Learn Chinese Lesson 1 (Cantonese)

[guguigugu]

ghost person, lol :D

[cerilsneer]

I'm just learning lol my brother in law runs a restraunt and i've started working there. I know thank you and hello and goodbye. It probably sounds like crap but the guys who work there seem to respect that I make an effort.

[quantumskillet]

gwai lo is slang but its used pretty commonly, I wouldn't go into a business meeting and call some one a gwai lo. Use Mei gwok yan, for you know when you want to say "americans" and use gwai lo when you want to inflect "honkeys"

[TwiCaCaX]

WTF....I didnt know someone actually WANT to learn cantonese hahahha xD But I like english more than my own language....so yah anyone can teach me the british accent?

[TheEXpothead]

wanna hear something funny, when I started learning alittle cantonese I listen

to a ladys recording and I followed the voice and didn't think about it

then I tried to speak alittle to one of my friends, friends and he like

"why do you speak like a woman" lol cuz I didn't realize I followed a woman voice at first

so I just tried to make it just as much like it as possible XD so embarrasing

[eye0715]

jeez why do u translate america literally. in Chinese we dont think america as a beautiful country,. its just for the sound. mei .

[KatieAliceBrandon]

actually no one says "nay hoh" in hong kong . it's too official

[marshiesan]

@KatieAliceBrandon Really? I say it pretty often when I'm greeting my relatives, haha. I'd be rude, otherwise. 

[Blackdragon1998ful]

I dont think you should add the latterly meaning, because it can confuse people.

[tinimissvn]

ne is same as mandarin :)

[05werewolf]

this is easier than mandarin....way easier!!!!

[kjeremiahamoss]

i more understand hakka than cantonese

[AiPing15]

i know how to said Taishanese but i can pernoun Cantonese but i totally could understand it.. :( help me god

[jin54363]

cantonese is so funny and cute ^_^

[hauntedcrysevp]

awsome thank u!

[BinsZack]

13 people are racist

[TheBiakko]

Nice lesson !

[mooinghow]

VERY VERY GOOD LINK!

[dothebekahagain]

My dialect! :D

[vivisquaree]

Thanks, this helps with my speech. >O<;; I need to speak canto more fluently to speak to my grandparents!

[BiggiePanda]

I lived in Hong Kong for years and rarely heard an american called "may gwohk yahn". The actual word we used for an american or really any white is "Gwai lo", which translate to ghost person.

[suziii120993]

@BiggiePanda that's because gwai lo is slang. it used to be offensive, but it's so common nowadays that everyone uses it.

[despondentblue]

@BiggiePanda It isn't polite to call white people "gwai lo".

[ParadiseRiceBowl]

@BiggiePanda Americans are may gwohk yahn ... White people are Gwai lo -- ghost because they are white. both are used based on what you are trying to say

[whiteserenity]

@BiggiePanda Hmm... is "bacsik yahn" (white people) not right? My parents always use that. xD

[debit256]

@BiggiePanda what about lo fan?

[advarcher]

@debit256 i lol'd (yao mou gao cho ah? )

[komatos]

@debit256 my grandparents told me what lo fan meant when i was a child...

[lordsunde]

@BiggiePanda hahaha

[Purality]

@BiggiePanda That's weird in mando we say mei guo ren. Are you sure gwai lo isn't just slang? Most teaching programs only teach a language in its most formal manner.

[benitezdzul]

@BiggiePanda question for do you know anything about the LO PAN temple and where is located and what kind of chinese do they speak there? =)

[mylifeforaiu83]

@BiggiePanda they are racists!

[MrNofanz]

its so easy because im conton lol

[MiikkaKipper]

I'm a native cantonese speaker, and it is true that it is a lot harder than mandarin but at the same time it is at a lot easier to recognize different symbols because of the wider range of pronunciation. For example the symbols 石 and 十 are pronounced in mandarin the exact same way "shi2" but in cantonese 石 is pronounced "sek", and 十 is pronounced "sup". Meaning even if you mess up the tone, the listener can still understand you vaguely.

[lam3e10]

Cantonese is way harder than mandarin that you're imagining.

[lordsunde]

I am american and i study mandarin and I find it much easier to recreate the sounds

[bigFanAlan]

@lordsunde I think Cantonese is easier than Mandarin

[CallMeDaddyHoe]

the difficulty of a language is relative to the learner, so people need to stop comparing the difficulty levels of mandarin and cantonese.

anyways, if you already speak mandarin, then cantonese shouldn't be that hard. the writing and grammar are almost identical. it's just the pronunciation you have to worry about.

