This is a continuation of my earlier piece on Learning Cantonese in Hong Kong.

I wrote Part 1 (So yuh wanna learn Cantonese, eh?) in a semi-playful and tongue-in-cheek manner. On the surface, it was a rant about the problems “foreigners” sometimes face learning the Cantonese language in Hong Kong. It listed several common beliefs, presented as “reasons”, why (especially) white westerners (supposedly) shouldn’t waste time learning Cantonese.

I’d guess that the readers who took my last reason for not learning Cantonese at face value didn’t make it past the first line of the relevant paragraph. If they had, they would have noticed I was explicitly questioning the view that English is widely spoken in Hong Kong. I called it a “myth” and related it to Hong Kong’s attempt at branding itself as “Asia’s world city“. I didn’t elaborate on the branding metaphor in Part 1, and assumed some familiarity with the rhetoric of globalization.

LANGUAGE AND GLOBALIZATION

To make the above point clearer, here are several examples of how Hong Kong companies and institutions – mostly with a vested interest in portraying Hong Kong as modern and international – market themselves (or Hong Kong) on their websites. On the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s website we frequently find phrases like “English is widely spoken in this most cosmopolitan of cities” http://www2.cuhk.edu.hk/oafa/hk.php

Foreign (at least New Zealand) students, then, are assumed to want to study overseas in places where English is spoken. New Zealand’s University of Otago has this to say about its exchange partner, The University of Hong Kong (the title at the top of their web page says “Chinese” University of Hong Kong) under the heading “Language of Instruction” (my emphasis):

“The University of Hong Kong instructs courses entirely in English and English is widely spoken in Hong Kong“.

Note that whether or not English is widely spoken in Hong Kong is not directly relevant to the topic indicated by the heading. But, presumably this imagined prevalence of English outside of the university itself and extending to Hong Kong in general is seen as a positive “selling point”.

Similarly,

“Q: I can’t speak Chinese. Can I survive in Hong Kong?

A: Of course! While Cantonese is the mother tongue of the majority Hong Kongers [sic], most can also communicate in English…”

It’s not clear whether a real person actually asked this question, or if it is a fabricated one. But the use of “of course” here is interesting. If it is really a “Frequently Asked Question” (it also appears on other sites), then there is quite a gap between the perceptions of Hong Kong’s linguistic realities as viewed by a typical spokesperson for the education sector and an outsider. As we see later, some expats living in Hong Kong also have a different view.

Transitions Abroad, on its web page promoting English teaching jobs in Hong Kong, similarly assume that their potential customers will see moving to a place where people speak English as a plus (my emphasis):

“The prevalence of English in Hong Kong makes the transition to living there easy. In fact, though this is not suggested, many expatriates in Hong Kong never learn to speak Cantonese because English is so widely spoken and understood.”

Hong Kong’s Tourism Board states that

“…Cantonese is the Chinese dialect spoken by over 88% of the people in Hong Kong. However, English is widely used in the Government and by the legal, professional and business sectors as well as tourist areas. Most taxi drivers and salespeople are able to communicate in English”.

Although the Tourism Board specifies that English is “widely used” in certain sectors, the caption beneath the graphic on the same web page omits the specifics and reads “English is widely used in Hong Kong”.

Note also, the TB’s use of “however”. The reality is that nearly everyone speaks Cantonese as their first language in Hong Kong. But, assuming that you are someone who prefers to speak English, don’t worry about the reality because “However, English is widely used…”. So, you can visit Hong Kong, after all! Once again this draws on the image of an average monolingual English-speaking “westerner” who apparently would have difficulties surviving in a non-English setting.

An exception to my generalization that it is mainly sectors that stand to gain from having Hong Kong branded as a location where English is “widely spoken”, is the WikiAnswers site.

WikiAnswers, to the question “What language is widely spoken in Hong Kong”?, tell us that:

“The main language spoken in Hong Kong is Cantonese although English is also widely spoken across the island”.

Do they mean Hong Kong Island, thus eliminating the New Territories from consideration? If so, it would make their statement more accurate. Or, does it draw on the stereotype of the typical “expat” who lives on Hong Kong Island?

