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I need help in writing a closing paragraph to my letter. What I need to write in cantonese is:

Please, don't forget to reply back my postcard and letter
I'm looking forward to get soon news from you.
Best regards, wish you good luck.

What I tried to do is to translate this using google but it rendered this result:

請不要忘記回复我的明信片和信件
我期待很快收到你的消息。
最好的問候，祝你好運。

Needless to say that I am uncertain if it is right grammatically speaking. To add some insight the recipient of this message is a male. Not sure if it will affect the translation.

Doing a quick research I've found this article which explains that written cantonese lacks of support in google and that is not very used even in Hong Kong (the place to which this letter is intended to be sent). Can somebody help me with this matter?. I really need to do this thing right so that my message can be understood clearly.

If possible an answer which can be accompanied by a formal version of my message and an informal version would help me the most, of course written in traditional chinese characters.

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an informal one:

Please, don't forget to reply back my postcard and letter

拜託．唔好唔記得回信

I'm looking forward to get soon news from you

我想早啲收到你嘅消息

Best regards, wish you good luck

祝安康

about a formal version, well, it's tricky. because, there're "canned" terms for correspondences in chinese, and these terms are in literary chinese.

if you google "尺牘用語", there're numerous pages. briefly, you must know who has superiority, you, or the receiver; then choose the appropriate opening & ending.

即覆為盼 - hope for your immediate reply

敬請臺安 - for equal status, roughly "wish you calm"

personally, i "write" colloquial cantonese, mixed with english words in email with my friends. these literary chinese terms are simply, "overkill" in context of cantonese.

edited, if the receiver is more important, only use the two below, previous suggestions are not appropriate.

祈請示覆 ~ pray for your reply

祈 kei4　請 ching2　示 si6　覆 fuk1

敬請鈞安 ~ wish you calm

敬 ging3　請 ching2　鈞 gwan1　安 on1

you may click the word to play the sound file :)

the dilemma is, these terms are not colloquial cantonese. i doubt that people would understand, and guess the correct characters when they hear your saying.

c'est la vie, the written chinese is different from the spoken chinese.

anyway, don't misuse "canned" terms for equal, or lower status; it's extremely rude.

last, you may use the 漢語多功能字庫 for learning cantonese pronunciation:

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/

or, if you're using mac os x, the text to speech function is quite good, have a try :)

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  • Thanks for the response, perhaps can you add below the phrases you had just written their pronunciation so I could practice it?. I have to say that in the case which I exposed the recipient has a higher hierarchy or as you mentioned upper level, then would these affect to the last two sentences in your answer?.
    – Chris Steinbeck Bell
    Aug 27, 2018 at 23:00
  • I am not using a mac os x but I'll give a try to the site you had just added. In fact I've just opened and it comes handy for my purposes so thanks for that. :)
    – Chris Steinbeck Bell
    Aug 28, 2018 at 1:02
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Cantonese speak in colloquial Cantonese and write in SWC (standard written Chinese) which is similar to Mandarin

Please, don't forget to reply back my postcard and letter

I'm looking forward to get soon news from you.

Best regards, wish you good luck.

~

SWC

請不要忘了回我的明信片和信 / 請勿忘記回覆 (more literary)

cing2 bat1 jiu3 mong4 liu5 wui4 ngo5 dik1 ming4 seon3 pin2 wo4 seon3 / cing2 mat6 mong4 gei1 wui4 fuk1

希望能早點收到你的消息

hei1 mong6 nang4 zou2 dim2 sau1 dou3 nei5 dik1 siu1 sik1

祝你好運

zuk1 nei5 hou2 wan6

Best regards already mean wish you good luck, it is redundant

~

Colloquial

請唔好唔記得回我嘅明信片同信/ 請勿忘記回覆

cing2 ng4 hou2 ng4 gei3 dak1 wui4 ngo5 ge3 ming4 seon3 pin2 tung4 seon3 / cing2 mat6 mong4 gei1 wui4 fuk1

希望能早啲收到你嘅消息

hei1 mong6 nang4 zou2 dim2 sau1 dou3 nei5 ge3 siu1 sik1

祝你好運

zuk1 nei5 hou2 wan6

It is unusual to write in Colloquial form. We only do it in casual setting, like gossip column or online short messages

  • SWC is a writing system. It can be read as Mandarin with Mandarin pinyin or read as Cantonese with Cantonese jyutping (or pinyin for any other dialect )

祝你好運

/zhu4 ni3 hao3 yun4/ (Mandarin pinyin)

/zuk1 nei5 hou2 wan6/ (Cantonese jyutping)

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  • Based in your response that would mean that the SWC you alluded has its own pronunciation not the pinyin which I'm familiar with. I hope to be understanding it right. The last sentence which you said was redundant probably was due emphasizing in the closure. From your answer I'm understanding that best regards has the same translation as wishing good luck which you wrote 祝你好運 and that would be juk neih hou wahn. Is that part correct?. For this reason I believe the answer can be greatly improved if includes a pronunciation below the sentences so I can understand better.Can you do that?
    – Chris Steinbeck Bell
    Aug 27, 2018 at 23:18
  • @Chris Steinbeck Bell SWC is a writing system, Please see my edition.
    – Tang Ho ♦
    Aug 27, 2018 at 23:40
  • Okay I understood that, but I was hoping that you could include the Cantonese jyutping to the other sentences in the upper and lower text boxes as well, including the colloquial form as is my desire to compare and learn. Maybe I'm asking too much but for me its more pedagogical. Thanks in advance!.
    – Chris Steinbeck Bell
    Aug 28, 2018 at 0:58

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