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Essential Cantonese Phrasebook & Dictionary: Speak Cantonese with Confidence
Look-up words quickly and easily with this travel size Cantonese phrasebook and dictionary. Essential Cantonese Phrasebook & Dictionary clearly and concisely presents all the everyday words, phrases and expressions you need when traveling to Hong Kong and Canton (Guangdong). In this accessible phrasebook you'll A pronunciation guide and grammar notes explaining the basic sounds and sentence patterns of the language Essential Cantonese expressions for meeting people, asking and answering simple questions, and starting up friendly conversations New manga illustrations demonstrating critical phrases in real life situations Vocabulary for technology, WiFi, smartphones and social media A useful English-Cantonese dictionary, so the right words are at your fingertips Travel tips and cultural notes allow you to interact without making social blunders With 14 chapters covering topics from talking about the weather to what to do in an emergency, you will never be caught unprepared. Essential Cantonese is the best book to get for travel to Hong Kong and Canton-- interact confidently with native Cantonese speakers.
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356 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 8, 2018
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 3, 2021
This isn't a bad Cantonese phrasebook. It is filled with sentences that cover a lot of everyday activities. The vocabulary presented here is extremely comprehensive, and includes numerous street signs, words to describe sicknesses, phrases for all sorts of excursions in the city, and so on.
It's not entirely accurate. Some of the English translations are questionable. In other cases, I suspect that the Cantonese might not be fully accurate. It seems that this book tends to side with Mandarin-based readings above all else.
The book uses the Yale pronunciation system, which is clearly on the way out. Jyutping is increasingly becoming the new standard; in fact, it is extremely difficult to find Cantonese learning materials online that do not use Jyutping by default. Fortunately, it's not difficult to go from Yale to Jyutping, and the romanization in this book is quite accurate in general.
That said, there's really nothing that stands out here. It would have been nice if the publishers could have included some sort of audio - perhaps something in an MP3 format or something similar. The "manga illustrations" advertised on the cover are a complete waste of time.
In short, it's not bad, but I can't give it a particularly high recommendation.
It's not entirely accurate. Some of the English translations are questionable. In other cases, I suspect that the Cantonese might not be fully accurate. It seems that this book tends to side with Mandarin-based readings above all else.
The book uses the Yale pronunciation system, which is clearly on the way out. Jyutping is increasingly becoming the new standard; in fact, it is extremely difficult to find Cantonese learning materials online that do not use Jyutping by default. Fortunately, it's not difficult to go from Yale to Jyutping, and the romanization in this book is quite accurate in general.
That said, there's really nothing that stands out here. It would have been nice if the publishers could have included some sort of audio - perhaps something in an MP3 format or something similar. The "manga illustrations" advertised on the cover are a complete waste of time.
In short, it's not bad, but I can't give it a particularly high recommendation.
Displaying 1 of 1 review