Popup Cantonese

We'd been cornered outside a 7/11 and were getting a lecture on professional ethics. "It's a simple exchange," the professor said. "You contribute a little bit to the cause and we're endlessly grateful in return." Our thoughts on this gentleman's forwardness notwithstanding, the prospect of such a boundless return on investment did stimulate a little charity on our part.

Learning Cantonese? You've probably noticed by now that most native Cantonese speakers have around a million ways of saying thanks. We strongly suspect that some are even paid professionally to dream up more each day in order to confuse tourists, mainlanders and everyone else passing through the city. But fortunately, there are only a few dozen variants in common usage, and in this podcast we'll set you right so you know how and when to use them.

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Now that you've lived in Hong Kong for a day or two, you might feel the need to venture out to buy some essentials like food, clothing and water. In other countries this would be a pretty routine affair. Go down to the corner store, flash that winning smile and walk out with your arms full of free goods. Sadly, in Hong Kong's relentlessly capitalist society, people expect you to pay.

And that's where this lesson comes in. Regardless of whether you're haggling ten bucks off the price of that Dongguan shirt or trying to save twenty cents on your next purchase of life-giving mango juice, you'll need to know how to talk about money in Cantonese. Which is why we spend our lesson today covering the money, learning how to talk about prices, and then demanding lower prices repeatedly and insistently, although we leave the yelling and screaming up to you.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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Fearful of being forced into marriage against your will? Concerned your prospective husband may be murderous scum and your family putting political allegiances above your health and longevity? Our advanced Cantonese lesson today is a listening test offering practical advice to the modern woman. If you've already been learning Cantonese for a while listen in and see how much you understand.

Note: our Cantonese lesson for today is an advanced listening test. This means we have a relatively lengthy dialogue followed by a short quiz that tests your comprehension. Try listening to our dialogue once and then taking the test. And if you don't quite understand what you've heard? Look for the answers using our annotated online transcript with its word-by-word mouseover popups.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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This podcast is dedicated to a certain ex-coworker of ours known widely throughout Hong Kong for his uncanny abilities in the art of pen theft. No matter how many we'd buy or where we'd hide them, by the end of the week every single writing instrument in the office would have magically gravitated to his desk. And he was always on the hunt for more.

If you're just getting started learning Cantonese, this podcast will be a bit advanced for you; get started by listening to our Critical Phrases series for Absolute Beginners. Once you've worked through them, join us here for a quick look at asking to borrow things, as well as another way to make requests in general. And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to write us at [email protected] or leave a note in our discussion section below.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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Learning Cantonese? This lesson is about the art of the denial. Which is highly-critical language you may just find yourself using the next time you sweep through Hong Kong on business, or just want to disavow any knowledge once again of that little incident it would be best if everyone just forgot. Because it was years ago. And who is really keeping track, anyway?

Also... do you remember that earlier lesson in which we learned that Cantonese speakers are particularly fond of turning odd emotional exclamations into high frequency words? Well heavens if there isn't another example lurking in this lesson, along with a dramatic Cantonese dialogue that is several degrees towards strange. But we think you'll enjoy it. So listen in, and good luck!

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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In our introduction series, we taught you the most simple way to ask where things are in Cantonese. In this lesson, we introduce another way to find out who has taken your stuff. This is the difference between asking "where is my wallet" and "where's my wallet gone". The first is emotionally neutral, while the second is more colloquial and signals your frustration with the fact that you clearly placed the damn thing on the desk last night and it doesn't have legs so where on earth could it have gone?

Our beginner Cantonese lessons are all dialogue-based lessons that move at the speed you'll hear Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong. So if you're totally new to Cantonese you may find this a bit difficult to dissect. So if you're learning and want to practice these sentences over and over, be sure to visit our online transcript and vocabulary pages, where every sentence and word in our dialogue is accompanied by special audio recordings you can play over and over again. And let us know if you have any questions in the comment section below!

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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One of the most impressive things about Hong Kong is the absolutely incredible bladder control you will find on display throughout the city. Forget about the Chinese acrobatic acts featuring intense young Buddhists smashing their forearms through concrete cinderblocks. Considering the amount of bottled water locals go through ever day, the Hong Kong ability to stay focused under pressure is nothing short of performance art.

We wondered about this for a long time, especially considering the heat and humidity that envelops the island every summer. But then we met Nicole, who is slowly sharing Hong Kong's secrets with us. "We don't really have a lot of choice in the matter," she said, before adding "and I think there's something wrong with you guys biologically." Our table was littered with empty bottles of mango and raspberry juice purchased at the local store. "But we also don't drink so much juice, and that makes a difference too."

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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Learning Cantonese? In our advanced show for today we unleash Nicole and the rest of our team in a podcast filled-to-the-brim with our non-expert and possibly-dangerous opinions about your relationship problems. Don't have relationship problems you say? Then prepare to pass judgment on others' problems, because in this episode we delve into the perennial question of who should pay for what in a Hong Kong relationship.

Have a problem and looking for unvarnished advice from people who aren't related to you? The good news is that we've got a solution: write us at [email protected] and let us know what's bothering you. If you're lucky, we'll feature your problem (properly anonymized) in a future podcast. And let us know what you think of the show too.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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Learning Cantonese? We're almost finished our Critical Verb series and are onto more dialogue-based lessons. And we've covered a lot of ground, which means our listening test for today is actually pretty difficult. If you've just started to learn Cantonese and stumbled across us, we encourage you to go back and start with our first Critical Phrases lesson. You'll be up to this level in no time.

For those of you who've been here here a while, join us for a test that starts by reviewing the three glottal stops you'll need to know how to pronounce. And then we have a range of questions covering everything from grammar patterns everything we've taught to date. We hope you find it challenging, and also useful as a way to reinforce the materials we've already learned. As always, questions are welcome on our site, or via email at [email protected].

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

Learning Cantonese? We're almost finished our Critical Verb series and are onto more dialogue-based lessons. And we've covered a lot of ground, which means our listening test for today is actually pretty difficult. If you've just started to learn Cantonese and stumbled across us, we encourage you to go back and start with our first Critical Phrases lesson. You'll be up to this level in no time.

For those of you who've been here here a while, join us for a test that starts by reviewing the three glottal stops you'll need to know how to pronounce. And then we have a range of questions covering everything from grammar patterns everything we've taught to date. We hope you find it challenging, and also useful as a way to reinforce the materials we've already learned. As always, questions are welcome on our site, or via email at [email protected].

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

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Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese