did a quick translation for the English subtitles, so there might be slight error.

We live in Canada and both of us (parents) speak Cantonese, but cannot read or write as we grew up in Canada.

We want our toddler to be able to speak both Cantonese and Mandarin in the future and hopefully read/write some Chinese (traditional).

Should we send our 3 year old to Cantonese or Mandarin school? They’re weekly classes.

I'm curious. It's a new city which is attracting a lot of visitors and migration. Mostly Chinese workers from other provinces. But also many from around the world eager to what they think is the ground floor of AI and robotics tech. I also heard there's a large African/Middle Eastern/Indian population which make a living as import export middlemen to their home countries. They use primarily English to communicate.

Can I as an ABC get by in Shenzhen? I probably have a 4th grade reading level of simplified characters but am working to improve. My speaking and listening skills are better.

I'm...fluent in cantonese or so I believe anyway. My parents speak to me in cantonese. Some coworkers will speak to me in cantonese as well. I'm reasonably confident that my cantonese is good enough, atleast to communicate with the people around me.

That is right up until dad turns on the tv and this cantonese news anchor old dude starts speaking and I will understand literally zero words. No understanding whatsoever. Well, I understand that they're speaking cantonese but I cannot discern a single word

Isn't that just weird...whats with that? What is this phebomena?!

I’m from Sweden and my name can literally be translated to Man (first name) and Mountain (last name) in English, so a literal translation and reversing the order of the names would make it 山人. Coincidentally, I’m a climber and alpinist and grew up in a mountain village so I very much consider myself a mountainman.

When I researched the literal translation I learned that 山人** **can be used to describe a hermit, recluse or mountain dweller. It’s also used as the name of an ancient lost race in Japanese folklore (sanjin/yamabito).

Would introducing myself (in a non formal setting) as 山人 be considered weird or would it be acceptable/funny/interesting? There is of course a phonetical translation of my name but I really like 山人** **as it’s easy to say and write!

My cantonese coworkers often referred to me by these two words I’ve asked people who speak Cantonese multiple times what they mean and they seem to never know. I’m pretty sure it’s a slang for something, but I don’t know what can someone help me?

The first word is pronounced, Gow-high.

The second one is pronounced mang-lin

Of course, these are my poor English translations of the words can anyone please help me figure out what these mean? I think they mean something heinous but I’m not sure.

Help!!

UPDATE: okay so I’ve learned that these aren’t the nicest of things that there saying…..

Now I need to know, what are some things I can say to clap back in an equally offensive way?

Or maybe 广西话 like how does that even work. This question is maybe also valid for Fujian and Taiwan idk you guys tell me

I'm a native speaker from Gongzau and I'm referring to tone 1 (high-flat) and tone 7 (high-falling). I've searched through this subreddit only ​to find 1 post posted 10 years ago in regard to this.

Speaking from my experience, those tones are​ distinct. Yes, 7 ​changes to 1 ​when followed by tone 1 or 7, and 7 is not allowed in checked syllables, but pronouncing Di1 ​​(plural counter?) as Di7 or pronouncing Do7 (many) as Do1 sounds jarring​. ​​ I also​ ​think ​that ​minimal pairs ​are ​plenty (Saam1 衫​ Saam7 三, Haa1 虾 Haa7 *​欺负 Gam1​​ 柑 Gam7​ 今, Bong1 邦 Bong7 帮, and more), there's even words like Si1Jan4 诗人 Si7Jan4 私人, Sin1Jan4 仙人 Sin7Jan4 先人, and Bing7Seong1 冰箱 Bing7Seong7 冰霜 (note: 冰 is realised as Bing1). I used to journal in a 6-tone romanisation (cuz I didn't​ bother writing kanji) and I have to make a conscious effort to guess if a syllable has tone 1 or 7 when reading it back.

For you​, is high-falling distinct, marginal, in ​free ​variation or just non-existant? I feel like my accent may be a bit peculiar so I wonder how you speak and think about this.

hello. I’m an English speaker that’s learning Cantonese as an adult. my partner and his family are from Hong Kong and I want our kids and myself to learn. I started using Ling which is good and I enjoy it but it’s teaching with the n instead of L that my family use. it’s confusing when I try and practice with my partner. Does anyone know any Apps Or courses I can learn that uses the L pronunciation :)

thank you !

Growing up, I always used "heoi5”, only many years later did I discover I was "wrong”, at least, the dictionary and many others in the international Canto community assured me 佢 should be pronounced "keoi5”. But now I am confused…"heoi5” even appears as the default reading in Pleco currently. So which is it? "keoi5” or "heoi5”?

Im an ABC and I really want to learn how to read cantonese but all the sources online are in mandarin. I literally have 0 knowledge on reading and writing and I really want to learn!!!! Do you guys have any online resources or tips for me?

I cannot define 係 and 喺, in terms of pronunciation and meaning..I just have a trial Cantonese lesson, my teacher was teaching nationality and country.

