Vocabulary 詞語 cí yǔ

 

English
Chinese
Cantonese
England
英國
jing1 gwok3
Canada
加拿大
gaa1 naa4 daai6
Italy
意大利
ji3 daai6 lei6
USA
美國
mei5 gwok3
Japan
日本
jat6 bun2
Australia
澳洲
ou3 zau1

1. We add “jan4” (人) at the end of each country to show the people of that country. e.g., “zung1 gwok3 jan4” (中國人) Chinese.

2.“gwok3” literally means “country” (國家). Hence “faat3 gwok3” is France (法國) and “jing1 gwok3” is The United Kingdom (英國).

 However, the Cantonese names of some other countries in the table above are apparently the phonetic equivalents of the English sounds,

for example: “gaa1 naa4 daai6” for Canada (加拿大), “baa1 gei1 si1 taan2” for Pakistan (巴基斯坦) and “ji3 daai6 lei6” for Italy (意大利).