I Love YYC Chinatown Presents:

Cantonese
Essentials 
The Calgary Chinatown Tour
Supplementary Guide
 THE

Table of Contents

Part 01
Cantonese Basics 101

Part 02
Chinatown Tour Vocabulary

Part 03
Additional Resources
Our mission is to bring youth together through their love of YYC
Chinatown. We strive to show our love through community service,
mentorship, and encouragement of each other. We are a network of
compassionate leaders achieving positive change, all while celebrating Asian
culture.

Calgary’s Chinatown has had a long and rich history. In its 100 year
existence, Chinatown has relocated three times, survived fires, floods,
racism, and possible demolition. Today, Chinatown has come a long way
from its inception and boasts an eye-catching Chinese Cultural Centre, with
a variety of restaurants and local businesses of various backgrounds from
Asia and elsewhere. It is a place of cultural discovery and enjoyment for all
Calgarians, and has the potential to be much more if we have a plan for its
continued vibrancy and preservation.

Interested in joining the fun??

Send us an email at iloveyycchinatown@gmail.com or message us on

Facebook!
 Cantonese 101

A brief look at the basics of the

Cantonese language
Tonation

Each Cantonese PinYin (pronounciation helper) will contain a number after

each word (ie. ngo5). The number in the end of a word refers to its tone. There
are 3 flat tones (1,3,6) and they are the high pitch, mid pitchand the mid-low
pitch respectively. The other three tones (2,4,5) change pitches according to
the chart above as you progress in pronouncing the word.

Subject: I/You/Him/Her
I/Me: ngo5
You: nei5
Him/her: keoi5
Them: keoi5 dei6
Us/we: ngo5 dei6 

Useful Phrases Basic Verbs

Hello: nei5 hou2 Go: heoi3
See you later: zoi3 gin3 Need: jiu3
Thanks: do1 ze6 Eat: sik6
Excuse me: m4 goi1 Drink: jam2
Think: nam2
Want: soeng2

Basic Sentence Structure

Subject + Time + Verb + Object
Chinatown Tour
Vocabulary
A brief look at the vocabulary
taught in this tour.
Cultural Center
Chinese Cultural Center – jung1 man4 man4 fa3 jung1 sam1 中⽂⽂化中⼼
Calgary – ka1 ga1 lei5 卡加利
Chinatown – tong4 yan4 gaai1 唐⼈街
Street - gaai1 街

Tong4 Yan4 is actually another word for overseas Chinese people.

The word Tong4 Yan4 originated from the Tang Dynasty, as its initial
meaning is Tang’s People. Cantonese is the language that is closest to the
ancient language used by the Tang dynasty.

When people of Cantonese origin migrated overseas, they refer themselves as

Tong4 Yan4. There was a period of time where a large number of Cantonese-
speaking individuals migrated overseas, and the streets where they gather
were then called Tong4 Yan4 Gaai1, or Tong’s People Street.
Now let’s talk about the basic, how do you do introductions?
I am called – Ngo5 Giu3 我叫
How about you – Nei5 Ne1 你呢？
Nice to meet you –Hou2 Gou1 Hing3 Ying6 Sik1 Nei5 好⾼興認識你。

Hon’s Parking Lot

How do you go to …. – … Dim2 Heui3 點去？
Left – Jo2 左
Right – Yau6 右
Straight –Jik6 Hong4 直⾏
Turn – Jyun3 轉
Across – Deui3 Min6 對⾯

BBQ Shop
BBQ Meat – Siu1 Mei1 燒味
BBQ Pork – Cha1 Siu1 叉燒
BBQ Duck – Siu1 Aap3 燒鴨
Bento –Bin6 Dong3 便當 Faan6 hap6 飯盒

Music Society
Music – Yam1 Ngok6 ⾳樂
Chinese Music –Jung1 Ngok6 中樂
Erhu – Yi6 Wu2 ⼆胡
GuZheng – Gu2 Jang1 古箏
Pipa–Pei4 Pa2 琵琶
At the Restaurant
Eating dinner – Sik6 Faan6 ⾷飯
Cheers –  Gon1 Bui1 乾杯
I want this one – Ngo5 Yiu3 Ni1 Go3 我要呢個
I want that one – Ngo5 Yiu3 Go2 Go3 我要 個
How much? – Gei2 Do1 Chin2 幾多錢
The bill, please – M4 Goi1 Maai4 Daan1 唔該埋單
Excuse me - M4 Goi1, M4 Hou2 Yi3 Si1 唔該, 唔好意思

Clover Living
Male Seniors  – Gung1 Gung1 公公
(Also used to refer grandfather on the mother’s side)

Female Seniors  –Po4 Po2 婆婆

(Also used to refer grandmother on the mother’s side)

Church
Church – Gaau3 Wui2 教會
 Additional
Resources
A brief look at the other resources
for Cantonese learning.
http://cantonese.ca/
Offers information for learning colloquial Cantonese.

https://www.squarefoot.com.hk/home-blog/article/1008/top-10-cantonese-phrases
Top 10 Cantonese Phrases you need to know.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CantoneseClass101/playlists
Very useful listening practice for beginner to advance Cantonese learners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZP1Ojubvyk&list=PLi0cQkUd3kIk-
kF5Ta8fYqPniakWnVq2I
Playlist for learning Common Cantonese Phrases.

https://www.livelingua.com/project/fsi/Cantonese/
The free FSI Cantonese Course