Beginner - The Four Flavors

07/10/12 • 8 min

One of the best things about living in Hong Kong is the amazing culinary diversity in the city, and particularly the whole range of Asian cuisines. If you're planning on taking full advantage of life in the culinary metropolis that is Hong Kong, you'll need to know the Cantonese to talk about tastes and flavors. Which is where this podcast comes in, eager to cover all the bases from sweet to sour.Learning Cantonese? This Cantonese lesson is intended for beginners to the language. If you are totally new to Cantonese, we recommend starting with our Basic Cantonese series, which introduces the absolute basics of the language in a progressive format that repeats and reinforces the simplest and most useful vocabulary in the language. Once you've passed through those lessons, you'll be ready for shows at - this - our Beginner level, which keeps the emphasis on basic sentence structures and high-frequency vocabulary while showcasing short, manageable dialogues in colloquial Cantonese.

Previous Episode

Elementary - Drinks after Work

Mary had expected the long hours and the occasionally soul-crushing minutiae of handling the international accounts. Carpenter & Wilkins was one of the leading law firms on the island and catered to a top-tier clientele of financial firms, which meant a constant inflow of new legal issues. But even though her work environment was challenging, Mary found her job a lot less social than she had expected. Perhaps it was memories of law school, but she had expected more camaraderie with her fellow lawyers. Perhaps she needed to take the initiative?Learning Cantonese? As it turns out, sometimes you can ask a question without really asking a question, and sometimes you can reduplicate a verb even if there isn't a verb anywhere in sight. If this sounds confusing don't worry about it, it's just conversational Cantonese as spoken in Hong Kong. Take a listen to today's lesson and if you have any questions, drop a note in our comment section anytime or email us anytime at [email protected].

Next Episode

Intermediate - Nepotism in Action

The internship program was one of the most prestigious in all Washington State. And while Susan had expected running it to be a challenge, she had not expected the largest hurdles to come from the company's own upper management, which soon began exerting pressure to find space for the sons and daughters of those connected to the board. And so much so that what used to be a program attracting the smartest and brightest in the country was rapidly descending into a day care center for a more privileged elite.