earworms

Rapid

mbt

Musical Brain Trainer

Cantonese

200+ essential words and phrases anchored into your long-term memory with great music

Your personal audio language trainer

Your personal audio language trainer

earworms mbt Rapid Cantonese puts the words and phrases you need not just on the tip of your tongue, but also transports them deep into your long-term memory.
Simply by listening to these specially composed melodies with their rhythmic repetitions of Cantonese and English a few times, the sound patterns are indelibly burned into your auditory cortex. You will have successfully learned the Cantonese phrase and have the correct accent ringing in your ears. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing: while jogging, in the car, in the bath, doing the ironing you can be learning Cantonese at the same time!

earworms mbt Rapid Languages is the first language course to get your toe tapping.
You know the phenomenon of those catchy tunes or earworms that you just can't get out of your head? Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? Well, earworms mbt has put this phenomenon to positive use. Gone are the days of learning pressure and frustration at not being able to remember, the experience of many on conventional language courses. In combination with music, the phrases you need are automatically anchored deep into your memory, ready for instant recall. Music is the key The idea is as simple as it is old. Before the age of writing, ancient historical events were recorded in verse and song form for easy memorisation. In his book 'Songlines' Bruce Chatwin describes how the Australian Aborigines were able to navigate their way across hundreds of miles of desert to their ancestral hunting grounds without maps. And how? The extensive lyrics of their traditional songs were exact descriptions of the routes!

Rhythm and words i.e. song and verse have always been a very powerful memory aid, and this is supported by recent scientific research. The advertising industry knows only too well how powerful music can be in getting the message across with brainwashing-like jingles and soundbites. It really works! Developed and used over years in the classroom, earworms mbt Rapid Languages has shown phenomenal success. In tests pupils using this technique regularly get average marks of over 90% compared to less than 50% with conventional book based learning. Why hasn't music been used more in education up to now? Imagine kids at school getting a CD of hip hop songs with all the historical dates they have to learn, or all the French verbs they have to learn! Wouldn't that make their (and teachers') school lives much easier, much more fun, much more successful? What you get This volume deals with the essentials for your visit abroad. It looks at typical situations: taking a taxi, at the hotel, at the restaurant, requesting, polite phrases, finding your way, numbers, dealing with problems and so on. Volume 2 will have you talking about yourself and others, past, present and future, likes and dislikes and general conversational items. The themes follow closely the Common European Framework for language learning, a recognised benchmark of simple conversational language proficiency, and the emphasis is constantly on usefulness to the learner.

Memory hooks This booklet contains all the text on the CD, both English and the written sounds of the Cantonese words. The original Cantonese writing and comments to assist your memorisation and understanding, can be found under 'Extras' on the earworms website, together with a list of memory hooks to aid your memorisation. Memory hooks are visualisations of words. For example, if you want to memorise the Cantonese number: eight = baa, imagine eight sheep saying baa - and you will easily remember. Try to make your own memory hooks, its fun. How to use earworms: Don't think, just listen! Sit back, relax and groove along to the melodies without trying to listen too hard. Treat them as songs you hear on the radio. Our recommendation is that you do familiarise yourself with the written words in the booklet - at least the first time you listen. After listening several times, playfully test yourself cover up the English side of the phrase book and see how many words and phrases you remember! Lastly - a word of thanks The earworms team would like to thank you for putting your trust in our 'slightly different' learning concept and are sure that you will have the success that many others have already had. It's motivating to know that learners are really benefiting from our research and development. Also, as accelerated learning is a rapidly growing field, we look forward to hearing your experiences and successes - so feel free to visit us on the website:

www.earwormslearning.com

1. I would like
I ~ would like ... a coffee ... ... with milk. (literally: ... and milk.) Id like a coffee and milk. and sugar tea Very good! beer water / a glass of water Please, bring ~ a glass of water ~ to me. Please, bring ~ a coffee ~ to me. Please, bring ~ a beer ~ to me. Thank you! Ngor ~ seung yiu ... gaa-fe ... ... gaa nai. Ngor seung yiu gaa fe gaa nai. gaa tong tsaa* Ho ho! beh dsou (sounds like bed sow**) seui / booi seui M-goy, bay ~ booi seui ~ ngor. M-goy, bay ~ gaa-fe ~ ngor. M-goy, bay ~ beh dsou ~ ngor. Daw dseh!