Not everybody sees Hong Kong in the the same light. It’s not difficult to find comments online which directly contradict the image of a Hong Kong where “English is widely spoken”.

LOCAL EXPAT PERCEPTIONS

Contrast the above portrayals with this thread entitled “HK locals can’t even speak English” on a Hong Kong expat forum, for example, and a different view emerges. Or, on this blog.

Another site with no apparent vested interest in persuading its readership to visit Hong Kong – although the writer is a guide book editor – is this one.

Here is how Rory Bowland describes the language situation in Hong Kong with respect to English (again, my emphasis):

“One of the most popular questions about Hong Kong is if people in Hong Kong speak English. The answer is somewhat complex, and most people will be disappointed to hear that speaking English in Hong Kong is somewhat more difficult than the city attempts to portray.

Because of Hong Kong’s role as former British colony, people often arrive to Hong Kong with high expectations about the level of English. In general, they will be disappointed. Hong Kongers are far from fluent in English and it certainly isn’t a second mother tongue. That said, Hong Kongers are arguably the best, aside from Singaporeans, users of English in the Asia region”.

Just a handful of examples – but there is a predictable pattern here. Whenever Hong Kong is being marketed to outsiders as a potential destination for travel, work, study and business, invariably there is emphasis on it being a location where “English is widely spoken”. Given the role of English as a global lingua franca with high status, this is not surprising.

On the other hand, opinions by individuals – usually expats who have lived in Hong Kong for a while and have no vested interest in how it is perceived by outsiders – presumably reflect reality as they themselves experience it.

Lest I be misinterpreted, I am NOT criticizing Hong Kong because the English skills of the general populace do not match the ideal image promoted by a certain sector of its society. As a sociolinguist interested in how language is used in society, given Hong Kong’s history and its educational policies, I wouldn’t expect that English skills would be distributed more evenly throughout society than they obviously are. The point here is not to make value judgements about the linguistic realities of Hong Kong. What I’m getting at, is why do we find the discrepancy between perceptions in the first place? After all, nobody in their right mind, after a visit to the back alleys of Mong Kok or to the outside noodle stands and street markets of Tsuen Wan, Sheung Shui, Tuen Mun etc, would seriously conclude that English was “widely spoken” in those locations, would they? Surely not! But this, ironically, is what a literal interpretation of a phrase like “English is widely spoken in Hong Kong” would entail. One possibility is that the “Hong Kong” here really refers to the parts of Hong Kong where the “typical” westerner/foreigner/expat is expected to frequent. In other words, this identifies a stereotype – at least partially true – that we are all familiar with.

IMPLICATIONS FOR LEARNING CANTONESE

So far I’ve focused more on English than Cantonese. Now I want to tie what I’ve said so far into the implications for learning Cantonese in Hong Kong. By this I mean that when a learner goes out on the streets with the expectation of practicing Cantonese in an authentic daily interaction, the ideal situation will be one where she finds somebody who either only speaks Cantonese, or is willing to speak it with somebody who is a non-native speaker and a novice learner.

You’re more likely to find somebody who is willing to speak Cantonese with you if that person is either not connected to the tourist, education, government or (international) business sectors, or just doesn’t speak English. It won’t ALWAYS be true – but it’s a useful “rule of thumb” that can reduce the frustrations for the average westerner who wants to learn Cantonese in Hong Kong.

People in Hong Kong who belong to the former category of “international sectors” are far more likely to speak English than those in other fields. Not only is a knowledge of English usually a requirement for working in those areas, but there is also the expectation, shown in several of the above examples, that “foreigners” prefer to speak English.

It would be pointless to argue that that expectation is inaccurate for a certain segment of the expat population that comes to Hong Kong to work or travel for any length of time. But for those interested in getting close to the local language and culture, rather than being part of the “international community”, it is frequently wrong.

