Language & Chinese Rap

[HeartzWAY17]

Thanks for sharing !!! Great video !!!

[RitmoNegocisto]

Inspirational and informative!!

[PJ3love]

I thought it was 900 million putonghua speakers?

[blasko88]

Vyan from Prosa is a cool guy

[watchonutube]

粵語rap得好聽多普通話始終好撈

[jdstanley91]

what is the song that plays through out the documentary? I really would like to own it

[Lootroq]

3:52 some gangsta ass cantonese rap right there

[foketesz]

6 10

woww

[busted192192]

I always found cantonese a smooth langauge since I watched them from HK dramas. But seriously I never knew how sexy canto rap is till i watched this video.

[LJonesy2]

i've heard mando rhyme, but it wasn't so good when i heard it lol

[uouottt123]

后面系珠江 正

[lucasduncan1981]

great post here. very eye opening. And great cho

[jcx3]

From a linguistics p.o.v, all (or most) Chinese "dialects" r languages. They r distinct from each other, in dat one who knows Mandarin will not understand Hakka if he/she has not learned it b4 (no mutual intelligibility).

Da govt has degraded all other Chinese languages to dialects. If u take a look at Hakka, it has its own dialects (variants in tone n certain words). How can there be a dialect of a dialect?

So speak ur own language, n 4 inter-communication, speak English =)

[jcx3]

P.S. in case u haven't realized, Mandarin works well as a unifying language in China, but English works for the world!

[toneshun]

yeah jcx3, i have a similar view too. I think people all gotta understand that the last thing China want is too much 'diversity', since 'unity' have been such a difficult task in past history. The idea of Chinese "Dialects" all originate from a supposed 'mother tongue' (which is supposed to originated between the yellow & long river back in the "Hsia" dynasty or even further), is a pure myth, IMO. It was probably invented thru the centuries to give the "Sons of the Dragon" a source of unity..

[toneshun]

...Politically, socially, culturally, lingually, etc. Like many things, the "Chinese" people pull it off pretty well~~ But always rmb the "QIN" dynasty struggle for unity, and you'll know that 'unity' in China come at a big, bloody, price tag. So while I know that the "Dialect" thing might most probably be an invention made for political purposes thru-out the eons, i, being from "Chinese" descent (though have leaved in america since i began my real formal education), have choose to be 'PC'~~

[TheCentralasian]

I think da government made them dialects on the basis that all other chinese languages have the same grammar in written form

[ChenStyleJohn]

Thanks for finding real artists who deeply care about, and think about, their art!

I like the idea that you may find different pieces of yourself by using different languages. Nice!

:-)

[olive126]

粤语是古汉语？？？

南越国境内的民族，大部份是属于古越族的土著居民，另有来自 中原 的数十万移民。

资料来源---维基百科。

[olive126]

粤语是古汉语？？？

赵佗（？－前137年），秦朝恒山郡真定县（今中国河北省正定县­）人，秦朝著名将领，南越国创建者。赵佗是南越国第一代王和皇帝­，前203年[1]至前137年在位，号称南越武王或南越武帝。

南越国由于其创立者赵佗和大部分官员均来源于中原，因此汉字成为­南越国的官方文字

[olive126]

粤语是古汉语？？？

南越国除了从中原迁移过来的数十万汉人使用古汉语外，本地的南越­、西瓯、骆越等土著居民大部分使用古越语，目前分布在东南亚和中­国南部的壮侗语系就被认为是古越语的直系后裔，  而现在分布在中国广东、广西两地的粤语则被认为保留了很多古越语­的成分。

[olive126]

粤语是古汉语？？？

古代汉语是与现代汉语相对而言的，它是古代汉族的群众语言。广义­的古代汉语的书面语有两个系统：一个是先秦口语为基础而形成的上­古汉语书面语及其后人用这种书面语写成的作品，也就是我们所说的­文言；另一个是六朝以后在北方方言的基础上形的古代白话。狭义的­的古代汉语书面语就是指文言。

[yanli42]

Cantonese sounds better,even i cannot speak...

[klsuperman]

And MC Jin

[vienna2046]

支持语言多样化。。

[beanryu]

support you

[mgorka2]

這部電影的說法是荒謬的！漢語是非常困難...

[414gbg]

say whaaat?

[mgorka2]

I do not understand what you're saying to me. What do you mean?

我不明白你說給我。你是什麼意思？

[414gbg]

Yeah I simply did not understand your cryptic lettering :]

這部電影的說法是荒謬的！漢語是非常困難

But now I do:

"This movie isridiculous, Chinese is very hard" or something?