* Try to repeat the exact sounds of the words. Going up or down in tone, can change the meaning: tsaa going down in tone means tea, but tsaa going up in tone at the end means bad! Just as an example: This tea is very bad = Ni di tsaa ho tsaa. Of course a more useful sentence is: This tea is very good = Ni di tsaa ho ho. ** Memory hook: To remember the word for beer = bed sow think of a beer bottle label with a picture of a sow in bed. For the sake of simplicity we have provided the Cantonese phonetics only. If you want to have the original Cantonese text as well, go to the website: www.earwormslearning.com and look under: Discover earworms > Extras > Cantonese text.

earworms

mbt

Musical Brain Trainer

2. To order
to order drinks I want to order ~ drinks. I want to order ~ wine. red wine red giu yum bun Ngor seung giu ~ yum bun. Ngor seung giu ~ dsow. hong zow hong*

Memory hook: To remember that red is hong, think of Hong Kong written in red letters! white wine baa dsow

Memory hook: To remember that baa is white, think of the sound that sheep make. Most sheep are white. a bottle of ~ wine. yat zee ~ dsow Memory hook: To remember that a bottle is yad zee, think of thousands of bottles floating in the Yangtze river. a glass of ~ wine yat booi ~ dsow Cheers! Yum** booi!

Memory hook: Oh boy is that drink yummy! a little ~ bread Please, bring ~ a little bread ~ to me. Very good. Thank you. Dont mention it. yat dee ~ mean bow M-goy, bay ~ ya dee mean bow ~ ngor. Ho ho. Daw dseh. Mm zai ha*** hey.

* Memory hooks: A useful technique to help memorize the sounds and meanings of Cantonese words is to associate them with familiar English words and images. Often the weirder these visualizations are, the easier it is to remember them. Try making your own memory hooks. ** yum literally means to drink, and booi means the glass. Yum booi = Drink the glass! *** The sound here is a glottal stop. Its like saying the word hat and not pronouncing the t.

3. Do you have ?
Do you have ... (lit.: You ~ have / dont have ) ... a table for two? (lit.: ... two ~ persons ~ type table?) two ~ persons Yes, we have! (lit.: Have!) Sorry, we dont have. (lit.: Sorry, dont have.) What would you like? (lit.: You would like to have ~ what?) You would like ~ to drink ~ what? You would like ~ to eat ~ what? fried noodles / won ton noodles Please, bring ~ a portion of ~ fried noodles ~ to me. (The waiter asks:) How is the food? (lit.: Good / not-good food?) Please, bring ~ a fork ~ to me. Enjoy your meal! (lit.: Slowly eat!) Its good! / Its very good! The bill, please. (lit.: Please, the bill.) Can I pay by card? (lit.: I ~ can / not can ~ swipe card?) can ... not can ... ... pay by card (lit.: ... swipe card) Yes, you can! (lit.: Can!)* Nay ~ yao / mo ... ... lerng ~ go yang ~ geh toy? lerng ~ go yang Yao!* Mm-hor-yee-see, mo. Ney seung yiu ~ mutyeh? Ney seung ~ yum ~ mutyeh? Ney seung ~ sec** ~ mutyeh? tsou mean / won tun mean M-goy, bay ~ yat** fun ~ tsou mean ~ ngor. Ho / mm-ho sec**? M-goy, bay ~ go tsa ~ ngor. Man-man sec**! Ho! / Ho ho! M-goy, my-dan. Ngor ~ haw / mm-haw yee ~ lo** card? haw yee mm-haw yee ... lo** card Haw yee!*

* Yes/No answers: In Cantonese the answer to the question Have you ? is simply Have! (not Yes, I have). The answer to the question Can I ? is Can! (not Yes, you can). This pattern is the same for other Yes/No answers. ** These words are pronounced with a glottal stop - indicated by an apostrophe.

