Translator guide

Thank you for helping. This site holds the English source content for a beginner Cantonese course (about CEFR A1–A2), set out lesson by lesson like a Duolingo-style path. We need it turned into natural, spoken Hong Kong Cantonese.

What we want

• Spoken Cantonese, not written Chinese. Write it the way people talk: 係, 喺, 唔, 冇, 佢, 嘅, 咗, 嘢 and so on, not 是, 在, 不, 沒有, 他/她, 的, 了. If a line comes out sounding like Mandarin or a news report, rewrite it.
• Translate for meaning, not word-for-word. Each English line is the meaning to get across. Read the situation and register, then write what a Hong Kong speaker would actually say. It's fine (and expected) for the Cantonese to be shorter, use different words, or add a final particle.
• Traditional characters, as used in Hong Kong. Use the common Cantonese characters (e.g. 嘅, 咗, 啲, 嚟, 冇).
• Jyutping with tone numbers (1–6) for every Cantonese entry, syllables separated by spaces, e.g. nei5 hou2. No tone marks or Yale, please.
• Everyday register. "casual" means friends and family; "neutral" means strangers, shops and colleagues; "polite" means formal service or showing respect. Match the register shown.
• Code-mixing is OK where it's natural. If Hong Kong people would really say "OK", "sorry", "Hi" or "lunch" in English inside a Cantonese sentence, you can keep it. Please mention it in your notes so we can decide.
• Flag anything unnatural. If a line doesn't sound like something people say, put the most natural version in the Cantonese column and explain in translator notes. You can also suggest a better English line.
• Alternatives are welcome. If there are two common ways to say something, give the most common one in the Cantonese column and the other in your notes (with Jyutping).

What's on each unit page

• Explain note: a short grammar or culture note for learners, written in English. Please check it is accurate for spoken Cantonese and add 2–3 short example sentences in Cantonese.
• Words: about 20 vocabulary items with a usage note. Give the everyday spoken word; if there's a formal or written alternative, add it in notes.
• Sentences: about 75 sentences per unit, each with a situation and register.
• Dialogues: two short conversations. Please make them flow naturally as a whole, even if that means changing individual lines a little.
• Cantonese-native slots: things with no good English starting point, like sentence-final particles (啦, 喎, 囉, 㗎), set phrases and slang. Here we ask you to supply the Cantonese, with an English gloss and a note on when it's used.

Columns

Two ways to work

1. On this website (recommended). Open a unit page, type your name and the edit access code you were given, then type straight into the boxes. Each row saves automatically to the shared site a moment after you stop typing (and when you leave the box). Watch the small label under each row ID: Saving…, Saved, or Not saved: Retry. You stay signed in until you close the browser tab. Anyone else with the link can see the saved work, and the unit CSVs on the Downloads page include it.
2. In a spreadsheet (offline). Go to Downloads, open a unit CSV in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, and fill in the last three columns. Save as CSV UTF-8 (in Excel: File → Save As → CSV UTF-8) so the Chinese characters survive.

Returning your work

• If you work on the website, there is nothing to send: just tell us when a unit is done.
• If you work offline, send back one CSV per unit (or the combined Section 1 file), keeping the file's columns and IDs unchanged.
• Start with Unit 1 and send it back first, so we can check we're aligned on style before you do the rest.
• Questions are welcome at any point. If a whole unit feels unnatural, tell us. That's useful feedback too.

Examples

These examples only show the style; they are not part of the content to translate.