What does this mean for the Cantonese learner in Hong Kong? If you want to practice Cantonese, you need to tap into local Cantonese culture, not the part of Hong Kong that markets itself as a place where “English is widely spoken”. Expensive shopping malls and areas where tourists or resident expats uninterested in learning the Cantonese language hang out, will not generally be good places to practice Cantonese. Your average convenience store clerk in Central or Tsimshatsui will not expect “foreigners” to speak Cantonese – and will probably ignore any attempts to do so – regardless of your fluency. For beginners, at least, there seems to be little point in trying to change your typical store clerk’s perception of the world. Try the traditional street markets, rather than the supermarket or more westernized stores. You’ll find it’ll build up your confidence a lot quicker when the little old lady at the vegetable stand smiles and compliments you on your 2 or 3 words of Cantonese. With this under your belt, sooner or later you might even want to try speaking Cantonese in McDonalds!

I finally moved hanyu.com to a new server. A few things got messed up – some links are missing and stuff written in Chinese didn’t preserve its original coding. Everything will be back to normal in a day or so…

You’re a Cantonese NooB. You find yourself in a situation where you don’t know the Cantonese word you need. What do you do?

a. keep your mouth shut
b. use a circumlocution (e.g. “smelly” + “fruit” for ‘durian’)

c. code-switch to English
d. gesture or point (e.g. I want one of “THOSE”)
e. look up the word in a dictionary
f. ask the person you’re talking to

There’s no right or wrong answer. But there will be implications for your learning of Cantonese depending on which you choose. Clearly some of the options have more desirable outcomes than others.

Choose a. and you lose in two ways. First, you won’t get what you want because nobody understands what you’re trying to say. Second, you won’t learn any Cantonese or practice what you already know. At least if you choose b. you can practice using Cantonese.

Option c. is also pretty useless and is essentially a cop out. You don’t get to practice speaking Cantonese. Neither do you learn anything new. You also reinforce a pattern of communication that’s all too common in Hong Kong – locals speak English to “outsiders” – even when the outsider can speak Cantonese. All it takes is one tiny dis-fluency and a Cantonese conversation can quickly change into an English one. If you’re a serious learner of Cantonese, you’ll surely want to avoid this.

Option d. will likely get you what you want – assuming it’s a concrete object. You won’t learn any new words, though.

How about e.? Well, it has its pitfalls, too. Look up the word in a dictionary and you risk finding an outdated, incorrect or just plain different word from that used by most Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong. This option may or may not be helpful for your Cantonese. Unless you carry a dictionary around with you, you also won’t get to practice speaking Cantonese. Even if you do, will your average stressed out Hong Konger have the time and patience to help a struggling Cantonese NooB learn a new word in their language? Go ahead and see what happens. I wish you luck!

This leaves us with option f. Potentially, you win in two ways. First, you get to ask in Cantonese. Next, assuming the other person understands you and wants to help, you will learn a new Cantonese words.

What I described above is a “communication strategy”. It is a way of handling situations where your language skills are lacking. As a beginning language learner, these situations will be all too numerous. But, with a few simple Cantonese phrases, you can prepare yourself for the inevitable. Even better, though, is that by understanding how communication strategies work, you’ll be able to choose positive techniques for building on your existing skills and therefore compensating for any deficiency.

Choices such as a. and c. above are the least helpful. These are actually “avoidance strategies”. By using them we make no attempt to resolve our deficiency. In Hong Kong, you will frequently have the ultimate avoidance strategy at your disposal – speaking English.

On the other hand, option e. is the ultimate compensatory strategy that puts you in control of the communication AND also adds to your linguistic inventory. Even if the other person insists on speaking English, you are making it practically impossible for them NOT to speak Cantonese (one word, at least!). Regardless of who you are communicating with, by using this strategy, you have a good chance of adding to your daily vocabulary, while at the same time actually communicating in Cantonese.

My latest video for learning Cantonese is aimed at NooBs. It teaches you one phrase that will help you gain control of communicating in Cantonese – even though your vocabulary may be very small. If you don’t know a word in Cantonese, and you think your interlocutor speaks some English, just learn how to use the phrase in this video. It will be a step in the right direction for taking control over your own Cantonese language learning.