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Musical Brain Trainer

4. Please, go airport!
To the city centre, please. (lit.: Please, ~ go ~ city ~ centre.) Please, ... Please, go go center city center To the airport, please. (lit.: Please, ~ go ~ airport.) Please, ~ go ~ this address. address Thank you! Good bye! Buying a ticket Id like to ~ buy ~ a ticket. to buy a ticket a ticket to Beijing (lit.: to Beijing type ticket.) ger = type a to Shanghai type ticket Hong Kong A ticket to Hong Kong. (lit.: A to Hong Kong type ticket.) How much does it cost? (lit.: How much ~ money?) 100 Mun (HK Dollars). M-goy*, ~ heui ~ see ~ joong-sum. M-goy, ... M-goy, heui heui joong-sum see joong-sum M-goy, ~ heui ~ gay cheung. M-goy, ~ heui ~ neegor day-dsee. day-dsee M-goy*! Bye bye!

Ngor seung ~ mai ~ fay. mai fay heui Badgeng ger fay heui Seung-hai ger fay Herng Gong Heui Herng Gong ger fay. Gay daw ~ tseen? Ba mun.

* M-goy can mean please or thank you or even Excuse me! in certain situations. The sense is something like: Much appreciated.

5. Numbers, days & time

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 yat yee* some say mm loh tsud ba** gow sub sub yat sub yee sub some sub say sub mm sub loh 17 18 19 20 21 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 800 sub tsud sub baa sub gow yee sub yee sub yat some sub say sub mm sub loh sub tsud sub ba sub gow sub yat ba yee ba some ba ba - ba

* yee is the pure number 2. e.g. when giving a telephone number. But when counting things you use lerng for 2 (see track 3). ** 8 is ba and 100 is ba , so 800 is ba - ba, like saying Papa What time? (Gay deem) 8 oclock (lit.: 8 point) oclock 7.30 40 minutes 6.40 (6 point - 40 minutes) in the morning (AM) in the evening 6.00 in the evening (lit.: in the evening ~ 6 oclock) ba deem deem tsud deem some sub fun say sub fun loh deem see sub fun siu djo yeh man yeh man ~ loh deem

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Musical Brain Trainer

Now you try filling in the gaps 9 o'clock in the evening at 5 o'clock 4.30 6.40 in the morning at 7.00 deem man mm say some fun loh say sub siu djo

The days of the week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday sing kay yat sing kay yee sing kay some sing kay say sing kay mm sing kay loh sing kay yat

As you will have noticed, counting in Cantonese, once you have committed the first ten numbers to memory is really easy. 11 is simply ten-one, 12 is ten-two and so on up to 20 which is two ten. 21 is two ten-one and in this way you continue to 99 which is, you guessed it, nine ten-nine = gow sub-gow. After youve listened a couple of times, just for fun go through all the numbers from 1 to 99 in your mind to see if you can remember them. Better still, recite them in front of someone.

6. Is there ?
Excuse me! May I ask ... (lit.: Please ask ...) ... is there a bank near here? (lit.: Nearby ~ is there ~ a bank-qu?**) Nearby is there a bank? M-goy! Tzeng mun* ... Fu gun yao-mo ngun hong-aa?** Fu gun yao-mo ngun hong?

Note: The expression for Is there ? is literally Have / Not have ?. The root meaning is Does this place have?. a supermarket tiew cub see cheung a toilet tsee saw

Memory hook: think of a toilet sign showing male & female images balancing on a ''see saw''! a hospital yi yoon Nearby is there a hospital-qu?** Sorry, ... ... I ~ dont ~ know. I know. Fu gun yao-mo yi yoon-aa?** Mm-ho-yee-see, ... ... ngor ~ mm ~ tsee-doe. Ngor tsee-doe.

