香港故事 - Cantonese (PART 1)

[christianintoronto]

廣東人講廣東話 推普機收聲  唔識講廣東話就返回鄉下

[Onbehaard]

@Chinastar85 and 100% ignorant.

[kchocm]

It amazes me all these so gang-ho pro Cantonese and against Putonhua activists, why so they put their arguments in English! I couldn't think of another word other than ridiculous. You want to jack up Cantonese, use it yourself first. You don't even speak it, can't put it up in a typed format, what right do you have to ask people to follow? Fool and nothing but fool.

[dawnnadir]

Fuck Mando!!! Oppose Mando !!!!

[kongsinchi1976]

@Chinastar85

Do you know why foreigners call Putonghwa "Mandarin"? Because even these foreigners know that Putonghwa is language of officials from Manchu. It is not language of people from Han.

[aaronljx]

i think cantonese is one of the hardest chinese dialect to get the tone right but it's worth the effort because the language is beautiful.

[umbdude]

Super interesting stuff here....

[BrotherOfLove84]

@chihlitiger

The academic was the easiest to understand. He didn't run his words together & even made frequent pauses.

[infinera06]

The white guy speaks decent Cantonese. But when he said "moon cake", I thought he was talking about an illness.

[oo0Alex0oo]

looks like 7 people dislike anything interesting or the outside world....lol

[jinfu413]

my family came from northern china, but i grew up in Guangzhou myself. even though we speak mandarin at home and at school they use mandarin to teach, i still prefer Cantonese, it's just way better in my opinion :D

[0212030]

咁似劉松仁 -_o

[cpssnorman]

個鬼佬好屈機....

[norisv]

Thank you so much for sharing this! :)

[jimmyjamesWang]

@chihlitiger, not it is NOT, the tonal structure of Mandarin is heavily influenced by Manchu, because they can not pronounce many of the complicated Han Chinese tones.

[eddielung31]

The real "Hanyu" had been long dead after the consolidation of the Qing empire, which was a non-Han race by themselves. The present "Potunghua" today is a mixture of the original tone of Northern tribes and the old "Hanyu". Linguists had long agreed that Cantonese resembles old "Hanyu" more than "Potunghua"

[didUhaveNorgazm]

the lady with the red jacket has an accent like the BBC. She's speaking Cantonese but if she were to speak Enlgish I think It would sounds like the BBC news.

[liahma123]

i always wonder how these so called cantonese experts obtain the "right pronunciation "of the chinese character.there wasn't any tape recorder in ancient time.who know what these word sound like???even there was a recorder, who can tell this is the official one. only the emperor had the right to say which pronunciation was correct.however there are so many dialects in china,i don't think he has time to do that

[trent8002003]

Can someone pls remind the male host to loosen up and smile just a little. Tell him it won't kill him. He's fluent and knowledgeable but just a pain to watch.

[go1997go]

@trent8002003 I agree with you!

[go1997go]

@trent8002003 I agree with you!!

[antisocialism]

奴隶制(共产主义)，奴隶主(共产党)拥有奴隶(人民)的制度。­奴隶(人民)须为奴隶主(共产党)干活，无报酬，且无人身自由。­法律确认奴隶为奴隶主的私有财产，共产主义跟奴隶制也一样，国家­所有财产归共产党。人民跟本不可能享受自己生产所得的回报。奴隶­主(共产党)对奴隶(人民)握有生杀予夺的权力，可随意奴役、杀­害。奴隶(人民)没有独立的人格，没有任何自由和权利。

[soiedechine]

In which channel did it boadcast ? What is the name of the emission ?

[antisocialism]

共产主义及社会主义是注定失败!现在全世界只有五个名字叫共产主­义国家的国家.有多少个正在搞资本主义呢?大家心照明白!在共产­国家的人民.个个做牛做马.共产党的幹部就大鱼大肉.当年毛泽东­的肚子那麽大.中国人民个个都骨瘦如柴. 大家心里就明白了.西方的共产主义和社会主义是不适合中国的!中­国共产党应该取消共党专政! 中国才有希望! 人权! 民主! 自由! 平等!

[hppynut]

you are really an anti-socialist. 我不清楚哪個體系是最好的，但我認為每一個體系都有利弊，或試你­說得對。但你知道嗎？美國的資本主義已經在倒退。

[antisocialism]

禽兽马克思曾经说资本主义最终会变成社会主义和共产主义！但很奇­怪！世界好像倒转了！社会主义和共产主义变成了资本主义！禽兽马­克思真的很失败！

[kienez]

China has over 5000 years history..

Mandarin has 800+ years of history with little traces back to the originality of many ancient chinese alphabet and culture..

Cantonese has over 2000+ history with traces back to the first emperor speaking the older Cantonese+Shanghainese dialect, poem reading and old cantonese culture..

