Learning Cantonese: Recent Comments

Comment on Cantonese Is Dead

Shaday — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:49:51 GMT

Nice post! I get the NYT's article's point, which is indeed a very popular topic of contemporary Chinese, but your corrections are accurate. I have to say I have noticed that job ads for people who can speak Chinese in NYC mostly ask for people who speak both Mandarin and Cantonese, sometimes one of the two, and very rarely only Mandarin. For people who only speak Mandarin (like me, sadly, for the moment) it seems Cantonese is still a must in NYC. It can't be that dead if it's a must for job-seekers.

Comment on Cantonese Is Dead

Cecilie — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:19:08 GMT

Right, right and right, except Mandarin is actually called "Gok Yu" (國語）here in Hong Kong.

Comment on Cantonese Is Dead

dda — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:06:11 GMT

I am surprised to see no mention of another Chinese language widely spoken in the South and overseas: Hakka. Is it because most Hakka speakers are usually native speaker of another language (Canto, one of the million Min dialects, etc)?

Comment on The Siege of Legco

armegag — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:06:36 GMT

Waaaa, daap sai deih tit ah, zen hai tsaam ah. Dee dzing fu gou-,guoon yuen yiu daap deih tit jauh lorr, jik hai.

What a sight! All taking the MTR! Really miserable! The government top-,officials got to take the MTR to go, so to speak.

Comment on The Line is Drawn

Kempton — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:51:44 GMT

Insightful observation as always. And great to see you up on stage. Now, until a "better version" pops up, this YouTube clip of you and Long Hair singing believe in equality. "Every singer is equal under this sound system."
長毛唱英文歌@公投起動大會
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sLffxbi5zQ

Comment on The Siege of Legco

Jonathan Stanley — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:28:28 GMT

Yes Daisann... "hardship"! It's now apparent I've been using Cantonese in Hong Kong for too long as my English is atrophying!

Anyway, I wonder how the next decade will pan out for Hong Kong and the greater China region... this last bit of defiance could well prove to be HK's last whimper or being the turning point where it (with RoC on Taiwan?) be able to effect real reforms on the mainland?

Comment on The Siege of Legco

dm — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:26:45 GMT

Thanks! That's what I thought he was saying, but I wanted to be 100% sure about the "sarcastic" part--sometimes it's hard to tell that, if you are not a native speaker

I heard him say something like 苦 ngaaan yiu daap deih tit!---What a hardship (for them) that they must ride the MTR!

Comment on The Siege of Legco

Jonathan Stanley — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:03:27 GMT

Hey Daisann... regarding the Cantonese bit at the end. He's basically saying "For shame (sarcastic) that the government civil servants have to take the MTR! They have to take the MTR!".

Anyway, looks like 2010 is going to be crazy in Hong Kong, so hope you can keep up with the blogging side of things! ;)

Comment on The Siege of Legco

xhmko — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:46:11 GMT

Great writing. One thing though. Christina Chan is a teen model cum HKU student, not vice versa. I say this to clarify, even though she has constant coverage so much of it is mis informed and recently, once again blatantly libelous. Love your blog though. I learn Cantonese every time I read it.

Comment on The Siege of Legco

Alice Poon — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:47:12 GMT

Thanks, Daisann, for the detailed report. Nice to have you say what many Hong Kongers (especially the post-50s like myself) want to say. The post-80s may well be Hong Kong's silver lining on the darkening horizon.