Of course, if you are a Cantonese NooB, you’ll certainly want to find a Cantonese language course in Hong Kong. There are a number of places that offer Cantonese courses. But, in the end, how successful you are in learning the language may depend on how you – the learner – go about it. You may have much to gain from emulating the best practices and learning strategies of successful language learners.

I’ve assumed a bilingual situation where the person you’re speaking to knows some English. If you find yourself in the company of unilingual Cantonese speakers, simply change “How do you say ’some English word’ in Cantonese”, to “How do you say THAT (pointing at some object) in Cantonese”. I’ll make another video for that one day.

Other options:

ask somebody to write down the Chinese characters
ask them to repeat the Cantonese word – this time slowly etc etc.

For Cantonese learners hungry for authentic interaction, the possibilities are endless.

If you are a NooB, what are you waiting for? Make the Cantonese-speaking world your teacher now!

Cantonese courses in Hong Kong are surprisingly few, despite it being the main language of daily communication in Hong Kong and spoken by over 90% of inhabitants. Fortunately, a number of new schools/companies are appearing that offer Cantonese courses in Hong Kong.

If you are new (or not so new) and want to learn Cantonese in Hong Kong, this short list will help you find a suitable course.

The Cantonese courses offered by the non-profit YMCA are probably the best deal price wise. There are 3 levels and the cost works out to just HK$50 per classroom hour. Here is a link to a pdf with the information.

The HKLLC is “a leading language school in Hong Kong which specialises in Cantonese and Mandarin Learning programmes in conversation and Chinese Reading and Writing for expatriates, locals and overseas Chinese”.

There is not much concrete information on the website, despite quite a few links. To learn how much their courses actually cost, you need to send an email. It took me around an hour to receive a reply.

They have both intensive and short term courses. The intensive 40 session course has lessons from M to F and consists of a 50-minute teaching hour, a 50-minute conversation hour, and an extra 1 hour language lab. The Course Fee is HK$8,200- (material fee included).

The short term 10 session Cantonese course is identical to the intensive in its format. The Course Fee is HK$2,300- (material fee included)

Because it’s not clear how much of the course fee should be allowed for the language lab, we can only come up with a rough figure of around HK$100 per hour for the HKLLC course.

The CUHK offers Cantonese evening courses for Non-native Chinese Speakers at 3 levels. These courses are 40 sessions held twice weekly. Each session is from 19.00 – 20.50. Here is a link to a pdf with information on the CUHK’s Cantonese courses.

EDC Languages, located in Admiralty, offers both private (From HK$155 – HK$190 per 45 minutes) and group Cantonese lessons. The group course fee is HK$2,940 for 30 hours, (Rate Per Hour HK$98), HK$3,680 fort 40 hours, (Rate Per Hour HK$92) and HK$5,280 (Rate Per Hour HK$88).

The Global Language Centre, located in Central, on Des Voeux Rd has private Cantonese classes for from HK$155-187/Hour and group classes (2-3 learners) for from HK$90-110. The fees vary according to when you study. It’s slightly cheaper during the day than in the evening.

The Hong Kong Language Training Centre offers Cantonese classes ranging from HK$250-/per hr/per class for 1-2 students for 24 or above hrs. to HK$330-/per hr/per class for 5 students and over. There are other rates for fewer students and fewer hours.

You can find HKLTC’s prices here for their Cantonese immersion courses with rates in USD.

Here is a link to a pdf with information on the International Language Centre’s Cantonese courses. Tuition per student for a 36 hour course is HK$4320 for the Beginner Level and HK$4520 for the Intermediate Course.

The Hong Kong Institute of Languages, located in Central, offers a 10 week, 20 hour Foundation course in Cantonese. The course fee ranges from HK$2,388 – HK$ 2,988, depending on the number of students and the time offered. The HKIL also teaches Cantonese courses for companies, schools, teens and children.

Chinese Language Professional gives information on their Chinese language courses here. There is only a price for an Intermediate Cantonese Course – a 36 hours Conversation Course for HK$5,398 and a 48 hour Conversation, Reading and Writing Course for HK$6,698.

The Talking Mandarin Language Centre, in spite of their name, also teach Cantonese. To get their rates, however, you’ll need to fill out an online form and give them your mobile number.