[alancwwong]

I suggest those who want to learn Cantonese pronunciations, start to learn the first six tones (although we have 9). The first six are enough for beginners to master lots of pronunications

[sobefobik]

This seems very similar to Mandarin.

[lordsunde]

@sobefobik lmfao no

[MelanieCBH]

Yeah, I'm Cantonese and i say "lay" and "leh" instead of "nay" and "neh"

It's okay it's like a different tone, maybe region specific (? idk). If you're from Canton, China you would say it different from someone from Hong Kong. I also think that this lady sounds weird cuz she's talking too slowly.

[deathnotex101]

im cantonese, but i dont know much -.-

[heyheyyouxp]

@deathnotex101 how so ?

[deathnotex101]

@heyheyyouxp cuz i lived most of my life in US and UK?

[heyheyyouxp]

@deathnotex101 oh, well you could always learn more cantonese (:

[daliacr05]

THIS IS SO FUCKING DIFFICULT!

[amoureuxlilly]

I'm Cantonese and I don't really know my language so that's why I'm here. I'm comparing it to Mandarin and I find Cantonese easier. :x Only because I'm used to it...

[cangjieuser]

@TheBubble7 Why would you say that?

[flashatizer]

is it nay or lay? I've heard both.

[cangjieuser]

@flashatizer You mean the word 'you'? Both would work

But don't make the 'N' or 'L' sound too strong, or you will seem to be either not familiar enough with the language or you care too much about the pronunciation

[DkBieber1]

@flashatizer Yeah ikr, I'm canto I say "lay"

[17secret]

doh tzay!

[mooinghow]

Once you know how to speak mandarin cantonese is easy like shit

[KiraDNz]

@mooinghow That's actually false

[cangjieuser]

@mooinghow You know what?

Mandarin only got four tones:

flat, rise, twist, drop

without "p", "k", "t" endings

Cantonese got 6 tones:

high flat, high rise, middle flat, low flat, low rise, middle low flat

with "p", "k", "t" endings

So you're getting it wrong

[mooinghow]

@cangjieuser Nah. Doesn't go like that dude. Adding 2 more tone doesn't make one language harder. What i am saying is mandarin and cantonese have quite a numberof similar pronounciation and grammer. so it is easy. Like i manage to be quite fluent in cantonese now after short period of learning. Of course i am not extremely good at it yet.

[constipationnow]

ngoh touw-aa nay geh tao

[sunsunsatsat1]

Here is a useful link which shows you the correct Cantonese pronunciation but it can't be posted here. (don't know why)

So you may type "粵語審音配詞字庫" at "hk.yahoo.com". If yr computer doesn't have Chinese characters, then type "chinese character database" then click the first website, ie "粵語審音配詞字庫".

If you still can't reach the website, pls email me then I email back the link to you.

sunsunsatsat@yahoo.com.hk

[gwennroxcyzane]

do tze thank you for this :)

[DubCmusicTV]

Mandarin sucks!! Cantonese over everything!

[DubCmusicTV]

Sik Jor Faan Mei Ah!?!?

[frozenlaksa]

學會了3Q

[CanieLaura]

LOL this is not the 'real' cantonese... 'nay hoh mah' should be 'nay dim ar'...the video sounds like in a rather written form =.= and beautiful as well...'may' is so written! cantonese is never easy to learn! learn more and you'll find out how hard it actually is!!!

[cangjieuser]

@CanieLaura You're right

"LENG" is used to say "beautiful"

"MEI" is a written form

"MEI GWOK" is a translation for "America"

[luishomeroremohsiul]

this is easy aaand fuuuuuuuuuuuuuun... if youre tone deaf it can be very difficult, but since i have perfect pitch, learning this language will be a breeze :D

[amitlimbu]

POK kai

[PpsychoJOhnny]

diu lei low moe

[guadalupe2879]

thanks for posting...

[Eldinarcus]

America is not beautiful country, Americans make there own version of it to make Americans seem great like how they always do.

[kaz1995]

this is easier than mandarin.way easier.

[Pervertedwierd]

@kaz1995 of course it is, probably for you. If you hate mandarin, you might not be able to distinguish between mandarin and korena!!

[MetalHeart8787]

@kaz1995 uh NO its not i don't think so, & even most chinese speakers will tell you cantonese is harder.

alot of cantonese romanization (jyuping) is hard to read. Most Mandarin romanization (pinyin)

is very accurate.

