Learn how to tell someone what your profession is
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David. |
| Nicole: 大家好, 我係 Nicole. (daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Nicole.) |
| David: We’re here at Absolute Beginner Season 2 lesson 5. |
| Nicole: It’s about “What Do You Do in Hong Kong?” |
| David: Right, so we’ve got a lot of job titles here. You can be a student, a teacher, a professor, engineer, all of these stuff, we’re gonna teach you how to say it in Cantonese. And We’ve got a dialog here that takes place at a school. |
| Nicole: And it’s between… I guess strangers. |
| David: Yes, a teacher and a student. But maybe their age difference is not that much. |
| Nicole: That’s why they need to ask. |
| David: Yes, and they’re asking informal Cantonese, as always. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 你做咩㗎？ (nei5 zou6 me1 gaa3?) |
| “What do you do?” |
| 我係老師。(ngo5 hai6 lou5 si1.) |
| “I'm a teacher.” |
| 哦。 (o4.) |
| “Oh.” |
| 你做咩㗎？ (nei5 zou6 me1 gaa3?) |
| “What do you do?” |
| 我係學生。(ngo5 hai6 hok6 sang1.) |
| “I'm a student.” |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Anyway, you may not be a teacher, you may not be a student, but we have a vocab section filled with occupations. So yours may be there, let’s get to it now. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [natural native speed] |
| David: what (to do) |
| Nicole: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1) [natural native speed] |
| David: teacher |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 學生 (hok6 sang1) [natural native speed] |
| David: student |
| Nicole: 學生 (hok6 sang1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 學生 (hok6 sang1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 醫生 (ji1 sang1) [natural native speed] |
| David: doctor |
| Nicole: 醫生 (ji1 sang1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 醫生 (ji1 sang1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 律師 (leot6 si1) [natural native speed] |
| David: lawyer |
| Nicole: 律師 (leot6 si1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 律師 (leot6 si1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 工程師 (gung1 cing4 si1) [natural native speed] |
| David: engineer |
| Nicole: 工程師 (gung1 cing4 si1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 工程師 (gung1 cing4 si1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 演員 (jin2 jyun4) [natural native speed] |
| David: actor |
| Nicole: 演員 (jin2 jyun4) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 演員 (jin2 jyun4) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole: 導演 (dou6 jin2) [natural native speed] |
| David: director |
| Nicole: 導演 (dou6 jin2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 導演 (dou6 jin2) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: So we’ve got tons of occupational vocabs, if yours’ is not listed, please leave a comment on the site and let us know. First we have the word “teacher”. |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1). |
| David: You can call your teach by this name. |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1). And normally in Hong Kong, people would say 阿SIR (aa3 SIR). |
| David: Which means “teacher” too. What’s the difference? |
| Nicole: It’s more colloquial. Especially if the teacher is a man. 阿SIR (aa3 SIR). |
| David: What if the teacher is a woman? Is there a colloquial term for that? |
| Nicole: MISSY (mi1 si4) |
| David: Really? Like the English? |
| Nicole: Just like English. MISSY (mi1 si4). |
| David: Alright, let’s hear those 3 again. First, there’s the “teacher”... |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1). |
| David: “Teachers.” |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1). |
| David: Then we have… |
| Nicole: 阿SIR (aa3 SIR) |
| David: for “male teachers”. |
| Nicole: 阿SIR (aa3 SIR) |
| David: And for “female teachers” you can say... |