Get the fact Mandarin has become a tool, for economies and wide acceptance in writing songs, but it is not a language of choices for many Chinese in China..

[kienez]

Here I wish for every dialect in China, please be proud of your language, write song in those language, like how Korea, HK Cantonese, Japan and Taiwan Hokkien if I'm not wrong, they all sound so beautiful.. Do not be ashamed of your dialect, you can make a different, do not let your culture die.. Cheers everyone.. Language reflect your culture, do not let your culture die =)

[emonypemony]

really? i thought mandirin had a longer histroy than canto?

[ywintube]

Cantonese is a mixed of ancient " Yayen" ( ancient Mandarin used during Zhou dynasty ~1024BC till Qin dynasty) and old Zhuang's dialet. It started when the 300,000 strong Qin soldiers stationed at Nanhai (old Canton), Guilin, and Xiangzhen( Nanning) intermixed with the local Yue women ( the Yue male/warriors were mostly killed in battles, some fled to mountains in northwest and south west of Guangxi where their descendants Zhuang live).

continue.....

[ywintube]

When the shortlived Qin dynasty collapsed, Zhao Tuo, the Qin commander at old Canton self proclaimed as king of

Nanyue kingdom ( his grandson's tomb is right at the city centre in Guangzhou, now a museum), but remained a self rule tributary state to the newly emerged Han dynasty until Han wudi took direct control 100 years later. It was during this 100 years rule of Nanyue kingdom that the proto Cantonese tribe as a subHan group took it shape.

continue.....

[ywintube]

While in the north, "Yanyen" the ancient Mandarin, intermixed with the northern dialets became old Mandarin and later influenced by other nomadic dialets, first the Xianbei, later the Mongolians/ Manchurian and simplified to become modern Mandarin of today.

[ywintube]

correction- typo error:

"Yayen" i/o

[ywintube]

Mandarin is a word created during the Qing dynasty for Court language ( or official language) by the west. It is actually termed "Hanyu" in Chinese used since the Han dynasty 2000 years ago till today, much simplified though.

[ywintube]

Mandarin is created by the west during Qing dynasty for Court language, which was used since the Han dynasty as Hanyu.

The first Cantonese King, Zhao Tuo, was a Qin military commander and accordingly he was from Hebei; he spoke ancient Mandarin in my opinion. His 2nd generation subjects Nanyue Kingdom perhaps spoke proto Cantonese (a mixed of ancient Yayen and Pre Zhuang dialet ) as his 300,000 strong Qin soldiers intermixed with the local Yue women( maternal ancestors of Zhuang ).

[BafflinBook]

@kienez It's true.Don't you know that many Malaysian Chinese are fluent in atleast 2 Chinese dialects.

[cheeko1014]

male host fucking dull, he speaks like a zombie...

[JaniceKSC]

Haha. This is interesting. I guess people who born in HK should watch this. Thank you for sharing =)

[ianmann64]

If u can tell me one single word that the male MC has uttered clearly, then u are a genius. Unfortunately, this guy is a uni prof and graduated from Yale & Cambridge.  Pity his students!

[mingloveta]

"Canton" was established for naming Guangzhou many many years ago. It gradually intends to mean Guangdong because of people's misuse. Now, Canton can mean both. We don't have to say Canton Province capital city. Just saying Canton its own now of course may lead confusion. We just need to tell if we mean the city or province. As we can see on Wiki's Guangzhou page(line 3), "The city is also known by an alternative English name, Canton." Show me evidences why Canton doesn't mean GZ.

[mingloveta]

I did that way before you did.

Canton may refer to:

1. Canton or Canton Province, an older English name of Guangdong, in the South of China. (say it simply, Guangdong)

2. Canton Province Capital City, an older English name of Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong (Guangzhou)

so do you really understand? #2 tells us Canton refers to Guangzhou. Canton means both Guangdong and Guangzhou, as what I said before. you said Canton couldn't mean Guangzhou; that's absolutely wrong!

[mingloveta]

omfg, did you go to the website I showed you?

if you still think Canton cannot be Guangzhou, then I just shut the eff up 'cause you're insane, I have no need to explain again.

clear up the spaces and read line 3 PLEASE!!!

h t tp : / / en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Guangzhou

[mingloveta]

your teacher is completely wrong.

[mingloveta]

you still think you're totally correct, so you've never listened to me seriously. I'm not making up some facts by myself, OK? Canton is Guangzhou when the the word "Canton" is used initially. Now, you can say Canton means both Guangzhou and Guangdong (I don't suggest saying so). of course I don't mix up Guangzhou and Guangdong; I'm clearer about the concepts than many other people.