This charity has Cantonese courses for “ethnic minorities”. You will have to figure out if you fit in this category. Here is their brochure.

http://www.christian-action.org.hk/cdp/Lang_Prog_leaflet_Eng.pdf

You do?

Think again! Unless you take the time to understand the politics and ideologies surrounding speaking and learning Cantonese, you may find the difficulties of actually using the language far outweigh any linguistic structural complexities. As this abstract to an academic paper suggests, whether or not anybody will appreciate your attempts at learning the language largely depends on traditional sociological categories like race and class.

Anyway, academics aside, here are 5 reasons why learning Cantonese could be a bad choice and not worth the hassle:

1. Cantonese is only a “dialect” – not a “real language” like Mandarin.

Cantonese doesn’t receive the same respect as Mandarin because it’s not an official or national language. Speaking a local “dialect” like Cantonese tends to mark group solidarity and in-group status. If you are white, or visible “non-Chinese-looking”, like it or not, you’re probably not going to qualify for in-group status unless you have a local spouse, significant other or somebody else to make you appear more “in-like”.

In Hong Kong, the language of power, wealth and prestige is English. English, then, and to a lesser degree, Mandarin, are perceived as the languages of opportunity. If you want to show that you are educated, you speak English. It’s no coincidence that fierce political battles have raged in Hong Kong (and still do) over the medium of instruction in secondary schools there ever since 1997 when the Hong Kong Government introduced mother tongue instruction.

Teaching Cantonese as a Second/Foreign Language is, given the political climate, hardly a priority. It’s not surprising that it’s difficult to find decent Cantonese learning materials and Cantonese language classes in Hong Kong. Some native Cantonese speakers may discourage you from learning Cantonese, insisting that it is uncultured and primitive and too difficult for outsiders (especially white ones) and offer you little help when you try to learn it. Because of its low status, some speakers in Hong Kong will refuse to speak to you in Cantonese and either reply in English or ignore your initial attempts at speaking it. Here are some experiences of an Australian learning Cantonese.

Ironically, if you “look Asian” in Hong Kong, you’ll more likely be expected to speak Cantonese, or somehow acquire it through osmosis. So, if you were born in Elliott Lake, had great-great-great grandparents from Toi San and can’t use chopsticks, or don’t have a clue what a tone sounds like, that trip back to the “Old Country” to trace your roots and learn Cantonese could be a tough slog.

Wanna learn Chinese? Er, go learn Mandarin!

2. No officially recognized romanization system

Whereas Mandarin has “pinyin”, there is no equivalent official romanization system for Cantonese. Although the Yale system is found in most materials for foreigners, no Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong (apart from a few Cantonese teachers) would have a clue how to read or write Yale. The same can be said for Jyutping, an alternative system to Yale which uses numbers to mark tones and can also be used as a computer input method for Cantonese, as well as the system used by the Hong Kong Government.

Cantonese learners who cannot already read Chinese characters are at a distinct disadvantage because they are forced to rely on their textbook and dictionary. It is difficult for the beginner to learn from her surroundings because everything is either written in Chinese or in inconsistent ad hoc systems that are unhelpful for serious learners. Even Hong Kong surnames and place names are anglicized so that the romanized spellings are inconsistent and unhelpful for the learner. When a Cantonese speaker is speaking English, Cantonese names are pronounced as if they were English. All these factors converge to give an English-speaking outsider the feeling of being shielded or protected from having to deal with Cantonese. There is rarely any expectation that she should bother learning Cantonese – despite its status as the language of the majority in Hong Kong.

3. Cantonese is dying out

That’s what they said in the LA Times article Cantonese is Losing its Voice. In North American (and probably other) Chinatowns Cantonese is mostly spoken by older people. New immigrants tend to speak Mandarin and young ethnic Chinese born overseas are learning Mandarin because of the economic and professional benefits. It is also “discouraged” (read “banned”) in Singapore, where Mandarin and English are actively promoted by the government. Now that more Hongkongers are going to Mainland China for business and work, they are also learning Mandarin. If you want to learn Chinese, it will be far more practical to learn Mandarin than learn Cantonese. And, anyway, [see 5. below] “everybody speaks English in Hong Kong”.

