I keep trying to learn Cantonese but life and laziness always intervene. This time I will try a new method: I will learn 10 new words or phrases each day and post it here. I have a lot of down time every working day as I travel to and from work. Each direction takes about 50 minutes. I should perhaps try to use the trip going home for learning Canto.
I am using the book: Complete Cantonese by Hugh Baker and Ho Pui-Kei. I can immediately see that this book is not like many boring foreign language books – their examples and explanations are lively.
Jèung Taai-táai hóu ma? (Is Mrs Cheung OK?) I know the meaning of each of these words separately, but I didn’t know this is how you can ask how a third party is.
Hóu hóu (very good) Because hóu can mean good, or very.
Nē? is a shortcut you can use to avoid being repetitive. (Actually I know this already, but I’ve always seen it used as part of the phrase Néih nē? (how about yourself?) You can replace néih with someone’s name, or a pronoun such as Bruce nē? (how about Bruce?) or kéuih ne? (how about him / her?)
Not quite ten words, but I’ve run out of time. (Marker: stopped at section 1.8 of Baker & Ho)
2 comments:
Wow, 10 a day! I would struggle with even three a week, but then I don't feel comfortable with a definition of 'learned' that doesn't include me actually having the word becoming part of my vocabulary...anything less is just 'exposure' to me and my 'knowing' of the word is usually too contextually limited without more exposure, but I know others have different definitions of what 'learned' means. Keep up the good work and hope you get your 10 a day!...if not though don't be discouraged and just try something else :)
Good point on 'learn'. I guess my definition for this purpose is: I just want to be able know what a word means when I hear it.
As always, the problem is retention. I know the Cantonese for 'South Africa' now, but for how long?
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