A Glossary of Common Cantonese Colloquial Expressions
by 蘇紹興, Siu-hing So (Simon), Simon S. H. So
Category: Foreign Language Study

Cantonese has a wealth of colloquial expressions on various daily life situations which are very descriptive but not easily comprehensible to non-Cantonese. This book collects and compiles over 3,000 entries of the commonly-used ones and presents them with their English translations for English-speaking students learning Cantonese. Besides listing the expression in Chinese characters with its literal translation in English, each entry also contains its phonetic transcription in the Yale Romanization System, and a description of its meaning and sometimes its origin. The entries are arranged alphabetically according to the Yale Romanization System, and, for ease of reference, an index by the strokes of the Chinese characters of the expressions is included. There is also an explanation of the Yale Romanization System. This book is also a useful and convenient reference for interpreters and translators in Cantonese and English and for non-Cantonese Chinese learning Cantonese.