The Chinese dialect spoken in and around Guangzhou city (formerly Canton), and central and western Guangdong province.
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10answers
4k views
How to describe differences between Cantonese and Mandarin?
When I tell people I speak Cantonese I'm often asked, "What's the difference between that and Mandarin?". This inevitably leads to a very poor explanation that includes references to the differences ...
6
votes
2answers
131 views
How does foreign word transliteration work in the context of Cantonese vs Mandarin?
If I understand correctly, Cantonese sounds very different from Mandarin, despite being written in the same way (omitting some small differences, which are irrelevant for the question).
If it is the ...
5
votes
2answers
180 views
What's the difference between 咁 (gam3) and 噉 (gam2)?
What does "gam" mean in these two contexts, and why is a different character used in each?
Note 咁 used in this sentence
我睇見你坐喺梳化椅處， 唔停咁同張太太，何太太，王小姐佢哋傾偈。
(ngo5 tai2 gin3 nei5 co5 hai2 so1 ...
5
votes
2answers
139 views
Are there more special numerals like 廿?
In Hong Kong herbal tea shops, you will see a tea called "廿四味" (24 flavours)
(you will also hear "廿蚊" to mean "20 dollars" in small shops)
In this case 廿 (niàn or pán) has the meaning "20".
Are ...
5
votes
3answers
324 views
Is there an equivalent for the Cantonese phrase “Ng Goi”
The Cantonese phrase "Ng Goi" has many meanings;
"Excuse me"
"Thanks" (casual)
"Hey"
Does it have a 普通话 equivalent? And how can I write it in pinyin? Is it even possible?
4
votes
4answers
360 views
Written Cantonese input?
Although traditionally Cantonese speakers just use standard Chinese (mostly Traditional in my experience) for writing and reading, written Cantonese does exist as you can read about in this Wikipedia ...
4
votes
3answers
187 views
What is the difference between 做番 vs. 做返?
A friend (Mainland Chinese, living in Hong Kong) recently posted the following sentence on Facebook:
聖誕節買禮物?做番中國人啦!
As I had never seen the "做番" construction before, I asked if perhaps she had ...
4
votes
1answer
119 views
In Cantonese, what does 多到 (do1 dou3) mean?
In Cantonese, what does 多到 (do1 dou3) mean in this context?
你可以想像罪案多到幾咁嚴重嘞!
nei5 ho2-ji5 soeng2-zoeng6 zeoi6-on3 do1 dou3 gei2-gam3 jim4-zung6 laak3!
My guess is that the sentence ...
3
votes
1answer
327 views
What is the Cantonese equivalent for 你怎么样？
Colloquial Cantonese phrases often differ significantly from Mandarin, so I would be nervous to use 你怎么样 pronounced in Cantonese.
Is there a greeting of identical (or nearly identical) meaning in ...
3
votes
1answer
123 views
Tone of 竟 and 境 in Mandarin and Cantonese
竟 and 境 are both read ging2 in Cantonese, which usually corresponds to a third tone syllable in Mandarin (as is the case for 警, which is ging2 in Cantonese and jing3 in Mandarin).
However, both of ...
3
votes
2answers
175 views
Cantonese Romanization schemes
The Cantonese romanization scheme that I know is Yale Romanization, which to me makes the most sense and is the easiest to read of any that I've seen. It seems to give a very good idea of how to ...
3
votes
2answers
508 views
Characteristics of Northern and Southern accents
My first language is Cantonese. I learned Mandarin as a second language. Native speakers of Mandarin often understand me with no major issues. Of course, they recognize the Southern accents right ...
3
votes
1answer
76 views
馅饼 in Cantonese
In the Dim Sum place I usually go to (in the U.S), they call the pan-fried bun stuffed with Chinese chive and shrimp 韭菜馅饼. I came from Northern China and the shape and size of that bun are, by any ...
2
votes
2answers
145 views
Where can I find Cantonese poetry?
I would like to identify some Cantonese poetry to study, and I'm looking for the kind of poetry that follows a recognized style and is bound by certain rules (even Cantonese haiku or limericks would ...
2
votes
4answers
384 views
Written Cantonese Pronunciation
I recently attended a Cantonese reading class in HK. And discovered that pronounciation of the spoken form of written cantonese can be very different from normal speech.
The teacher was not able to ...
2
votes
1answer
196 views
Are Cantonese and Lao related?
I have a friend who is Lao and I've noticed that a lot of the same words in Lao and Cantonese sound the same. The grammar itself seem different, but the numbers are similar.
Is there much ...
2
votes
2answers
118 views
Resources for learning Cantonese
I'd like to learn Cantonese, does anyone know some good resources (books, websites) that provide a thorough introduction into the language? I know that the pronunciation is a lot harder than in ...
2
votes
2answers
115 views
Cantonese jyutping Tone 4 question “throat should be vibrating”
I was wondering whether anyone could help me distinguish how to pronounce tone 4 (mostly low flat) and tone 3 (mid flat).
I read in tone 4, you should feel your throat vibrate. Honestly, I have my ...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Japanese 気分転換 in Cantonese?
Is there an expression in Cantonese with roughly the same meaning as the Japanese 気分転換 (I guess it's 氣分轉換 in Chinese characters)?
I would include an English translation but something might get lost in ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
Using 變音 when reading Classical Chinese poetry in Cantonese
The poem 《登鸛雀樓》 (Climbing Stork Tower) has the final line 更上一層樓.
If I were to read this in Cantonese, would I pronounce the final character as lau4 (without 變音), or lau2 (with 變音)?
My guess would be ...
1
vote
3answers
117 views
Is 菜心 used in Mandarin?
Is the vegetable 菜心 (Choy Sum - English rendering of Cantonese) called 菜心 in Mandarin? Is it pronounced "cài xīn" or is it pronounced as it would be in Cantonese?
1
vote
2answers
147 views
Cantonese 咩 (me1) vs. 嗎 (maa1)
What is the difference between 咩 (me1) and 嗎 (maa1) in Cantonese? Are they always interchangeable? Example:
m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 me1? (You don't have to go to work)
1
vote
1answer
175 views
What website will speak Cantonese to me? [closed]
My parents are born in Hong Kong so I can speak Cantonese semi-fluently, although I cannot write.
I've been learning Mandarin and I find that my cantonese has been useful because if the word is used ...
1
vote
1answer
201 views
Is the cantonese expression 五福臨門 present in Mandarin too?
A recent question prompted me to look for expressions related to the Chinese New Year and, among them, I found one that particularly stroke me as interesting:
五福臨門 = according to the poster it ...
1
vote
1answer
124 views
Typing Yale Romanization
I learned Cantonese using Yale Romanization, but I'm unable to easily type it because of the accent marks representing the tones. Is there a quick and easy way to do this without using a special ...
0
votes
1answer
267 views
How are the words “engineering” or “engineer” translated in Cantonese? [closed]
I've been looking for the words "engineering" or "engineer" in Cantonese, and also in Mandarin, but less. Most of my family members describe them by their physical expectations, like "they make ...