[mgorka2]

lol . chinese word's [我不明白你說給我。你是什麼意思 etc. its very hard to learn] but if u wanna speak chinese its easy to learn. understand me ?XD

[414gbg]

我愛中國，我已經研究了這個語言來和我學習新的東西，每天！有一­個美麗的晚上，與誠摯的問候由瑞典。

;)

[mgorka2]

ok :) heh im bad in chinese :):D

[wantbbtdivorce]

ha, the way you speak so cute man

；）

[JOHNX909]

what guys what is the background music in this video? thx

[AeonTam]

I can't imagine how they rap in cantonese...it's so hard to pronounce I think...mandarin is way easier

[klsuperman]

in actually there are a lot of songs that rap in Cantonese in Hong Kong and very popular as well.

[lirbic]

HAHAHA!!! LOL!!! sux :P fags

[2pacSoljah]

保留古音最多的是广州话，粤语有九个声调，还带有入声字，太复杂­ ，掌握起来很困难，普通话简明扼要

[mgorka2]

中可以很容易理解，更難理解和寫些中文。

[klsuperman]

老兄，易學不等於實用呢！你試試比較用粵語和國語來譯譯外國名詞­就知道了，有很多字用國語根本找不到適合的音節。但用粵語拼音的­話不單選擇多，而且用字也可節省得多，例如James Bond，粵語譯作占士邦，國語好像譯作詹姆斯龐德，你看多累贅­又和原音不符

[dbadagna]

I can't think of a better use of Fulbright funds than this research. Thank you for sharing it with the world. Is this groundbreaking work going to be made into a full-length documentary?

[gunnar752]

nice, they got style.

[JOHNX909]

hey guys what is the name of the background music in this video when right after people gave their comment. thx.

[frostbittennecrosex]

你是指它的发音还是文法呢？

[Brettah31]

我是澳大利亚人。我不懂。

lol

[ghostboi]

damn whats that song at 6.05 anyone got it? is that fat b?

[Megazone23]

Wanted to add that I wish Cantonese was taught as much as Mandarin in the U.S. The language is too fun.

[Megazone23]

Cool piece and really informative. I'll be studying Mandarin in the fall and will hopefully be able to visit China within 2 years. Glad I watched this!

[miniskirt04]

李白的诗用粤语念，才押韵?

这人是在放屁吧

[DieAlptraume]

其实没错的，李白的诗用客家话念最押韵，粤语也还可以，普通话最­不适合，普通话是最不像中古汉语的。（晕，突然发现怎么又是你，­之前在锵锵那里见过了）

[miniskirt04]

太扯了，是你跟过来的吧~

看来得找个说粤语的人念下,感受感受才知道

[winstonzhao]

粤语好像的确是更接近古汉语

[miniskirt04]

你是指它的发音还是文法呢？

[winstonzhao]

发音。

[Alavide]

保留古音最多的是广州话，粤语有九个声调，还带有入声字，太复杂­，掌握起来很困难，普通话简明扼要，易学且丰富，所以后定北方话­为普通话普通话推广第一人—张颂老师在湖南卫视《天天向上》09­.03.06期-学说普通话里说的。

[spillaflo]

i like that. from SPILLA FLO

[joeca1030]

oh hell no, it's all about Beijing man! Can't FXXX with BJ. It's a wrap

[koinbouffier]

哟，苏菲，你怎不ask smacker了？？？我们都特别想知道哪位前门傻大姐最近近况­如何！！ 拿起你的话筒，叫上那位chinese小肥妞Mia Lee (i do apologise if she's pregnant~~~)，赶紧给我们录一段儿smacker的­专访～～～要不我们可不支持你了！！！

[maoii]

this is bullshit. Chinese language and culture are so deep and complex. It is different from English, in Chinese if you have never been taught how to write poems, or you don't have a high degree of literacy, you simply can't make up text with deep and meaningful words. Just by listening to those wannabes, and the way how they talk, their logics, it clear shows they are simply trying to copy the RAP style from America, rhyme means shit if the worlds are wrong, they are the typical BS talkers.

[koinbouffier]

Bravo~~~~~~(Ps: 那r 还是意大利版的，rolling sound~~~)

[DAUCUSCAROTATHEMOVIE]

The first guy from Hong Kong is so full of shit.

The ancient Chinese language is from pictures! What non-visual communication medium? what a loads of crap.

[sagger102]

whats is the song the cantonese rapper was rapping at 4:00. that song is so sick

[barryshawn]

It is really really hard to rap in cantonese due to there are 9 tones in cantonese. That mean the guy who is able to rap cantonese is really awesome

[koinbouffier]

9 tones r really annoying! Cut them into 4, see what happens!!!!!

[barryshawn]

How can you cut 9 tones to 4 tones for cantonese?

[BafflinBook]

Is Youtube unblocked already there??

[brianpwnsjustin]

music isn't about race so its nice to see hip hop culture going around

[ankiutanpytte]

music is still music. you don't HAVE TO understand it to listen to it. you can often feel what they're singing about anyway.

and hip hop is big in china. maybe not as big as pop. but there's still a lot of people listening to it! and i think the reason is because people want to get more meaningful lyrics, about other stuff than love and heartbreak (which most pop songs are about..)