[MissKeyMin]

@kaz1995

Are you kidding me?! D: I find mandarin pronunciation waaayyy easier D:

[SMGJohn]

@kaz1995 No Mandarin is MUCH easier. Trust me I am studying in Hong Kong and Cantonese much harder then Mandarin

[BAIYUE1]

@mitchielol

why Cantonese don't teach Cantonese language for Cantonese children in school?

[gaddemnots]

just visited hong kong in april so i got interested in chinese cantonese.. i know a little mandarin chinese and while viewing this, i thought, maybe they aren't that different? hehe. but of course, it is confusing. i also find myself translating and comparing the pronunciation of the cantonese words with mandarin, which is funny coz i'm not even that good in speaking mandarin.. :P oh well. i'm gonna stick here for a while.

anyway, thanks for uploading this video :)

[Mystogaan]

@gaddemnots Are you sure you know a little mandarin? bc they sound completely different =.=

[domlr]

Guys, come back to this when you have learnt for a bit and you'll see how much you have developed. You'll get this soon people =)

[domlr]

@mitchielol You're a dialect?

[JeromeLeong]

@mitchielol Dude, its the same thing. it sounds the same, but it depends on how people speak it. i used to say it Lei. i'm Cantonese too my surname is Liang.

[sunsunsatsat1]

@JeromeLeong

The pronunciation of the word "you" in Cantonese should be "nei" with "n" sound, like the word "man" should be "naam jan". The word "理" is the "l" sound "lei". If yr surname in Chinese is 梁", then with "l" sound. It is quite difficult for a foreigner to speak with a correct pronounciation.

[TheMrTonyton]

the meanings are way too literal

[eatmeaters]

THIS IS SO WRONG!!! its lei not nay

[sunsunsatsat1]

@eatmeaters

Pls note the word "你(you)"should pronounciate with "N" sound, ie. "nei" not "lei". If someone says it's "lei", that means he/she doesn't pronounciate "Cantonese" well. He/she has "懶音(lazy sound)"

Most people even their mother language are "Cantonese" always make mistakes like this. Some words like "你(you), 我(I or me), 牛(cow)... should have "N" sound.The Cantonese pronounciation of this video is excellent. I appreciated she can pronounciate the word "國" in standard level.

[JeromeLeong]

@sunsunsatsat1 Yea you are right. INFACT all of my Cantonese descent friend say " LEI" instead of "NEI"

[sunsunsatsat1]

@JeromeLeong

All yr friends say "lei" instead of "nei" because their teachers may not teach them Cantonese syllables or even teachers don't know the correct Cantonese pronunciation. Lots of Hong Kong people can't speak correct Cantonese words, especially youngsters because teachers will not teach Cantonese syllables in class.

BTW are you Malaysian or Singaporean?

[sunsunsatsat1]

@JeromeLeong

I want to send you a useful link which shows you the correct Cantonese pronunciation but it can't be posted here.

So you may type "粵語審音配詞字庫" at "hk.yahoo.com". If yr computer doesn't have Chinese characters, then type "chinese character database" then click the first website, ie "粵語審音配詞字庫".

[JeromeLeong]

@sunsunsatsat1 I want to perfect my mandarin first before i further onto cantonese, because i have fuzhounese friend and fujianese friend and those of not canto origin. of coz they dont speak canto but mandarin.

[sunsunsatsat1]

@JeromeLeong

It's easier to learn Potunghua (Mandarin). I guess you can speak Mandarin well. You're awesome you can speak lots of language and dialect. 

[sunsunsatsat1]

@JeromeLeong

Is it ok to link to the "粵語審音配詞字庫"?



[0403555555]

nay hou? i thought it was lei hou?

[MissusFingerBottom]

I know mandarin so this is pretty simple hehe! I am cantonese but I don't speak it but I understand a tiny bit. I need to learn it for work

[BAIYUE1]

@MissusFingerBottom

lost root!shame on you!

[MissusFingerBottom]

@BAIYUE1 fuck you, I speak both eng and mandarin, cantonese is my second mother tongue, so you can go shove that comment up your ass

[BAIYUE1]

@MissusFingerBottom

so,you are Mandarin or cantonese?

[TheIcefang]

This is easy I know half of these soo slow

[Kiasko]

Once you ditch the over complicated english grammer. Learning other languages are very easy to learn.

[ghayasbilbees]

Brilliant, Interesting & I am loving every bit of it :-)

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

精人出口, 笨人出手 - (zeng1 jan4 ceot1 hau2, ban6 jan4 ceot1 sau2) Smart ones say what needs to be done, and the dumb ones do it. Often said about gangsters taking orders from their bosses.

