Cantonês Livro e Dicionário Comentários

 – Books, Tapes, & CD’s for Learning Cantonês Chinese


 




































































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Rationale:

I have been learning Cantonês on-and-off for a few years. This page contains reviews of the Cantonês courses that I own or have read. These reviews will help you in choosing courses to self-study Cantonês Chinese.

How I’ve Rated The Courses And Dictionaries:

I’ve given each a rating from 1 to 5 stars. The more stars the better. I value audio (cassettes, CDs, etc.) very highly, after all how can someone learn to speak properly if they never hear the language?! I like a sensible lesson ordering – starting with simple commonly-used speech in the first few lessons, then increasing in complexity as the lessons progress. I like course books which perfectly match the audio. I like books without typing mistakes. I like sensible Romanizations.



Listening & Speaking Cantonês Chinese

COURSES:

Title - Author(s), Original publish date (Version date), ISBN (Comments).

Level Rating Good Points Bad Points

Functional Cantonese - Martha Lam & Stanley Po, 1988, ISBN 0958802602, 10 (Cassettes).

Picture of book 'Functional Cantonese' Basic. **** - Sensible lesson ordering.
- Good opening explanation of tones and pronunciation variations.
- Romanization used is that of Sidney Lau - the best one I’ve seen.
- Comes with around 1½ hours of audio.
- A few typos here and there.

Everyday Cantonese - CUHK, 1985 (1993), ISBN 9622220010 (Cassettes).

Picture of book 'Everyday Cantonese' Basic to Intermediate. ****
- Nice explanation of the course, tones, and pronunciation variations.
- Reasonable lesson ordering.
- Good topic coverage.
- Having the drills of each lesson on the audio is excellent!
- Comes with over 4½ hours of audio!
- The Yale System of Romanization is an abomination.
- Almost every page has a typo.
- Language usage is out-of-date in parts.
- Sometimes the words on the cassettes don’t match the words in the book.

Elementary Cantonese, Vol I - Sidney Lau, 1972 (1987), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Elementary Cantonese, Vol II - Sidney Lau, 1972 (1987), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Elementary Cantonese Glossary - Sidney Lau, 1973 (1985), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Intermediate Cantonese, Vol I - Sidney Lau, 1969 (1984), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Intermediate Cantonese, Vol II - Sidney Lau, 1972 (1984), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Intermediate Cantonese Glossary - Sidney Lau, 1973 (1984), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Advanced Cantonese, Vol I - Sidney Lau, 1975 (1987), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Advanced Cantonese, Vol II - Sidney Lau, 1975 (1987), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
A Practical Cantonese-English Dictionary (實用粵英詞典) - Sidney Lau (劉錫祥), 1977, ISBN n/a (Govt. Printer HK).
Moving picture of Sidney Lau books
Click to
Preview
Basic,
Intermediate,
& Advanced.
***½ - Simply the best, most comprehensive Cantonês course ever written.
- The Romanization is logical, intuitive, and easily the best one I’ve seen.
- Extensive use of Chinese characters allows you to ‘pick them up’ without really trying.
- To my knowledge, no audio is available.
- Language usage is out-of-date in parts.
- A few typos here and there.

Teach Yourself Cantonese, A Complete Course for Beginners - Hugh Baker & P. K. Ho, 1995, ISBN 0340620919 (Cassettes) / 2003 (CD’s).

Picture of book 'Teach Yourself Cantonese' Basic to Intermediate. **½
(Review in progress)
- Comes with around 1½ hours of audio. - The order of the lessons is a bit illogical.
- Language usage is out-of-date in parts.
- (1995 edition only) The Romanization used is even worse than Yale!
- (2003 edition only) The Yale System of Romanization is an abomination.

Colloquial Cantonese - Keith S. T. Tong & Gregory James, 1994 (1995), ISBN 0415082048 (Cassettes).

Picture of book 'Colloquial Cantonese' Basic. **½ - Tapes are decent - clearly spoken and well paced.
- Grammar explanations in the book are quite good.
- Comes with around 1¾ hours of audio.
- The order of the lessons is illogical - complex things such as counting and prices should not be in the first lesson. Lesson 1 ‘Shopping’ should be moved to lesson 5.
- Excessive use of the word ‘listen’ on the tapes can drive you crazy!
- Would be much better if the dialogues had Chinese characters too.
- The Yale System of Romanization is an abomination.
- Sometimes the words on the cassettes don’t match the words in the book.
- A few typos here and there.

Elementary Cantonese Conversation - Jenny Lee & Shiu Chiu Yeung, 1989 (Cassettes).

Basic. * - Tapes are Ok to listen to for someone with a bit of Cantonês knowledge. - Bad structure and very primitive compared to all the other books. I don’t think anyone could really learn to speak from this book.

Language Learning Cantonese, Speak a Chinese Dialect CD ROM - Laser Publishing Group, 1997 (CD ROM).

Basic. * N/A. - Bad structure and very primitive interface. I don’t think anyone could really learn to speak from this CD.
- Riddled with Romanization errors and pronunciation errors.
- Tedious click-to-speak interface gives you RSI in 5 minutes!

Intermediate Cantonese: Themes for Listening and Speaking - Philip Yungkin Lee, 2001 (Oct), ISBN 9622792022 (3 CDs).