4. The everyday spoken language is not directly related to the way it’s written.

Cantonese uses a number of nonstandard characters not found in Mandarin and which may be omitted from Chinese dictionaries. Whereas it is possible to write in Cantonese, rather than Standard Written Chinese, the practice is frowned on and highly stigmatized.

The lack of an official romanization system mentioned above, and the negative attitude towards (especially) white Westerners speaking/learning it one frequently encounters, means you’re on your own if you decide to learn the language.

5. In Hong Kong everybody speaks English

So, you don’t need to learn Cantonese! This is really not true, but it’s a common myth. It may feel like it when you first arrive in Hong Kong. Frequent high-end department stores and shopping centres and it will mostly be true. Furthermore, if you are an expat with a high salary and good job, you will be surrounded by English-speaking Cantonese anxious to show you that Hong Kong is “Asia’s World City” where the outsider can get along in English and need not go to the trouble of learning the local “dialect”.

But venture off the beaten track, you will realize that it’s just not true that “everybody in Hong Kong speaks English”. Nevertheless, the belief that they do is a big part of the popular ideology and essential to branding Hong Kong as a modern, democratic “world city”. Assuming you are white and English-speaking, by trying to learn Cantonese, you are basically trying to turn the world upside down as it’s understood by many Hongkongers.

In case you didn’t guess, I don’t think the above should deter you from learning Cantonese. I hope it doesn’t! While you will surely often encounter negative attitudes, you might be lucky enough to meet a bunch of great Cantonese people who are really happy you want to learn their language and will do everything to help you. I hope you do!

But, if you run into problems and get frustrated and discouraged, understanding the politics of learning Cantonese may put things in perspective. As Linguist Carol Edelsky noted in her paper Not Acquiring Spanish as a Second Language: The Politics of Second Language Acquisition, majority language speakers usually do not acquire the minority languages in their community. Edelsky found that Anglo first graders in a bilingual Spanish Program in Arizona failed to learn that language. She concluded that the classroom situation reflected the more general relative political position of Spanish and English in the outside world. A similar situation surely exists for Cantonese in Hong Kong. As many native English speakers find, it can be a struggle to position oneself in the role of a learner of Cantonese when the expectation is that English speakers are teachers of their own language and Cantonese speakers are the learners of English.

In Part 2 of this article I’ll give a few ideas about what kinds of people in Hong Kong will be most likely to appreciate your interest in learning Cantonese and suggestions for dealing with speakers who want to speak English when you want to practice Cantonese.

I haven’t got around to posting much here lately. I’ve been putting most of the Cantonese stuff into the free online Moodle course at http://cantonesecourse.com . I love WordPress – but it wasn’t designed for learning.

Eventually I’ll have all the 50+ dialogues from the 15 lessons of Cantonese FSI Volume 1 made into YouTube videos. To date I’ve managed to churn out over 20 of them. No claims that these are great videos – just a modest attempt at experimenting with materials for learning a neat language online.

Hate these rather crass and vulgar efforts at “edutainment” a la YouTube? Question their pedagogical value? Never mind – you can always just download the .zip of the dialogues as mp3s.

Dialogue 1
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Dialogue 2
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Dialogue 3
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Dialogue 4
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Dialogue 5
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Dialogue 6
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Dialogue 7
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Learn Cantonese Book 1, published by Hanyu Press, is now available as a free .pdf.
Learn Cantonese Book 1 contains transcripts in traditional Chinese characters, Yale Romanization and English translation for all the approximately 60 dialogues in lessons 1-15 (originally from the FSI’s Cantonese: Basic Course, Volume 1). It also contains vocabulary lists and a Cantonese – English Glossary. Finish the 15 lessons in Learn Cantonese Book 1 and you should know around 600 of the most basic and daily words and expressions in Cantonese.

Free pdf of the book and mp3 audio files for all dialogues can be downloaded from http://cantonesecourse.com

The paperback will be out soon!

