Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David.
Gimmy: 大家好, 我係 Gimmy。(daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Gimmy.)
David: And we’re here today with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 24.
Gimmy: A Cooking Class in Hong Kong.
David: Right. Gimmy just taken her knowledge of Cantonese cuisine and stuffed it into this dialogue.
Gimmy: With some good tips on it.
David: Yes. So we’re going to learn how to speak Cantonese and how to cook. Now, our dialogue takes place in the kitchen between a student and a teacher.
Gimmy: Right. And they’re speaking casual Cantonese as always.
David: Let’s listen.

Lesson conversation

A: 條魚要蒸幾耐?(tiu4 jyu2 jiu3 zing1 gei2 noi6?)
B: 大概十分鐘。(daai6 koi3 sap6 fan1 zung1.)
A: 咁豬肉呢?(gam2 zyu1 juk6 ne1?)
B: 差唔多廿分鐘。(caa1 m4 do1 jaa6 fan1 zung1.)
David: One more time, a bit slower.
A: 條魚要蒸幾耐?(tiu4 jyu2 jiu3 zing1 gei2 noi6?)
B: 大概十分鐘。(daai6 koi3 sap6 fan1 zung1.)
A: 咁豬肉呢?(gam2 zyu1 juk6 ne1?)
B: 差唔多廿分鐘。(caa1 m4 do1 jaa6 fan1 zung1.)
David: And now, with the English translation.
A: 條魚要蒸幾耐?(tiu4 jyu2 jiu3 zing1 gei2 noi6?)
A: How long does it take to steam the fish?
B: 大概十分鐘。(daai6 koi3 sap6 fan1 zung1.)
B: About ten minutes.
A: 咁豬肉呢?(gam2 zyu1 juk6 ne1?)
A: How about the pork?
B: 差唔多廿分鐘。(caa1 m4 do1 jaa6 fan1 zung1.)
B: About twenty minutes.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So that’s our cooking lesson for today. Pork takes longer to cook than fish most of the time.
Gimmy: Right.
David: Right.
Gimmy: Unless the fish is really big.
David: Right. So our vocab today, we’re going to review some old food terms and add some new ones. Let’s start with our vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Gimmy: 大概 (daai6 koi3) [natural native speed]
David: Around.
Gimmy: 大概 (daai6 koi3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 大概 (daai6 koi3) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1) [natural native speed].
David: More or less.
Gimmy: 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 魚 (jyu2) [natural native speed].
David: Fish.
Gimmy: 魚 (jyu2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 魚 (jyu2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 豬肉 (zyu1 juk6) [natural native speed].
David: Pork.
Gimmy: 豬肉 (zyu1 juk6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 豬肉 (zyu1 juk6) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 蒸 (zing1) [natural native speed].
David: To steam.
Gimmy: 蒸 (zing1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 蒸 (zing1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 分鐘 (fan1 zung1) [natural native speed]
David: Minutes.
Gimmy: 分鐘 (fan1 zung1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 分鐘 (fan1 zung1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 鐘(頭)(zung1 (tau4)) [natural native speed].
David: Hours.
Gimmy: 鐘(頭)(zung1 (tau4)) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 鐘(頭)(zung1 (tau4)) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 廿 (jaa6) [natural native speed].
David: Twenty.
Gimmy: 廿 (jaa6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 廿 (jaa6) [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
David: So there’s plenty of new stuff here today. The most important thing though for anyone in Hong Kong…
Gimmy: …is the food.
David: Right. In an earlier lesson, we taught you how to say “beef.”
Gimmy: 牛肉. (ngau4 juk6.)
David: “Beef.”
Gimmy: 牛肉. (ngau4 juk6.)
David: Chicken.
Gimmy: 雞肉. (gai1 juk6.)
David: Chicken.
Gimmy: 雞肉. (gai1 juk6.)
David: And lamb.
Gimmy: 羊肉. (joeng4 juk6.)
David: Lamb.
Gimmy: 羊肉. (joeng4 juk6.)
David: So you could go to a restaurant and say, “I want the beef and the chicken.”
Gimmy: 我想要牛肉, 仲有雞肉. (ngo5 soeng2 jiu3 ngau4 juk6, zung6 jau5 gai1 juk6.)
David: Or “I want the chicken and the lamb.”
Gimmy: 我想要雞肉, 仲有羊肉. (ngo5 soeng2 jiu3 gai1 juk6, zung6 jau5 joeng4 juk6.)
David: Today, we had two more kinds of meats. First, fish.
Gimmy: 魚. (jyu2.)
David: Fish.
Gimmy: 魚. (jyu2.)
David: Second, pork.
Gimmy: 豬肉. (zyu1 juk6.)
David: Pork.
Gimmy: 豬肉. (zyu1 juk6.)
David: Fish and pork.
Gimmy: 魚, 仲有豬肉. (jyu2, zung6 jau5 zyu1 juk6.)
David: “I’ll have the fish and the pork.”
Gimmy: 我要魚, 仲要豬肉. (ngo5 jiu3 jyu2, zung6 jiu3 zyu1 juk6.)
David: Right. We’re going to get the times in our grammar section. Before we touch on that though, we also have two new ways of saying “about.”
Gimmy: 大概. (daai6 koi3.)
David: Which means “approximately.”
Gimmy: 大概. (daai6 koi3.)
David: “Approximately 20 minutes.”
Gimmy: 大概二十分鐘. (daai6 koi3 ji6 sap6 fan1 zung1.)
David: Or “approximately an hour.”
Gimmy: 大概一個鐘. (daai6 koi3 jat1 go3 zung1.)
David: We also have the phrase “more or less.”
Gimmy: 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1).
David: Which in this context, means exactly the same thing.
Gimmy: 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1). 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1).
David: It’s a bit more casual.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: And it’s a bit more flexible, too.
Gimmy: Right.
David: Thus, if someone asks you a question and you want to answer “well, you know, that’ about right”, you can just answer…
Gimmy: 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1).
David: So two ways to say “approximately” or “about.”
Gimmy: 大概 (daai6 koi3) and 差唔多 (caa1 m4 do1).
David: In our grammar section, we’re going to a bit more detail about times.

