The Cantonese School of Greater Washington, 粵語文化學校

ANNOUNCEMENT:
Dear CSGW Families:
There will be no classes this Sunday, May 3, 2026. Information about operating status through the end of the school year will be communicated through e-mail. Thank you!

Due to unexpected circumstances, the Open House that was planned for tomorrow is postponed. We apologize for the late notice! We look forward to welcoming you to our school and introducing you to the school's classes and teachers at a later date. Please sign up for our mailing list at CSGW.org so that we can stay in touch and let you know as soon as the open house is rescheduled.

We're looking for Cantonese language teachers! The Cantonese School of Greater Washington is the only Cantonese language school in the DC area and we'd like you to join our team. Please visit our website at https://www.csgw.org/hiring to learn more.

有興趣來當我們的老師嗎?我校現正招聘喜歡小朋友,操流利廣東話, 具教學熱誠且有專業讀寫能力的老師, 加入我們的教學團隊。詳情請到我們的網頁 https://www.csgw.org/hiring 獲取更多資訊。

We're looking for Cantonese language teachers! The Cantonese School of Greater Washington is the only Cantonese language school in the DC area and we'd like you to join our team. Please visit our website at https://www.csgw.org/hiring to learn more.

有興趣來當我們的老師嗎?我校現正招聘喜歡小朋友,操流利廣東話, 具教學熱誠且有專業讀寫能力的老師, 加入我們的教學團隊。詳情請到我們的網頁www.csgw.org/hiring 獲取更多資訊。

Have you noticed in Cantonese there are certain adjectives that are often paired and duplicated when you say them? This is called reduplication and can come in different patterns usually such as AABB or ABB. The repeating words help emphasize and intensify the meaning of the adjective. In Cantonese, the ABB pattern is much more common than in Mandarin.
Some examples that are exclusive to Cantonese include:
黑掹掹 (haak1 mang1 mang1)= dark inky black
白雪雪 (baak6 syut1 syut1) = snowy white
滑潺潺 (waat6 saan4 saan4) = wet and slimy
肥嘟嘟 (fei4 dyut1dyut1) = pudgy in a cute way
瘦蜢蜢 (sau3 maang2 maang2) = skinny in an undernourished way
軟腍腍 (jyun5 nam4 nam4) = very soft
硬倔倔 (ngaang6 gwak6 gwak6) = very hard
凍冰冰 (dung3 bing1 bing1) = ice cold
熱辣辣 (jit6 laat6 laat6) = piping hot
臭崩崩 (cau3 bang1 bang1) = stinky
香噴噴 (hoeng1 pan3 pan3) = fragrant

What reduplicated adjective is your favorite to use?

CANTONESE IDIOM SERIES

塞翁失馬 (coi3 jung1 sat1 maa5)

Literally: The old man who lost his horse 🐴
Meaning: A bad situation might turn out to be good

The story behind this idiom is about an old man called 塞翁 who's mare broke out of its enclosure and runs away. His neighbors expressed their sorrow for his loss, but the old man said, "Maybe it's not a bad thing." A few months later, his mare came back and brought a beautiful stallion. His neighbor's commented on his good luck, but 塞翁 cautiously said, "What if this is not a good thing?" Sure enough, his son who was taming the stallion fell off and broke his leg. Shortly afterwards, war broke out and many young men were drafted, but the son did not have to go to war because of his broken leg. His neighbors now understood 塞翁 wisdom.

This is the equivalent of "every cloud has a silver lining" and "a blessing in disguise" in English. This idiom teaches us that bad luck may bring good fortune later. A timeless reminder of resilience and hope. 🌟