English and Cantonese Dictionary

John Chalmers’ English and Cantonese Dictionary offers a valuable glimpse into the state of Cantonese that was spoken in Canton and in the colony of Hong Kong during the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century; through the comprehension of, and the presentation made by, Mr. Chalmers and some other foreigners. Anyone who has only heard Chinese spoken in Putonghua/Mandarin, can now hear how different Chinese may sound in Cantonese; and how different its style and expression are from that of Putonghua.


Words were listed in alphabetical order, each of which was accompanied by its corresponding Chinese characters (logograms), and was followed by tonal markings for its Cantonese pronunciation. Additional words and/or expressions in Cantonese that derived from the word were also found in many of the entries. A handy introduction to the rules for pronouncing Cantonese and those for their tonal markings could also be found.


Please refer to the appended booklet for further remarks by the reader and a full index of this recording. (summary by the reader)



Additional Proof Listening by YuqingJune