson for today, but before we go, I want to tell you about a way to improve your pronunciation drastically.
Nicole: Our voice recording tool.
David: Right. The voice recording tool.
Nicole: You can record your voice with a click of a button.
David: And then play it back just as easily.
Nicole: Record and listen.
David: And then compare your voice to the native speakers.
Nicole: And adjust your pronunciation.
David: Right. So that does it for today. As always, we hope you enjoyed and we hope to see you on the site. I’m David.
Nicole: I’m Nicole.
David: Thanks a lot for listening. Bye-bye.
Nicole: Bye Bye.

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