[jondor11]

Languages and genres aside, I think the interesting thing is the overriding question of why Chinese youth are emulating black American culture. Has anyone done a study on the underlying reasons for the sub culture identification?

As usual another awesome video Danwei.

[logicandfact]

From my observation, there are, but very very very few teenagers are emulating black American culture. Rap is not at all popular.

[logicandfact]

how to say that, "commercial" rapper does not exist in china. There might be a few people enjoying it in the bars...but you can't even find a single chinese rap album in the CD stores.

[ciooooo]

actually no one like rap in China, most chinese kids like pop music instead of hip pop or noisy heavy metal stuff~

[jamesjiao]

which is very sad. Pop fails in a lot of aspects compared to heavy metal. Metal touches every day life a lot more than pop which deals mostly with fantasized worlds

[archonish]

does one have to be grammatically correct when rapping in Cantonese? or can one just sacrifice the grammar for the rhyme? kinda like ebonics in English rap...

[xml200]

It's great to have diversity, but we have to stand united as Chinese people.

[Fliegertigerin]

if they rap in Cantonese people from the rest of China might still buy it, because their dialect is supposed to be cool, as Hong Kong is a prosperous place. But if they use any other dialect (like Kunminghua) there are probably really not many outsiders going to listen to it

[logicandfact]

In the 80s, 90s, this is definitely true. People in other area of China learn Cantonese just like they learn English...so that they can find a better job....but now...maybe not

[MrYannc]

so stupid!you have no idea nothing

i'm not cantonese,but i love this language

[ffferol]

I really appreciate Sexy Beijing TV because I am very interested in China and all we have access to in books for the most part is Classical Ancient Chinese culture, which seems like is gone now. I want to know what is modern Chinese experience like, all over the country, different cities, so that I can know what to listen to and where to visit.

[agasuka]

It's much harder to rap in Cantonese than in Mandarin. Since Cantonese has 9 tones while Mandarin only has 4.

[chentiangemalc]

although a lot of modern Cantonese speaker seems to get a bit lazy with the tones

[Domexpo]

ABC JIN made a chinese hip hop album

[Fliegertigerin]

yeah, it's cool and i like it a lot. but anyways, Jin doesn't even speak mandarin so most Chinese don't understand him

[Domexpo]

it's mostly geared towards HK people. But he has done collabs with Leehom......but he sings in english or cantonese lol

[allenwhycheng]

in rap, one cant understand what the heck they are saying any ways... so i think either one would work as long as the music is good.

[TrippyJing]

That's not anywhere near a fair assessment of a genre. No one can understand "Smells Like Teen Spirit", but you don't see anyone saying the same things about rock.

[Oxiic]

Cantonese ftw

[itotallyforgot]

you have to be REALLY skillful to rap in cantonese without ur audience growing goosebumps

[yamandudacosta]

I really can´t understand how can one understand sung chinese.

One guy explained it a bit but still think it´s too hard. What happens to the tones?

[pandasuicides]

well done!!!

[LouisLeiYu]

at 4 minutes in, that Cantonese dude's lyric kicks ass (and seems to outshine all others)

[itotallyforgot]

totally agree.. whereas hk's Fama, for instance, is just a gimmick rather than true rap / hip hop

that cantonese dude sorta has a "taste" of mc yan

[Lootroq]

@LouisLeiYu Does anybody know what song that is? Dumdue is dope in general

[jonmahoney04]

Dude's goatee rocks.

[shiiuza]

awesome :)

I really love the 2nd Cantonese rap! Honestly, I've never heard Cantonese in my life. <33

[klsuperman]

it's hard to imagine that, don't you see the Hong Kong movie before?

[roadlesswandering]

I really enjoyed this vid. It showed the power of language and how personal language is. The last speaker especially. It's comfortable to use his native dialect, but it's more profitable to use Mandarin. I don't know how many people would understand my next statement, but it adds a whole new meaning to "talking white."If you don't understand that, please email me and don't harass me on this post. Thanks!

[turnbacktime]

"it adds a whole new meaning to talking white."

no it doesnt.

[m4usi]

just great!

[flamemebitch]

i'm fluent in cantonese and mandarin

and i have to agree cantonese is more skillful

[jali0874]

nice vid

[fomiz]

"shuo shen me, shuo shen me shen me shen me?"

LOL!

[vegetaowen]

expect the last guy who is keeping it real

[vegetaowen]

... they all seem to make up bull shit and extravegent excuses and yet no one mentions that it is easier to write songs, and freestyle in whatever language that is most natural to them

[jadeCeladon]

This would be really helpful to Rossie O'Donnal and her Ching chang incident.

Or to anyone who thinks Chinese are all the same.

[MEEVizm]

music is definitely universal. :)

[henrysinaga]

Thank god it's 2009 already, it's near the end of a decade and we can move on to another genre.

[jiaxiaobo]

好说, 好说 :)