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

@ClassicTVMan1981X

The phonetics of the above phrase are: "jeng yun cheut hau, bun yun cheut sau."

[jimmyfallon01]

i thought hello was ni hao

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

@jimmyfallon01

That's the Mandarin (Hanyu Pinyin) romanization of "Nei Ho."

[stephkhoo]

@jimmyfallon01 that's mandarin. this is cantonese. they are different chinese dialects. :)

[jamiekorea1]

mandarin chinese is so much easier.

[BAIYUE1]

@jamiekorea1

Cantonese is interesting than Mandarin,because Cantonese has more tone than Mandarin.

[liuzhij5]

粤语确实比普通话难学！

[aznpeeprock]

there's so much lan (lazy) sounds in the pronunciation , like you in cantonese is lay not nay :o

[eaglesgogirl]

gosh this is hard and I speak mandarin (i can hear the sound similarities) but still the sounds are hard.

[gloriapoon2]

@eaglesgogirl Yeah it is hard for non native speakers like you because we have a lot of slangs!=p

[eaglesgogirl]

@gloriapoon2 yes, but I'm working on it slowly :) I'm learning Taiwanese also. My family is 1/2 Chinese 1/2 Taiwanese. All three dialects are very confusing at times :(

[october1632]

@eaglesgogirl i speak mandarin too and i agree with you. cos they have like different intonations

[eaglesgogirl]

@october1632 very true and Taiwanese has more that 4 tones that only the mandarins have. (sigh) too much bit it's fun to be multi-lingual :)

[Tonystarkes888]

whats with the you are not american, you need to know that when you go live in CHina ?? WTF this lesson sucks...

[apajalah88]

thank you!

[kimiyhwhyw]

fuck u all 'american' in cantonese actually sounds like 'mold country' u bunch of idiot

[lonewolf2444]

My friend speaks this!

[lonewolf2444]

Omg guys this is easy!!

[missmcLOVIN1301]

omgosh its so hard!!! i will get there.. hopefully =D

[nicollnick]

luckily i have chinese base. this is so much easier to learn

[heitung221]

America in Cantonese speak ' may gwohk ' . It is not mean beautiful country.

It is because of the sound "me" in "America" . !!!!!

[khalilasbro]

@heitung221 yes it does. 美国. That is the simplified version, but the traditional version ( what a native Cantonese speaker would use) would look like that. The writing system between Cantonese and Mandarin are basically the same, with Mandarin being the simple version. So, 美国人, means American, or person from the U.S.A. 美, stand alone means Beautiful, and 国 means Land or country. 人, means human/person.

[heitung221]

@khalilasbro 美 means beautiful. And Cantonese of the United States of America is 「美利堅合眾國」(Of course all people will say 美國.

But in fact, native Cantonese always say 靚 (leng3) instead of 美 (mei5). We use 美 in Putonghua(or Mandarin) and writing only.

[hard2pleaz]

i wish you would offer this for hokkien, it's amazing!

[joewizard100]

I want to learn cantonese so I can watch Jackie Chan's old movies and understand what they are saying without stupid dubbed voices.

[LEONGAKI]

iam not cantonese but i do speak cantonese....bcause i live at cantonese area since iam small...i hope can learn more dialeg ....

[LEONGAKI]

iam not cantonese but i do speak cantonese....bcause i live at cantonese area since iam small...

[Kakkoii260]

i wanna learn cantonese beacause i want to watch tvb without reading all the endlish subtiles

[ymf93216]

Nay is formally the correct one while Lay is what we call a "lazy pronunciation"

Since it is a bit strange to pronounce "N-" in cantonese,

so HK people usually pronounce "N-" sound as "L-"

So we'll say Lay in daily life because it's more casual

but we'll say Nay in oral exams, or marks will be deducted x_x

[smoovasafan]

Nay is the same thing as lay, nay is used by an older generation

[whodabestest]

how do you say asian in cantonese?

[yuping28]

Some english as in the word pronounce is wrong. e.g. The 'nay hoh mah' should be lay hou mah

[whodabestest]

@yuping28 yups! the work nay is another dialect. the word lay(you) is cantonese dialect

[jyjyericz]

Im lucky to have a father who's from China that can speak cantonese :D

[misrhymed]

STEPHEN CHOWWWW 8D

[brightnesses]

i cant find other parts for this.....can anybody help?

