... phrasebooks...Language, A Key to Survival: Cantonese-English Phrasebooks in Australia...Phrasebook Use in China...Of the two Zhu phrasebooks (English through the Vernaculars of the Canton and Shiuhing Prefectures) known to exist, this is the earlier edition. It is probably not a first edition because there are corrections to the original text overprinted in red...Click this link to go to an interactive Google map showing the location of mining sites listed in Zhu's English through the Vernaculars of the Canton and Shiuhing Prefectures (c. 1862).
Some place names were misspelled in the phrasebook and so...Most international travellers today are familiar with phrasebooks. These books provide a guide to pronunciation, useful vocabulary, but most importantly lists of useful phrases to help travellers negotiate their way around a country where they don't ...
Most international travellers today are familiar with phrasebooks. These books provide a guide to pronunciation, useful vocabulary, but most importantly lists of useful phrases to help travellers negotiate their way around a country where they don't speak the language.
Anyone who has tried to communicate across the language divide without such a tool knows how valuable they are.
This web story explores how Chinese from the gold rush period onwards have used phrasebooks to help them find their way in Australia. You can compare examples of Cantonese-English phrasebooks from different eras; watch Museum volunteers Nick and David speak English using a gold-rush era phrasebook; learn a little about the lives of some of the people who owned these phrasebooks; and hear Mr Ng and Mr Leong discuss their experiences learning English in Australia and China in the early to mid-twentieth century.
This project is supported through funding from the Australian Government's Your Community Heritage Program.