Literal translation: To get a feeling for the language one should appreciate exactly how things are formulated, i.e. the literal translation. For example: 'May I ask?' is translated as 'Please ask?' or 'Is there a bank nearby?' is translated as 'Nearby, there is / is not a bank?'. The word order and sometimes the words used, although understandable, are different to English. Another example in song 3 is instead of saying 'Can I pay by credit card?' you actually say 'I can / not can swipe card?'. * When asking for help or information, it is polite to precede the question with: May I ask ...? = Tzeng mun ...? ** At the end of a question you often hear the sound aa which just emphasises that it is a question, a kind of audible question mark.

earworms

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Musical Brain Trainer

How often do I have to listen to the earworms CD before I can really remember all the language on it? With the appeal of the earworms songs we hope that it is not a question of 'having to', it is rather a question of 'wanting to'. But seriously: the memory is like a muscle, it needs to be trained and exercised. Based on scientific studies, the ideal is listening relatively intensively at the beginning (the learning phase), thereafter listening periodically to review what you have learnt and refresh your memory. In practical terms this means listening to the whole album the first day, in order to 'tune your ear in' to the sounds of the language. Then listen regularly, several times, over a period of one or two weeks, making sure that you listen to every song equally as many times. While listening, actually speak the words out loud, when you can, to get a feeling for their pronunciation. After this, go through the booklet and test your knowledge, picking out any gaps that you may wish to concentrate on. Lastly, the review phase. As we all know, memories fade, so it is important to refresh your memory by listening to the CD at your leisure, say, once a week for the following few weeks. Thereafter, monthly. This review phase is crucial as it consolidates your knowledge and transfers it into your long-term memory. Although this demands self-discipline, it is of course without effort, as you are only listening to songs. The result is that you will be able to recall the words and phrases with the same ease that you remember your telephone number!

7. Directions
Im ~ looking for ~ a bank. Ngor ~ hai-doe wun ~ ngun hong.

Something you are doing now is expressed by hai-doe. Im ~ looking for Im ~ waiting for ~ a friend. Excuse me, may I ask where is the post office? (lit.: ... the post office is where?) Take (walk) this street. walk this ~ street to ~ the left, to ~ the right to to ~ the front / straight on Go straight on. (lit.: To the front walk.) Is it far? (lit.: Far / not far-qu?) How far? Walk ~ about ~ 10 min. minutes time Thank you. Youre welcome. See you again. Ngor ~ hei-doe wun Ngor ~ hei-doe dung ~ pung yao. Mm-ho-yee-see ~ tzeng mun yao go ~ hai ~ been doe? Haang ni tiu-low. haang ni ~ tiu-low herng ~ dsor, herng ~ yao herng herng ~ tseen Herng tseen haang. Yewn / mm yewn-aa? Gay yewn? Haang ~ dai yer ~ sub-fun-jong. fun-jong M-goy. Mm zai ha hey. Soy geen.

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Musical Brain Trainer

8. Where & what time ...?

What time ...? Where ...? (lit.: Which place ...?) Where is your luggage/baggage? (lit.: Your* luggage is where?) is ~ where? our luggage Where is our luggage/baggage? (lit.: Our luggage is where?) There!, Here! (lit.: That place! This place!) the room Its in the room. (lit.: Is ~ the room ~ located.) Where is the room? (lit.: The room ~ is where?) Its on level 2. (lit.: Its ~ 2 level.) level 1 (ground floor) / level 2 The room ~ is on level 2. Breakfast ~ is what time? From 7 oclock to 10 oclock. Gay deem ...? Been doe ...? Nay-geh hang-lay ~ hai been doe? hai ~ been doe? ngor-day-geh hang-lay. Ngor-day-geh hang-lay ~ hai been doe? Gor doe! Nee doe! gaan fong Hai ~ gaan fong ~ doe. Gaan fong ~ hai been doe? Hai ~ yee lau. yat lau / yee lau Gaan fong ~ hai yee lau. Dso-tsan ~ hai gay deem? Yao tsud deem doe sub deem.

* Note: To get the possessive form, just add geh: I = ngor my = ngor-geh you = nay your = nay-geh we = ngor-day our = ngor-day-geh

9. Problems, problems!
I could You could Could you help me? (lit.: You could / not could help me-qu?) Could you ... (lit.:You could / not could ) help me-qu? Ive lost ... to lose, lost ... my ~ passport. camera ... my ~ wallet. I need stamps. Ngor haw-yee ... Nay (or Lay) haw-yee ... Nay haw / mm haw-yee ~ bong gnor-aa? Nay haw / mm haw-yee ... bong ngor-aa? Ngor, mm-geen jaw ... mm-geen, mm-geen jaw ... ngor geh ~ wu zeeu. seung gay ... ngor geh ~ ngun bau. Ngor si yiew yau piu.

