Learn some Cantonese phrases that will benefit you when needing to know what something is
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Matt: Hi my name is Matt, and I’m joined here by... |
| Nicole: Hello everyone, I’m Nicole. |
| Matt: Welcome back to Basic Boot Camp. This five-part series will help you ease your way into Cantonese. |
| Nicole: We'll go over all the basics that will really help you understand Cantonese quicker and easier! |
| Matt: In this lesson, you will learn some helpful phrases. |
| Nicole: And these phrases are often used in the classroom. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ...廣東話點講？ |
| (...gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2?) |
| “How do you say ... in Cantonese?” |
| 唔該慢啲。 |
| (m4 goi1 maan6 di1. ) |
| “Please slow down a bit.” |
| 唔該幫我寫低。 |
| (m4 goi1 bong1 ngo5 se2 dai1.) |
| “Please write it down for me.” |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: Now you will never be at a loss for words again. |
| Nicole: Yes. |
| Matt: So what exactly were all these words? Let’s break them down. |
| Matt: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Cantonese language |
| Nicole: 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 點講 (dim2 gong2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: how to say |
| Nicole: 點講 (dim2 gong2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 點講 (dim2 gong2) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: excuse me; please; thank you |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 慢 (maan6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: slow |
| Nicole: 慢 (maan6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 慢 (maan6) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 啲 (di1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: -er |
| Nicole: 啲 (di1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 啲 (di1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 幫 (bong1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: to help |
| Nicole: 幫 (bong1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 幫 (bong1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 寫低 (se2 dai1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: to write down |
| Nicole: 寫低 (se2 dai1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 寫低 (se2 dai1) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Matt: So here we are teaching three very useful phrases in our lesson. |
| Nicole: Yes, you're going to use them and love them. |
| Matt: The first one is… |
| Nicole: ...廣東話點講？(...gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2?) |
| Matt: “In Cantonese, how do you say…?” |
| Nicole: 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) |
| Matt: “Cantonese”. |
| Nicole: 點 (dim2) |
| Matt: “How”. |
| Nicole: 講 (gong2) |
| Matt: “Say” or “speak”. Now of course, you could just point and gesticulate…however, using Cantonese to ask this question is going to get your mind in gear. |
| Nicole: Right. And you can still use the pointing method; however, using the Cantonese is going to make learning new words much less painful. |
| Matt: Yes, because your teacher might get what all your pointing is about, but people in the real world might get a little alarmed. So try it. First the point, and then… |
| Nicole: ...廣東話點講？(...gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2?) |
| Matt: Okay, so now you’ve pointed, they've answered you, and you get your word…but…what the heck did they just say? |
| Nicole: That's the thing. Sometimes you need to hear it slowly to catch it. |
| Matt: Yeah. But that is not a problem! |
| Nicole: Because you have 唔該慢啲 (m4 goi1 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: "Please slow down." |
| Nicole: 唔該慢啲 (m4 goi1 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: So 唔該 means, "please"…Let's break down that phrase. |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) “please”, it could also means “excuse me”, or “thank you”. |
| Matt: But in this case, “please”. |
| Nicole: 慢 (maan6). |
| Matt: “Slow”. |
| Nicole: 啲 (di1). |
| Matt: It’s the suffix “-er”. |
| Nicole: 唔該慢啲 (m4 goi1 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: Yes, it's very helpful for those time when you still can't quite get it, you can ask someone to say it again, but more slowly. |
| Nicole: 唔該慢啲 (m4 goi1 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: Now, I don’t know about you, but my memory is like a sieve. So once I've gone to all this trouble to find out what this object is, I definitely want a way to remember it. |
| Nicole: Okay, then you can ask 唔該幫我寫低 (m4 goi1 bong1 ngo5 se2 dai1). |
| Matt: "Please write it down for me"…starting with the delightful 唔該 (m4 goi1) of course! |
| Nicole: Right, the magic words! |
| Matt: Yes, and know this phrase really helps. It's going to help you with your character learning and also retaining what you just learned. |
| Nicole: 唔該幫我寫低 (m4 goi1 bong1 ngo5 se2 dai1). |
| Matt: "Please help me write it down". |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1). |
| Matt: "Please". |
| Nicole:幫我 (bong1 ngo5). |
| Matt: "Help me". |
| Nicole:寫低 (se2 dai1). |
| Matt: "Write down". |
| Nicole: 唔該幫我寫低 (m4 goi1 bong1 ngo5 se2 dai1). And you can ask someone to show you how to write the character, or to help you with the Jyutping. |
| Matt: I used to carry a notebook. Once I had the word and its English equivalent, I would just open the book any time I had free time, on the bus, or whatever, and study the words. |
| Nicole: Yes, a very good tactic. |
| Matt: Once the word is somewhere in your brain, you just need give yourself the chance to encounter it a few times in different circumstances. That will help you remember it. |
| Nicole: Yes, like for example, the word for "slow" 慢 (maan6). |
| Matt: Yes, here you learned it in the context of writing. But you could be on a scary Cantonese bus studying and have an opportunity to use it again. |
| Nicole: Like yelling at the driver 慢啲 (maan6 di1)!!! |
| Matt: “Slower!!!” Anyways, this writing down method is great because once you introduce yourself to the word, and write it down, you are giving yourself a chance to hear it again, and use it again. |
| Nicole: That’s right! |
Outro |
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