LEARN 10 CANTONESE WORDS IN 5 MINUTES

Learning how the culture of one country is something, but learning how to speak their language is a skill. In a decade of living here in Hong Kong, I gained a lot of memories which includes getting frustrated when ordering in a restaurant. I always get overpriced in Mong Kok or walking out the wet market, clueless, when I tried to ask how much for a kilo but then they measure per pound.

I wouldn’t say I am fluent in speaking it yet. But talking with most of the locals helped in preventing getting limited on self-expression. Your world stops when you don’t know how to speak a language. I don’t have plans of getting stuck in my own world, that’s for sure.



Learning a different kind of language besides your mother language is more than rewarding. It’s actually empowering.

And I’d like to share 10 words (and more) that I have learned as I stayed here:

1. Jo San (Good Morning)

   When you see your cleaners as you go out of your apartment to the office in the morning, greet them with this one and they’ll appreciate you greatly. At work, starting off the day greeting your colleagues with this warmth could brighten up anybody by the hallway.

2. Mmgoi (Thank you/Excuse me)

   – There are two ways to express thanks to the locals of Hong Kong. First is “Dotse Sai”. This is how you thank somebody who had done you a huge favour or when somebody gave you a gift. Use “Mmgoi Sai” in general, on the other hand, as a respectful way of expressing thanks. Well, actually, the excuse me part is more of translated as, “Thank you for giving me a way to get through”.

3. Sek (color)

   – is a suffix that follows every color/hue/shade. Here are some that I remember which you may find useful when you are shopping and when you are competing for a wardrobe in Mong Kok with another ex-pat. You can tell the vendor of the colour in Cantonese so that she could understand and serve you faster. Pa (White) so you say it = Pa Sek, Ha (Black), Lam (Blue), Lok (Green). To those who have kids enrolled in a local school, knowing the colours could help you out as you manage them in making their assignments once it involves colours.

4. Fan (Rice)

   – When you order steamed rice, it is considered white rice. So you put together the colour Pa and rice, Fan = Pa Fan (White rice), Yang Chou Chow Fan (Yang Chou Fried Rice).

5. Ngo (I/Me)

   – This is to address yourself.

6. Lei (You)

   – This is how you address the person in front of you.

7. Koi (Him/Her)

   – This is how you address the third party.

8. Li do (Here)

   – Pretty explanatory

9. Li ko (This)

   – So, somehow, “Li” pertains to something that is nearby.

10. Bin (Side)

    – Something that is usually preceded by “Jo” (Left), “Yeow” (Right), “Hao” – (Behind/at the back). Putting it together, It becomes Jo Bin (Left Side), Yeo Bin (Right Side) and Hao Bin (Behind).

And as promised, here are some of those 10 Cantonese Words (and more)

that you could learn in just 5 minutes!

I believe there’s still a lot to share so perhaps, this will have a part two very soon! However, here’s a little bit more of trivia about Hong Kong’s dialect:

The Cantonese language has 9 tones for one word.

Compared to the Mandarin language that has 4, many non-Cantons find learning Hong Kong’s mother language hard to study. I continuously try to learn the language for me to guide my daughter as she goes to school. It would be on her own advantage if she’d get accustomed to Cantonese. But I need to catch up with her at some point. At least, in terms of speaking because writing it? I don’t know. That might be too hard.

Here are 3 things as well that may help you to learn the words in no time:

1. This is what I do to help me memorise. I find the common word that would lead me to speak a phrase that is somewhat related to the other. “Bin” means “side”. I realised “Ho” is more of an affirmative word. It means/is a shortcut for “yes” and when you put it together with another Cantonese word, it means he’s affirmative or on the positive note. “Ho sai” is “very sunny”. When it is being mentioned as, “Ho sai a!!!!“, this may be heard as a local. If I put together “Ho a!“, it means, yes. If somebody says, “Ho yit!“, it means “very hot”. Then “Yit” means “hot” so if you would like to order something hot, you put “yit” as a prefix when ordering a “hot” drink, like “Yit lai tsa” = hot milk tea, of “yit cafe” = “hot coffee”.
2. Listen. Meaning, you may also need to hang out with locals so that you would get the local twang infused with your learned words. This gives you that confidence that you talk like them. Also, hanging out in the marketplace, at old men’s checker games and bars may give you a dose of how they really talk. Like for example, “My name is Katrina.” is such a formal approach in introducing myself at a very casual gathering unlike if I say it this way: “Hi! I’m Katrina.”
3. In return, converse as much as you can with locals. Practising pronouncing where you live to a taxi driver in Cantonese instead of just showing your hotel card. Google Translate is a good tool to hear the proper pronunciation of translated simple Chinese. Properly address them like if it’s an older woman, add “Tsieh tsieh” to your “Mgoi sai” to make it warmer sounding: “Mgoi sai, tsieh tsieh“.

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