| Nicole: MISSY (mi1 si4). |
| David: Right. |
| Nicole: Actually 阿SIR (aa3 SIR), the name for “male teacher”, can also be the name for “cops”. |
| David: We should definitely remember that. And you can call people by their occupations. So you could say... |
| Nicole: 阿SIR，我有問題 (aa3 SIR, ngo5 jau5 man6 tai4). |
| David: “Teacher, I have a question.” |
| Nicole: 阿SIR，我有問題 (aa3 SIR, ngo5 jau5 man6 tai4). Or “Cops, I have a question.”, or “I have a problem”. |
| David: So if you go to the hospital, and you tell the doctor “Doctor, I have a problem!” |
| Nicole: 醫生，我有問題 (ji1 sang1, ngo5 jau5 man6 tai4). |
| David: “Doctor, I have a problem!” |
| Nicole: 醫生，我有問題 (ji1 sang1, ngo5 jau5 man6 tai4). Or you can say 醫生，我有病 (ji1 sang1, ngo5 jau5 beng6). |
| David: “Doctor, I have a sickness!” |
| Nicole: 醫生，我有病 (ji1 sang1, ngo5 jau5 beng6). |
| David: David: “Doctor, I have a sickness!” The keyword there, of course, is “doctor”. |
| Nicole: 醫生 (ji1 sang1). |
| David: “Doctor” |
| Nicole: 醫生 (ji1 sang1). It sounds just like the word for “students” 學生 (hok6 sang1). |
| David: It sounds very close. |
| Nicole: 學生 (hok6 sang1). |
| David: “Student”. And do you still remember the word for “teacher”? |
| Nicole: 老師 (lou5 si1). |
| David: Or… |
| Nicole: 阿SIR (aa3 SIR) |
| David: Or… |
| Nicole: MISSY (mi1 si4). |
| David: Because Hong Kong has such a vibrant financial surfaces sector, there’s also a lot of need for “lawyers”. |
| Nicole: 律師 (leot6 si1). |
| David: “Lawyer”. Our next word is “engineer”... |
| Nicole: 工程師 (gung1 cing4 si1). |
| David: “Engineer” |
| Nicole: 工程師 (gung1 cing4 si1). |
| David: As in the sentence “I am an engineer”. |
| Nicole: 我係工程師 (ngo5 hai6 gung1 cing4 si1). |
| David: “He is an engineer”. |
| Nicole: 佢係工程師 (keoi5 hai6 gung1 cing4 si1). |
| David: And that brings us to our grammar section, which is how to tell others about your occupation. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Our grammar focus for this lesson is telling people about your profession. For instance, “I am a teacher.” |
| Nicole: 我係老師 (ngo5 hai6 lou5 si1). |
| David: “I am an engineer”. |
| Nicole: 我係工程師 (ngo5 hai6 gung1 cing4 si1). |
| David: “I am an actor”. |
| Nicole: 我係演員 (ngo5 hai6 jin2 jyun4). |
| David: So that’s a common way of doing it. It’s literally “I” and then “to be”. |
| Nicole: 我 (ngo5) and then 係 (hai6), and then the profession. |
| David: Really really simple. There’s a second way of doing this though. |
| Nicole: Just change the second sound, instead of saying 係 (hai6), you say 做 (zou6), which means “to do”. |
| David: Ok, so “I am a teacher”. |
| Nicole: 我做老師 (ngo5 zou6 lou5 si1). |
| David: “I am a student”. |
| Nicole: 我做學生 (ngo5 zou6 hok6 sang1). |
| David: Ok, let’s practice it by hearing both together. For instance, “I am a lawyer”. |
| Nicole: 我係律師 (ngo5 hai6 leot6 si1) |
| David: Or... |
| Nicole: 我做律師 (ngo5 zou6 leot6 si1). |
| David: “I am an engineer” can be either... |
| Nicole: 我係工程師 (ngo5 hai6 gung1 cing4 si1) |
| David: Or... |
| Nicole: 我做工程師 (ngo5 zou6 gung1 cing4 si1). |
| David: Another example, “director”; “I am a director”... |
| Nicole: 我係導演 (ngo5 hai6 dou6 jin2). |
| David: Or... |
| Nicole: 我做導演 (ngo5 zou6 dou6 jin2). |
| David: So these 2 key verbs are “to be” 係 (hai6) and “to do” 做 (zou6). “I am” 我係 (ngo5 hai6), “I do” 我做 (ngo5 zou6). So find out what your job is and just plug it right into that sentence. |
| Nicole: That’s right. |
| David: Ok, we’re almost done; before we go, one tip though, about measure words. |
| Nicole: It’s really good news. |
| David: You don’t need them in this sentence. |
| Nicole: Not at all! |
| David: No measure words, just 我係 (ngo5 hai6) or 我做 (ngo5 zou6), and then the occupation. |
Outro |
| David: Thanks for listening, I’m David. |
| Nicole: And I’m Nicole. |
| David: We’ll see you on the site. |
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