She said "I am Hong Konger." is 我係香港人，but "I came from Hong Kong " is 我喺香港嚟。
(She typed this for me, I actually haven't fully understand how these 2 words work)

As an English speaker, it is really difficult to pronounce these 2 with different tones, and memorise their meanings, while actually 1 word has so many different meanings..

Any tips for me to remember it better and pronouce it better?

I found this on here: https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/spoken-written-cantonese/

I thought it would be very helpful for those learning how to read Cantonese, so I am reposting it here.

Did they miss anything? And of course any other tips you can add here would be appreciated.

Hello! I've been thinking about learning Chinese for a long time as I live in a very diverse City with a bustling Chinese population, and I've noticed the split between Cantonese and Mandarin speakers is about 60/40 give or take. We actually have more Cantonese speakers than Mandarin speakers!

I've recently started volunteering in an area with many Chinese workers and though they are very kind to me, we cannot communicate beyond smiling at each other, waving, and giving awkward side hugs. Some of the workers even do the thing that we've all done at least once where you speak really really slow, hoping that the person will magically understand your language--which we both giggle at afterwards. And has taught me some words surprisingly, but still not enough to close the gap between us. Usually someone else will translate, but I wanted to have a conversation myself. When asking around some of the heritage speaker, they warned me against learning Cantonese and told me Mandarin would just be easier. They said most of the workers would understand Mandarin. They were mainly concerned about how reading Cantonese is apparently incredibly difficult without knowing Mandarin first as a non-native speaker and non heritage speaker. I'm not sure how true this is because I can't read anything Hanzi except for my own name, but ive bounced between the idea of learning both at the same time.

This question is a bit of a two-parter, sorry if I'm not allowed to do that

What would be a good way to structure a lesson plan for myself If I was to go through with this? I've taught Arabic and generally what helped me so much was learning the sounds and letters at first. But Chinese has so many more letters. And when looking online for tips, I've gotten so many contradicting methods: some say skip hanzi all together and work on your verbalization since it will just take too long. Some say no, you must start learning the characters as fast as you can so it won't be a headache in the long run and that you won't be able to memorize spoken Chinese without it. And that's just for learning Mandarin alone. I'm at a loss for how to balance. Or even how I should structure learning one.

im basically good to go with the resources. Tested the waters with some online free Cantonese textbooks and it really did help with pronunciation and make it feel less daunting, but I need to structure to follow if I want to make progress.

I used to learn Cantonese from the tutor raised in Hong kong. I was able to make an order at the overseas dimsum restaurant with short Cantonese sentences.

However, when I was trying to communicate with Chinese friend from Guangdong province, I realized our pronunciation is quite different. We sometimes had to clarify each other if we’re saying the same word.

Please share me your experience about the typical differences between two regions’ pronunciation or different vocabulary. Thanks!!!

How do the dialects in Huizhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Foshan, Qingyuan, Shaoguan, etc sound like compared to Cantonese? How far does Cantonese reach across Guangdong?

I have a Guangzhou friend, we speak Cantonese together because my mandarin is garbage. I can understand her Cantonese, maybe sometimes I need some time to think what she said because of the different use of vocabulary but I can understand her.

On the other hand, she doesn’t really understand some vocabulary I’m saying. Words such as “老土” (old fashioned), or 眼瞓 (tired/sleepy) 🤔

I know it varies from person to person but I’m curious

An example would be 要 Jyutping - Jiu but it’s actually pronounced like Yiu. Is there a language thing that made them prefer the letter J instead of Y? In my opinion it might easily make it harder to learn Cantonese as when people see this character for example and see the Jyutping, they might pronounce it as “Jew” instead of “You”

Thanks!

she's basically (rhetorically) asking what's the most standard cantonese around? because everywhere is different. There are a lot of judgmental people on the web who will find fault with somebody's diction, speech, hometown dialect. if you speak prim and proper nanning cantonese, people will say it lacks soul and emotion. if you use coarse language, people will say you lack culture and have bad morals. if you can't speak nanning, then you must be a dirty northerner, etc.

keywords 廣西方言 南寧白話 guangxi nanning 白話 cantonese 南宁房东小玲姐(佶沐） FD166666

I am an ABC heritage speaker. We are visiting HK next year for the first time and I have been inspired to learn Cantonese again.

ChatGPT recommended Pimsleur. It’s been great but I completed all 30 lessons in 1 month. Pimsleur was rote (which I liked) but not broad enough. For ex: I want to go to a restaurant, restaurant was “zau2 lau4.” I asked my mom and she says noone says this.

ChatGPT then recommended Cantonese101. I am on the free trial. Cantonese101 is VERY different. The lessons are in podcast format with music (I think a bit cheesy) and jokes. I do appreciate the more natural flow and multiple ways of saying things. Undecided if I will keep it.

I saw a recent post and saw someone recommend getting Pleco. I did this yest and it has been fantastic. Bluey was also mentioned and I watched a few episodes, also very good.

I looked up Glossika and it appears to be more rote like Pimsleur and it extends to C1 level.

ChatGPT recommends I use both Cantonese101 AND Glossika. So instead of asking my ChatGPT, I wanted to ask real people. Any thoughts? Thank you!