Id like to send ~ this card ~ to England. Ngor seung gay ~ nee jeun cart ~ hoei yingwar. to send gay this card to England I need flu ~ medicine. ... a doctor. I have a lot of pain here. (lit.: I ~ here ~ much pain.) I have a little pain here. (lit.: I ~ here ~ a little pain.) nee jeun cart hoei yingwar Ngor si niew gum mou ~ yer. ... yee sang. Ngor ~ lei doe ~ ho tong. Ngor ~ lei doe ~ siu siu tong.

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10. Can you speak English?

How are you? Im very well, thanks. Nay ho, ma? Ngor ho ho, daw dser.

Can you ~ speak English? Nay se / mm se ~ gong Ying-man-aa? (lit.:You can / not can ~ speak English-qu?) (se is spoken with a glottal stop) speak gong Cantonese You can / not can speak ~ Cantonese-qu? I cant speak Cantonese. I not can speak ~ Cantonese. I (not) understand. A little more slowly please. (lit.: Please ~ slow ~ a little.) difficult very difficult not easy easy Do you like ~ hong hong-qu? Do you like ...? (lit.: You like / dont like ...?) Do you like ~ chow mien-qu? Yes, I like it! I like it very much. Delicious! (lit.: Good food!) Good bye. See you again! tomorrow See you tomorrow! (lit.: Tomorrow see!) Have fun! (lit.: Play ~ happily!) Gwangdongwa Nay sec / mm sec gong ~ Gwangdongwa-aa? Ngor mm se gong ~ Gwangdongwa. Ngor mm meng baa. M-goy man siu siu. nan / lan ho lan mm gandan gan dan Nay tsung mm tsung yee ~ Herng Gong-aa? Nay tsung / mm tsung yee ? Nay tsung mm tsung yee ~ tsou mean-aa? Tsung yee! Ngor ho tsoong yee. Ho sec! Bye bye. Soy geen! teng-yad Teng-yad geen! Wan dan ~ hoi-sam-dyi!

The science behind earworms mbt 1. How we learn A large part of learning in general and language learning in particular is to do with the memorisation of words, facts and other significant information. It's a well-known fact that we use only a fraction of our brain power and traditional book learning is now recognised as not suiting every learner. earworms uses simple techniques which open up and exploit more of the brain's native power and come under the heading of 'accelerated learning'. In a recent issue of the journal 'Nature', researchers at Dartmouth College reported that they had pinpointed the region of the brain where 'earworms' or catchy tunes reside, the auditory cortex. They found that the sounds and words that have actually been heard can be readily recalled from the auditory cortex where the brain can listen to them 'virtually' again and again. 2. What we learn

earworms mbt adopts the so-called lexical approach to language. In essence, this means we look at language in terms of whole meaningful chunks, then break these down into their component bite-sized, easily absorbable parts and then reconstruct them. You not only learn complete, immediately useful phrases, you also intuitively learn something about the structure (the grammar) of the language. These 'chunks' which the learner can 'mix and match', gradually build up to cover whole areas of the language.

Other languages available:

Details at www.earwormslearning.com

earworms
The Tracks: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. I would like 9:00 To order 6:03 Do you have ...? 10:39 Please, go airport! 6:57 Numbers, days & time 8:30 Is there ? 6:12 Directions 7:22 Where & what time? 7:23 Problems, problems! 7:28 Can you speak English? 6:49

mbt

Musical Brain Trainer

Concept & Text: Marlon Lodge, Project Development: Andrew Lodge, Project Management: Maria Lodge, Editorial Supervision: Renate Elbers-Lodge, Music: earworms & AKM, Songs 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 feature samples by www.platinumloops.com, Cantonese Voice: Eva Wan, Design: Jaroslaw Suchorski @ HKP, Special Thanks to: Kwai Mei Tang, Tony Chui, Jan, Evie, Anna, Freddy & Jane.

www.earwormslearning.com
2010 Earworms Ltd.
ISBN 9781905443437 Catalogue no. EWB CA1-437