This is Lesson 4 in our Learn Cantonese Video Course with simple everyday dialogues. Mr Wong goes to visit a young lady friend (Chan Siuje) in Mong Kok and practices his Cantonese.Here is the dialogue in traditional Chinese characters, Yale Cantonese romanization, and the English translation:

Woman: 早晨, 黃生. 你知唔知而家幾點鐘呀?
Man: A, 早晨, 陳小姐. 我個錶而家係九點搭一.
Woman: 你個 錶 係唔係快些少呀?
Man: 或者係. 我唔知.
Woman: 你知唔知李太幾點鐘學廣東話呀?
Man: 我知道. 係十點半.

Woman: Jóusàhn, Wòhng Sàang. Néih jì m̀hjì yìhgā géidímjūng a?
Man: A, jóusàhn, Chàhn Síujé. Ngóh go bīu yìhgā haih gáu dím daahp yāt.
Woman: Néih go bīu haih m̀hhaih faai sèsíu a?
Man: Waahkjé haih. Ngóh m̀hjì.
Woman: Néih jì m̀hjì Léih Táai géidímjūng hohk Gwóngdùngwá a?
Man: Ngóh jìdou. Haih sahp dím bun.

Woman: Good Morning Mr Wong. Do you know what time it is now?
Man: Oh, Good Morning, Miss Chan. I’ve got 9.05.
Woman: Is your watch a little fast?
Man: Maybe it is. I don’t know.
Woman: Do you know what time Mrs Lee go to Cantonese class?
Man: Yes. At 10.30.

I’m not interested in American politics. Quite frankly, I’m with Stanley Bing at Fortune China. Stanley wrote a piece in Chinese entitled 乔已经够多了 (I’ve had enough of Joe).

Me, too.

On a bad day, I’d be less polite and 叫阿祖食屎!

But, like it not, the US is having an election and the rest of the world has little choice but to watch – if not react.

So, how to turn all this into a positive learning experience?

Here’s what I do. I try and figure out how the English media jargon will get translated into Chinese.

Take “Joe the Plumber”, for example. Any bets on how to translate this? I wasn’t sure. The last time I lived in China you could just use 师傅 for any worker/tradesperson. It sure made communication simpler. But what’s the usual word for “plumber” these days? Back in Taiwan in the late 70s I learned 木匠 for “carpenter”. That seemed to have a Southern flavour, though. By analogy, would 水匠 work for “plumber”? I wasn’t certain but I tried “水匠 Joe” into Google, anyway.

Here’s what I found:

水喉匠阿Joe Wikimedia
水喉佬阿祖 Ming Pao
水管工喬 Fortune China

I doubt if you’ll find 水喉匠 in your Chinese dictionary. The å–‰ here is originally an English loanword in Hong Kong Cantonese and serves for “hose”. I first noticed this on a fire hose box in the MTR in HK. A slight semantic extension to “pipe”, as in Standard Chinese 管, gives us a perfectly normal word for “plumber”. Where Standard Northern Chinese uses å·¥, 匠 is fairly widespread in the South.

The Ming Pao’s translation 水喉佬阿祖 will get frowns from your Mandarin teacher – but is surely the most suitable for colloquial Hong Kong Cantonese. The 佬 is equivalent to “guy”. It’s the same 佬 we find in 鬼佬 as in “foreign devil”, or maybe “whitey” (the most common way of talking about white guys or “Caucasians” in HK when they think we can’t understand Cantonese ^^). I never felt it was especially racist. A good friend of mine in HK always addressed me as 阿鬼佬. I reciprocated by referring to him as 阿老人家 – the “old guy”.

(Thankfully the politically correct language police have not yet made it to HK. If they did, the language would surely lose its character – if not most of its vocabulary!)

The 阿 is frequently tacked onto the beginning of names in Southern Chinese. 祖 is used here because the Cantonese pronunciation is close to “Joe”. Standard Chinese prefers å–¬.

I, too, am sick of Joe the Plumber. I don’t know why, but somehow 水喉佬阿祖 has a warm and fuzzy feeling that “Joe the Plumber” just doesn’t have.