r/Cantonese•
Xefjord

Question for Cantonese Learners, on the spectrum of loanwords, how much is too much for a course?

Discussion

So to be specific, I am testing a new resource in development for Hong Kong Cantonese, and I noticed that in some instances they teach straight up English words to use in sentences.

I am not talking about Loanwords like 巴士 (baa1 si2), 士多啤梨 (si1 do1 bei1 lei6), or 波 (bo1). Which have a way to be written in Chinese characters.

But rather cases of directly taking English words and throwing them into Cantonese sentences:

我同我friend鍾意食炒飯.

我日日朝早做gym.

To my understanding these are common colloquial terms used by young people, but they both can't really be written in Chinese Characters very well, and there is also native terms readily available for both. My main concern is that they teach these terms exclusively. Like they do not ever teach you a Chinese character way to say 做gym in the resource.

While I think it can be good to know about frequently used English colloquial terms, something just rubs me the wrong way about not having Chinese character vocab alternatives at all. And wonders if the course is veering into "too colloquial." Again teaching both is fine, but if they are only going to teach one, is 做gym the best choice?

I am not a Hong Kong native or Cantonese speaker though, just a learner, so maybe this doesn't bother other people like it does me? What are your guys thoughts?

Posted Jun 12, 2026, 12:58 PM UTC

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