2009年6月7日 星期日

Cantonese Basics


First of all, I want everyone to know that China is a huge country. It's large enough to have different spoken language (written language is similar) within China. Mandarin is the most popular one among all. However, in Hong Kong, people usually speak in Cantonese which is usually used in southern China.

Although, Hong Kong was one of the colonies of England for almost a hundred years. Hong Kong people's English is still not very good (like me =P). Therefore I am going to talk about some basics Cantonese that can be used in daily life.

Chinese English Cantonese

Greetings
你好 Hi/Hello lay hoe
你好嗎? How are you? lay hoe ma?
早晨 Good Morning jow sun
再見 Good Bye joy geen
唔該 Excuse me/Thank you hmm goy

Restaurants and Shopping
幾錢 How much is it? ching mun, gay daw cheen?
埋單 Check please hmm goy, mai dan
太貴了 too expensive Tai Gwei le
洗手間在哪? Where is the washroom? Chee saw hai been doe ah?

Emergency
救命 Help Gau mang
警察 Police Ging chart



New Territories

New Territories is the largest area in Hong Kong. It is a more rural area compare to Kowloon and Hong Kong. However, there are still many places worth to visit as a tourist. For example, the Giant Buddha is one of the must-go place. The Giant Buddha is the world largest outdoor bronze buddha.
No trip to Hong Kong would be complete without a visit to the world's tallest, outdoor, seated bronze Buddha.
Another place tourist should go is Sai Kung (where I live =]). Sai Kung is a fishing harbor located west of New territories. You can taste the best seafood in Hong Kong. There are hundreds of seafood restaurants in Sai Kung. All of them are equipped with glass tanks, fresh and alive fishes, crabs, lobster and many other seafood you never seen before are in those tanks for you to choose from.