Interesting Cantonese: A Basic Introduction to Cantonese

Title: 

Interesting Cantonese

Author:

Susanna Ng

Publisher: 

Ming Man Publications Limited (Hong Kong)

Date published: 

First edition came out in 2005, but many since then

Cantonese romanization method: 

Yale

Sticker price: 

$225 HKD 

Audio format:

CDs

What this book is good for: 

Building vocabulary, learning common phrases

This book is ubiquitous in English-language bookstores across Hong Kong, and for good reason. With over 3,000 vocabulary words and expressions, it is a thorough catalog of Cantonese required for everyday life. 

The book labels itself as "For Beginner & Intermedia Level," though it doesn't really offer any of sort of graduated curriculum that helps you build sentences or ideas of increasing complexity. Instead, it covers phrases and words thematically, beginning with "Daily Conversation," moving on to "Interesting Cantonese," and finishing with "Improve Your Cantonese." An appendix titled "Names of Places in Hong Kong" is very helpful for anyone wanting to improve their ability to give directions or communicate with cab drivers.

Each part is split into further chapters, with "Daily Conversation" being the most diverse in terms of topics, such as Eating, Drinking, Money, Transport, Time, etc. Improve Your Cantonese actually deals head-on with grammatical issues like verbs, tenses, etc. but more through lists than through gradual introductions of sentence structures. For example, the verb chapter is really a list of standalone verbs, each one followed by an example sentence in English, the romanized form of the Cantonese, and then the Chinese characters.

For example, on page 230:

Sé

寫

I write down your name.

Ngóh sé dāi néih go méng.

我寫低你個名。

One amazing aspect of the book is the 4 CDs it provides (though you need to have a CD drive, of course). The CDs include recordings of ALL the Cantonese vocabulary and phrases in the books, making for an excellent repository of spoken Cantonese. However, the English translations are not read aloud, so if you are listening to this while you drive or work out, you are listening more for sound acquisition than for pairing meanings between languages; for the latter, you need to be looking at the book as you listen.

I find Interesting Cantonese to be a solid reference material for people who either want to learn some quick phrases (the first and second parts of the book) or for those who already know basic sentence structures and want to plug in new vocabulary (part three of the book). However, it lacks the series of dialogues or reading passages you might look for in a well-rounded primer in an intro language curriculum. The book could also use an index, as it can be difficult to rediscover entries you only vaguely remember. 

The Hong Kong Internet Compendium (香港網絡大典)

Name: 
香港網絡大典 (Rough translation: The Hong Kong Internet Compendium)
URL:
https://evchk.wikia.org/zh/wiki/首頁
Language: 
Formal written Chinese, with slangy Cantonese mixed in; limited English


香港網絡大典 (Hēung góng móhng lok daaih dín) is your #1 destination for explanations of Hong Kong internet culture. Found a confusing Pikachu meme without context? You're covered. Keep encountering pop culture references to some dude named Edison Chen? Read on. For all those people digging into the meme-dense space that is LIHKG, this is a great resource.

香港網絡大典 is mostly written in formal written Chinese (as opposed to written colloquial Cantonese), meaning it should be accessible to most people literate in traditional characters (run it through a character converter if you desire simplified). If you do not read Chinese, you can try Google Translate, but the results may be interesting. 

Because this is a Wiki, you are getting crowd-sourced information. That means there may be some inaccuracies from time to time, but overall the info conveys impressive depth. There are meme repositories, video clips, and plenty of other elements to help widen your exposure to a Hong Kong perspective on the World Wide Web.

For instance, check out the page on 大時代 (Daaih sìh doih; a.k.a The Greed of Man), one of the greatest television dramas ever (I am only slightly editorializing). Whereas the Wikipedia entry on the show will just talk about the synopsis, cast, etc., 香港網絡大典 is more concerned with the pop culture and meme implications of the show. Thus, we have a nice gallery of classic lines from famed actor Kong Ngai (江毅):

As well as some fun history about when the 2015 late-night rerun of the show (which prominently features a stock market crash) coincided with a drop in the Hang Seng, further confirming the "Ding Hai Effect/丁蟹效應":

Overall, 香港網絡大典 may not be the best tool for Cantonese beginners, but it is a great place to explore if you are eager for cultural context. If you want to be at the cutting edge of what is happening, I recommend the trending news page (新聞動態):

There you will find summaries of current events in Hong Kong with handy links to relevant reference pages. It is incredibly helpful if you are tracking timelines of Hong Kong social movements.