The Right Word in Cantonese

by Irene Saunders, Choi Wah Kwan, Hanyu Zhinan

A quick reference to Cantonese, especially the words and expressions for everyday use in Hongkong and Canton. Complete with English entries, Yale Romanizations and Chinese Characters.

243 pages

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Saunders graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in chemistry. She is married to Lynn C. Saunders, Vice President-Executive Director in the People's Republic of China for Westing House Electric S.A., a company that funded the creation of the dictionary.[1]

The Right Word in Chinese is a dictionary that is the first of its kind with Pinyin romanization of the Putonghua language or Modern-day Standard Mandarin Chinese published in 1985. It evolved from Irene Saunders' experience of working in China while having a limited knowledge of Mandarin Chinese. The proceeds of the dictionary were donated to the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), particularly for the endangered panda. It later became one of the sources for many modern-day English–Chinese / Chinese–English dictionaries.[1]

Reviews

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! The dictionary part is large enough to find most important words in it, every entry is given in English, Yale romanization (tones are marked with accents and -h for the low tones!) and the Chinese characters in traditional Chinese. Part II of the book contains specialized glossaries, and vocabulary useful in Hongkong, including names of places. There's also a nice guide to the pronunciation at the beginning. Really recommendable!