[mingloveta]

I'm really tired of arguing against you, see en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Guangzhou (can't type web address on YouTube, fix the link and look at the third line when you click into that page). not everything in your mind must be true. when one doubts you, try to find some evidences to shut one up, not try to insist your point only came from your mind and with no support.

[mingloveta]

both Guangzhou and Canton mean 广州. Nowadays, if you say Canton is also 广东, it's okay, but it's really not supposed to be like this.

Canton was commonly used before the official name, Guangzhou, was established. Just like both Peking and Beijing mean 北京.

[mingloveta]

don't be rude saying I'm uninformed when you're not doing much research. Canton definitely means 广州 originally. but the meaning of the term has been being vague because of the improper use of people(like you). Cantonese means 广州话 too. again the meaning is vague now, that's why I put "standard" in front of "Cantonese" in my last comment. standard Cantonese is 广州话.

[mingloveta]

Guys, do your research on Wikipedia please(search 广州话，广东话 and 粤语)! Don't thumb down my previous comments because of ignorance!

[nc5sf11]

Is the female presenter an anchor or reporter? how come she speaks like reporting news!

[mingloveta]

the foreigner is correct: standard Cantonese should be 广州话，not 广东话

[AnimeMangaFan28]

Cantonese i understand

[syyang85]

lol. Hongkongese?

[sapui]

i thought is "HEA"

[qwertytrewqwer]

true that, and at the expense of offending any hakkas :P i have to sayb big up our aboriginal south chinese heritage

[chinkstah9683]

r you trying to diss MY southern chinese heritage or something?

[Raymasaki]

i love the sound of cantonese but its very hard

Mandarin is easyer for me

[Rab1975bit]

Cantonese is even hard for Cantonese speakers to pronounce properly. A lot of people in Hong Kong can't even speak Cantonese properly, it sounds hideous when they have this "lazy tongue" thing. They shorten vowels. Even TV presenters do that too these days.

[Raymasaki]

oh yeah i heard that, i don't feel to bad then, ive tried speaking cantonese to some Chinese & their like - What? :)

i have to repeat my self cause im not good

at it.

[Rab1975bit]

Sometimes Cantonese speakers find it hard to understand people with strong accents (I don't know if u do), I think it's probably because Cantonese is a tonal language, a slight change of tone can change the meaning of the word completely. Or simply because you were speaking to Non-Cantonese speaking Chinese.

[Rab1975bit]

A friend tried to speak Cantonese to me once, I genuinely didn't understand what she said because of the reason above, but she thought I was being anal or taking the piss out of her pronunciation.

The differences of the tones are so subtle sometimes it's hard for non-tonal language speakers to tell.

[Raymasaki]

Yes i do "strong accent" ?:)

i dont use that term i just say

i Suck at Cantonese. what bothers me

i have to Watch Hongkong films in Mandarin.

but also like hearing the Original language.

[chongtak]

I speak canto with a strong hakka accent, except with people who speak Toi San cantonese communication is quite hard sometimes.

[Raymasaki]

真 有意思

i would never be able to tell the diferance

i like cantonese but its hard.

i dont know how i sound to chinese

people, But when i speak it they have a smile

& sometimes laugh, wich is a good thing

[JKT84]

people do that with english too rab. it's that they "can't speak Cantonese properly" it's just a matter of how language evolves over time.

like how "going to" become "gonna" etc

of course i'm just a kwai lo trying to keep up on his chung man so don't take my word for it :)

[Rab1975bit]

Yes, But it has nothing to do with shortening things, That's not what I mean. It is NOT like how "going to" become "gonna" etc.

It's like in England, people pronounce words like "better" Be(t)'ah. Or "house" Ouse. (I know a lot of Americans think only the Cockneys do that).

[Rab1975bit]

Cantonese is a tonal language, it's hard to understand when it's not pronounced properly.

You can have an accent but words need to be pronounced well to make yourself understood.

Like the word "Wait" in Cantonese is Dung, NOT Dun.

"Year" is Neen, NOT Leen.

"Orange" is Tsaanhg NOT Tsaan.

It's nothing to do with how the language evolves, cos "working class" Cantonese speakers have been speaking like that forever.

[JKT84]

I personally don't really see much of a difference Rab. It's just a result of people becoming lazy (which occurs over time with any language) and shortening or altering a word so that that they can say more with less effort.

Even in english, no one says "train" with a "tuh" sound, they say it with a "chuh" sound (ie: "chrain").

Either way, it's a fascinating video about the evolution of the language and thankfully i get to return to HK this summer.

Anyone here studying at CityU?

[johnnycyyeung]

thanks for posting! interesting!!

[mojitoyan]

thank you for sharing!! it is really interesting!!

[bkcktcrisp]

Thanks for sharing :D love cantonese...