Picture of book 'Intermediate Cantonese' Intermediate to Advanced. Review in progress. - Comes with over 3 hours of audio! - Some words in the dialogues are not listed in the glossaries.
- The ‘Tapescript’ section should also (1) have the dialogues in Chinese characters, and (2) have English translations. Actually I’d merge the whole ‘Tapescript’ section into the ‘Unit’ sections themselves. Having to flick back and forth between the Units and Tapescript is tedious.
- Pronunciation variations such as ngoh/oh should not be written everywhere. It’s too hard to read dialogues written that way, plus it has introduced many typos into the book. Only the most correct pronunciation should be given.
- The CD’s are too quiet (or mine are faulty).
- The Yale System of Romanization is an abomination.
- The odd typo here and there.

Learning Cantonese Through Stories, The Story of Minami - Siu-lun Cedric Lee & Masumi Tanaka, 2002 (Jan), ISBN 9622792065 (1 CD).

Picture of book 'Learning Cantonese Through Stories' Intermediate to Advanced. Review in progress. - Comes with over 1 hour of audio. - The Yale System of Romanization is an abomination.
- The odd typo here and there.

Wedding Bells - Yin-Ping Cream Lee & Shin Kataoka, 2001 (Sep), ISBN 9622792030 (1 CD).

Picture of book 'Wedding Bells' Intermediate to Advanced. Review in progress. - Comes with 41 minutes of audio. - The Yale System of Romanization is an abomination.
- The odd typo here and there.

DICTIONARIES:

Title - Author(s), Original publish date (Version date), ISBN (Comments).

Level Rating Good Points Bad Points

A Practical Cantonese-English Dictionary (實用粵英詞典) - Sidney Lau (劉錫祥), 1977, ISBN n/a (Govt. Printer HK).
Picture of book 'A Practical Cantonese-English Dictionary'
Click to
Preview
Advanced. **** - Possibly the best Cantonês dictionary ever written.
- The Romanization is logical, intuitive, and easily the best one I’ve seen.
- This is a Romanization-to-Character-and-English dictionary. i.e. The dictionary entries are ordered alphabetically using the romanization. Entries contain chinese characters for all words and phrases, plus the English meaning(s).
- 3,600 head entries.
- 1,000 pages.
- A few typos here and there.
- Has never been updated, so modern words and phrases (e.g. “mobile phone”) are not covered.
- Has no stroke index.

Elementary Cantonese Glossary - Sidney Lau, 1973 (1985), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Intermediate Cantonese Glossary - Sidney Lau, 1973 (1984), ISBN n/a (Government Printer Hong Kong).
Moving picture of Sidney Lau books Basic & Intermediate. *** - These glossaries cover the words used in the corresponding Sidney Lau Cantonese course books.
- The Romanization is logical, intuitive, and easily the best one I’ve seen.
- Each book is a Romanization-to-Character-and-English dictionary plus an English-to-Romanization-and-Character dictionary.
- Each book is 220+ pages and contains 1500+ words.
- A few typos here and there.
- There is no glossary for the advanced books.
- Has never been updated, so modern words and phrases (e.g. “mobile phone”) are not covered.
- Has no stroke index.

A Practical English-Chinese Pronouncing Dictionary - Janey Chen, 1970 (1994), ISBN 0804818770.

Picture of book 'A Practical English-Chinese Pronouncing Dictionary' Advanced. *** - Characters, and Mandarim and Cantonês pronunciation are given for over 15,000 English words - useful for students of Cantonês and Mandarim. - The Yale System of Romanization is an abomination which is used for both Mandarim and Cantonês. A table of conversions to PinYin (Mandarim) and other Cantonês Romanizations is given though.
- The main dictionary, religious appendix, and military appendix should be combined. Such appendices are unnecessary and annoying.

同音字彙 - 余秉昭, 1997, ISBN 9789628236053.

Picture of book 'Tung-Yam Ji-Lui'Advanced. ** - 5,400 head entries.
- 268 pages.
- Cantonês Romanization used is similar to Sidney Lau’s but not identical.
- Has a stroke index.
- Small size (B5) makes it easy to carry around.
- Dictionary is totally in Chinese (except for the Cantonês Romanization) so it’s not that useful for English speakers unless you can read Chinese.

香港粵語詞典 - 鄭定歐, 1977, ISBN 9787534329425.

Picture of book 'Heung-Gong Yuet-Yue Chi-Din' Advanced. * - 411 pages. - Dictionary is totally in Chinese (except for the Cantonês Romanization) so it’s not that useful for English speakers unless you can read Chinese.
- Entries are ordered by final sound, then alphabetical. Such an ordering may be useful for people writing song lyrics but I don’t think it’s good for a learner of Cantonês.

Reading & Writing Cantonês Chinese

BOOKS:

Title - Author(s), Original publish date (Version date), ISBN (Comments).

Level Rating Good Points Bad Points

Reading and Writing Chinese - William McNaughton, 1979 (1991), ISBN 0804815846.

Picture of book 'Reading and Writing Chinese' Intermediate. *** - Over 1,000 characters are listed with their full-form stroke order (the simplified forms are also given when appropriate). - The Yale System of Romanization is used instead of PinYin.
- A few typos here and there.


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Copyright © 1997 Andrew WhiteCreated: 30 Mar 1997
Page authored by Andrew WhiteUpdated: 02 Aug 2015

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