A Glossary of Common Cantonese Colloquial Expressions [Paperback]

Simon So (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 2002 | ISBN-10: 9622019757 | ISBN-13: 978-9622019751

Cantonese has a wealth of colloquial expressions on various daily life situations which are very descriptive but not easily comprehensible to non-Cantonese. This book collects and compiles over 3,000 entries of the commonly used ones and presents them with their English translations for English-speaking students learning Cantonese. Besides listing the expression in Chinese characters with its literal translation in English, each entry also contains its phonetic transcription in the Yale Romanization System, and a description of its meaning and sometimes its origin. The entries are arranged alphabetically according following the Yale Romanization System, and for ease of reference, an index by the strokes of the Chinese characters of the expressions is included. There is also an elaborate description of the Yale Romanization System.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Simon Siu-Hing So teaches Chinese, Cantonese and Chinese-English translation at George Brown College in Toronto and the School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto. His Chinese works include Treaties on the Eminent Families in the Two Chins and Southern Dynasties, Chinese Railroad Workers for the Canadian Pacific Railway and Probing China's Soul. He is also the author of two textbooks for Cantonese learners, Say It in Cantonese.

Product Details

• Paperback: 452 pages
• Publisher: The Chinese University Press (December 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9622019757
• ISBN-13: 978-9622019751
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have!, May 1, 2006

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Phoenix "Love Books" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Glossary of Common Cantonese Colloquial Expressions (Paperback)

I must commend Mr. So on this work, this is a much needed resource on traditional cantonese language in the western hemisphere. This book uses the traditional chinese format, lists the yale romanized pronounciation, literal english translation and the interpreted translation in english. There are many dictionaries which list single word definitions. As many people who study chinese soon learn the language is composed of expressions to create whole concepts. It is very necessary to know these expressions in order to understand what concept a person is trying to make.

A recent article in the Los Angelse Times said that the cantonese language is dying due to the availability of open travel within china. The influx of mandarin speaking immigrants is increasing rapidly. Cantonese peoples were the first chinese people to introduce chinese culture to, I believe, the world. Although Guangdong people only make up 1% of the chinese population, they've always had a penchant for survival. I hope with more books like this and others, Cantonese culture, will survive the test of time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential for serious learners of this language and culture, August 27, 2010

By 

Alex R. Gochenour "Equity markets" (Shanghai, China) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Glossary of Common Cantonese Colloquial Expressions (Paperback)

I keep coming back to Mr. So's book because it has so many different speech patterns, including the three-character adjectival expressions, (hung fet fet, yau lam lam, etc.) that are so loved by the Cantonese. What was really fascinating is to see how many of these phrases have influenced neighboring languages; my girlfriend, born and raised in northern Guangxi, recognized many of them from her native Zhuang, which belongs to a different language family, despite the fact that she does not speak Cantonese.

My Hong Kong friends found some of the phrases in this book rather alien. That's no criticism, and indeed may indicate that Mr. So has culled words from across the Cantonese-speaking diaspora. Maybe he just interviewed a lot of elderly speakers. It's a shame he does not say more about his own linguistic experiences or how he put the book together. My Cantonese teacher, a Hong Kong native, commented that some of the words I learned sounded "very Guangzhou." If Mr. So decides to produce a revised edition, I hope he could better distinguish what phrases are unique to specific regions of Guangdong. After all, even Cantonese has plenty of dialects that are barely intelligible to Shenzhen or Hong Kong natives.

All in all, this book is a must-have for anyone serious about learning Cantonese. It will certainly help purge your speech of sterile Mandarin speech patterns. I bought it two years ago and still review it frequently.