[RANDAL811]

'Hoh' or 'dim ah' ??

[BadBoyBoyzz]

LOL most of us here want to learn just to watch stephen chow's movies

[MoustacheMyMoustache]

Isn't Nay Hoh Ma rarely used?

[athy28]

@MoustacheMyMoustache

you are right

[MoustacheMyMoustache]

did bye bye come from cantonese?

[brettallenwong]

@MoustacheMyMoustache

No it came from english, alot of more recent chinese words can draw there roots from western origin. like saying hello is ha-low and bye is just bye or bye-bye if you want to be a little more serious.

[yukit91]

im a hongkongese who has chantonese as my mother tougue

the part teaching the country in the clip is just misleading

we do not mean that america is a beautiful country or china is a middle country

we translate amcerica as may gowk becasue "may" sounds like the amercia

and chung gowk is a abbrievation of people republic of china

[Trcls]

not in cantonese is also "bat" right?

[SylviaofBaltora]

@Trcls

Actually it is not, in spoken it has the "mh" sound and when reading from a book out loud it sounds like "dik" which is formal reading.

Also this video is kind of confusing to me, because I speak cantonese quite well, and have lived in Hong Kong, because in Hong Kong they pronounce "you", not as "Nay" but "leih", it has more of an "L" sound. There are a few other weird spots too but not too back, they will understand you, but you won't have a fluent accent.

[SylviaofBaltora]

@Trcls

Actually it is not, in spoken it has the "mh" sound and when reading from a book out loud it sounds like "dik" which is formal reading.

Also this video is kind of confusing to me, because I speak cantonese quite well, and have lived in Hong Kong, because in Hong Kong they pronounce "you", not as "Nay" but "leih", it has more of an "L" sound. There are a few other weird spots too but not too bad, they will understand you, but you won't have a fluent accent.

[mandypsycho]

@SylviaofBaltora

Hong Kong people pronounced "you" as "leih"

>>because nowadays many people can't pronounce "nay" 's "n" sound.

but both are understandable.

[sunsunsatsat1]

@SylviaofBaltora

It's because some HK people speak with "lazy accent" or say "lazy pronunciaton". It is worse and worse because teacher doesn't correct students if they speak with "lazy accent".

[ELFsPromiseToSuJu]

FOR XANDER! *airfist* HWAITING! *warcry*

[princejmye]

Oh man working in the chinese restraurent isnt gonna improve my cantonese stills, i've been there for 3 weeks and i learnt nothing, they do speak alot i think they are speaking marinian or cantonese im not sure, btw staying there for 3 weeks made my english skills went down, BUt still FOR STEPHEN CHOW!!!

[desktopproduction]

@princejmye so ur working in a chinese restaurant. U mean your in a restaurant which is in china or a restaurant for chinese food in some other country. Btw are u chinese or from where ? cause i love chinese people specially form Hong Kong !!!!!!

[princejmye]

@desktopproduction Im asian correct, but im not chinese, yes indeed im just started working in a chinese restaurant cooking as a cheif, no i do not work in china, im in australia just cooking for customers, i try to talk and see if they can teach me, they can talk english but very slow and very low level english skills, they talk in cantonese very fast and i couldnt caught up with them, all i learnt from them is mo means no LOL baaghagga

[Diana5189]

I have to learn cantonese

[pskully]

Nay hie mm hie johng gwohk yahn ah? ^^ Mhgoi~

[thomastmwc]

Stephen Chow! YES!

Jackie Chan...wtf...

[hohisuduku2]

....I think that the only word I can remember is "mm"

[ToolateFor85]

Rofl not rly hard o-O

[princejmye]

LOL i learn one thing today, MO mean no or something like that, they say do they need more carrot in Singapore noddle he say mo or something like that

[xxxaminakxxx]

HIHIHI :) I love this ♥ I'm born to be Canto.

[mosalto]

haha, very robotic

[twominutepenalty]

I wanna learn 'cause Imma move to Hong Kong (and not rely on english speakers).

[piercedchickk]

i prefer lei hoh

not nei

[redmum57]

It's too difficult for me !!and we have to learn KANJI. right?

[yuen5566]

nay lo may! duck gum sou ye hok gah!!!!

I was joking =]

[YoshieMiya06]

That'a awd! I am learning mandarin chinese and you say ni hao ma for how are you and ni hao for hello. These two languages are very close.

[sillygirlwing]

HA since when does "may gwohk" mean "beautiful country" ? "may" is just taken out from the MER sound from the work america:D