Lesson focus

David: Okay, Gimmy, what are we going to learn today?
Gimmy: We’re learning how to talk about times.
David: And specifically how to talk about a length of time.
Gimmy: Right.
David: In our dialogue, the teacher and the student were talking about how long it takes to steam foods. When asked about fish, the teacher said…
Gimmy: 大概十分鐘. (daai6 koi3 sap6 fan1 zung1.)
David: “About 10 minutes.”
Gimmy: 大概十分鐘. (daai6 koi3 sap6 fan1 zung1.)
David: “About 10 minutes.” Let’s just take a look at how we said “ten minutes.”
Gimmy: 十分鐘. (sap6 fan1 zung1.)
David: Let’s break that down.
Gimmy: 十. (sap6.)
David: The number 10.
Gimmy: 十. (sap6.)
David: The number 10.
Gimmy: 十(sap6). 分鐘 (fan1 zung1).
David: The length of time. In this case, “minutes.”
Gimmy: 分鐘. (fan1 zung1.)
David: Now, with most numbers, you’re just going to put the number in front of minutes.
Gimmy: Right.
David: For instance, 15 minutes.
Gimmy: 十五分鐘. (sap6 ng5 fan1 zung1.)
David: Fifteen minutes.
Gimmy: 十五分鐘. (sap6 ng5 fan1 zung1.)
David: How about 20 minutes?
Gimmy: 二十分鐘. (ji6 sap6 fan1 zung1.)
David: Twenty minutes.
Gimmy: 二十分鐘. (ji6 sap6 fan1 zung1.) But we also heard this in the dialogue, 廿分鐘. (jaa6 fan1 zung1.)
David: “A shortcut.”
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Twenty minutes.
Gimmy: 廿分鐘. (jaa6 fan1 zung1.)
David: There’s another shortcut. If we want to say “half an hour.”
Gimmy: 半個鐘. (bun3 go3 zung1.)
David: “Half an hour.”
Gimmy: 半個鐘. (bun3 go3 zung1.)
David: So using this, we can really make almost any combination of times. For instance, an hour.
Gimmy: 一個鐘. (jat1 go3 zung1.)
David: “Two hours.”
Gimmy: 兩個鐘. (loeng5 go3 zung1.)
David: “Two hours and 20 minutes.”
Gimmy: 兩個鐘二十分鐘, or 兩個鐘廿分鐘 (loeng5 go3 zung1 ji6 sap6 fan1 zung1, or loeng5 go3 zung1 jaa6 fan1 zung1).
David: “Three hours and 20 minutes.”
Gimmy: 三個鐘廿分鐘. (saam1 go3 zung1 jaa6 fan1 zung1.)
David: How about “an hour and a half?”
Gimmy: 一個半鐘. (jat1 go3 bun3 zung1.)
David: An hour and a half.
Gimmy: 一個半鐘. (jat1 go3 bun3 zung1.)
David: So talking about length of times in Cantonese is really easy.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: We just put the number of minutes….
Gimmy: In front of the “hours” or “minutes”.
David: Right. Now, this can be a bit tricky if you communicate with audio. So if you’re having trouble following along with us, we really recommend you checkout the premium PDF for this lesson.
Gimmy: We’ve written down the rules and examples all in the grammar sections.

Outro

David: Right. So if you have any questions, you can consult that and it will help clear this up. That being said though, that’s all the time we have today. I’m David.
Gimmy: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Gimmy.
David: Thanks a lot for listening and we’ll see you on the site.
Gimmy: 下次見. (haa6 ci3 gin3.)

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