Customer Reviews

Dictionary of Cantonese Slang: The Language of Hong Kong Movies, Street Gangs and City Life

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Before you purchase a copy just remember this is a dictionary for CANTONESE slang. Cantonese being one of the many Chinese dialogues, obviously not every Chinese speaks Cantonese.

So having said that, I must inform everyone that Cantonese has the most vivid descriptions and usages of slang of the entire Chinese language (yet, being the least awful sounding). How do I know, because I was born in that wonderful city of Hong Kong! It's my native tongue, so trust me, we know how to slang in style~~ However, not all Cantonese slangs are entirely cruses nor are they offensive, you can use many of them safely in any environment. And this book presents the best of them in their original forms, including the usage of each slang and how to apply it within your speech. I am amazed by how accurate the dictionary truly is. The definations are all better than I thought they would be (as well as its entertaining value)! So if you are ever tired from repeating the same old phrases over and over again, then try adding a few Cantonese slangs into your speech to spice things up a little bit.

When you see that an ex-CID officer wrote the intro and gave his nod of approval, you know you're in for a slang dictionary like few others--and this even includes such longtime favorites as Constantine's "Japanese Street Slang". Drawing from various diverse sources ranging from linguistic research papers to pornographic magazines, the authors have their bases covered. Even if you don't know Cantonese you'll find it's a very fun read what with such innocent sounding expressions as "ice fire" making you shake your head in disbelief when you read the definition. Students of Cantonese will like this one a lot: it has both the Yale transliteration (which it's indexed by) and Chinese characters so you'll be able to lend it to your Chinese friends too so they can learn how to express themselves more colorfully in English. Highly recommended.

waited a long time for this to come out, and well worth it..the book is a fantastic contribution to Cantonese language study.

Cantonese is difficult anyway, and has very few good books for those learning the language, in contrast to Mandarin.

well done to the authors and publishers for sticking it out, anyone seriously studying Cantonese will need to learn the wonderfully rich and varied slang, and this really is a serious and valuable work, also rather amusing..thank you!.

This is the type of cantonese colliquial I was looking for, one that doesn't just include all the usual phrases that are just slightly colloquial. This book goes all the way in terms of slang language. A lot of swearing and gangster talk is included. When I saw the book cover the first thing that came to mind was the hk movie 'young and dangerous'. Although I have to say ever since my mother brought another colloquial book from hk 'common cantonese colloquial expressions' I found that if you want the usual colloquial phrases like "ar chi don gum say" (ie pretending teeth to be used as gold - I highly take in/treausre every word you say) or "bou yee li" (ie cheating with another woman while married) it'll probably be better to get that book. This book is very slang although it does include many of the usual everyday phrases. The language in this book is probably not used by a majority of civilised hk people although many in hk do swear a lot but I guess they won't use that many variations of harsh expressions. I know this as I was born in hk myself and have visited hk once in a while as I live overseas. I myself do swear a lot in canto (although sometimes I try not to) so this book was suitable for me. It is good as a read for amusment and englightening to what can be said when hk people get pissed or are under pressure.. which is a lot of the time. The yale organisation of the book is very useful for those that can't read chinese as it is in alhapbetical order. It also helps you to pronouce the words if you figure out how to read with the sounding of the high and low tones. Overall I think that this book was well written and it isn't expensive for such a thick book as this I have to say.

hk.style

An excellent book and worth it for both native Cantonese speakers and people learning to speak Cantonese. I'm a native Cantonese speaker (and also fluent in English) and there are lots of slang phrases I have a hard time translating to English and this book helps with it. It should be noted that the vernacular in this book are often particular to the Cantonese in Hong Kong and may not reflect the vernacular of Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou.

There are a few mistakes in the book, however, but not a big problem. For instance, some characters that actually can be written in Cantonese are left "blank" (indicated by a square).

I recommend this book 100%

This dictionary is a good guide to real Hong Kong Cantonese and is a valuable contribution to the study of this rich Chinese dialect. Some of it overlaps with Hong Kong English and it has been very useful for me. My only criticism is that it tends to leave a few thing out and does not cross reference as well as it might. However for the size of the book I could not ask for more.

I recommend this book for language students in Hong Kong; it would also be useful for police officers and social workers.

Note: Some of the words covered are not suitable for children.

Excellent book. Though born and raised in Hawaii, Cantonese was my first language. During trips to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to visit family, my Chinese was understood perfectly and they marvelled at how well I spoke colloquial Chinese, but I never realized I wasn't speaking "proper" Cantonese, until I read this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone desiring to learn the usage and context of Cantonese as spoken on the streets of any Chinatown in the U.S. as well as Hong Kong & Guangdong.