Learn the basics of writing Cantonese
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| Hi! |
| Welcome to Introduction to Cantonese. |
| My name is Alisha and I'm joined by Jinho. |
| Hi everyone! I'm Jinho! |
| In this lesson you'll learn the basics of Cantonese writing. |
| Written Standard Chinese |
| Don't worry if you're not comfortable with the Chinese writing yet. You can always rely on the romanization system. This lesson just give you an overview of how the language is in its written form. |
| One very interesting point about Cantonese is that it used to be defined as just a spoken language. |
| As it's one of the major Chinese dialects, it uses the same written standard Chinese as all the other dialects. That's why some people look at some of our lessons and say that "Hey, it's the same as Mandarin!" Yes, we use the same writing, but the pronunciation, use of terms, and sometimes the construction are different in a very significant way. |
| As a colloquial language, Cantonese is non-standard and full of slang. There are also new Chinese characters that are unique to Cantonese. |
| Both the standard and slang-filled written texts are widely used in Hong Kong. Newspapers, officials, and documents use the standard form, while tabloids and forums use the colloquial form. Movie subtitles mostly use the standard form, but depending on the genre, sometimes you'll find subtitles in the colloquial form. |
| So very often you'll hear actors, hosts, or anchors say things that aren't exactly what's shown in the subtitles. That's just the difference between colloquial and written forms in Cantonese. If you say everything the same way it's written in the standard Chinese, it would sound very strange, as if you are reading from a poem. |
| So keep that in mind! |
| For example, we'd say 喺 (hai2) meaning "at," such as "at school" 喺學校 (hai2 hok6 haau6); but the same thing in writing is 在 (zoi6). Ao "at school" in writing becomes 在學校 (zoi6 hok6 haau6). |
| For your reference, we have a section dedicated to this topic on the website, including a reference sheet of the common substitutes for words in written and colloquial writings. Just look for "Written vs Spoken Cantonese" under Cantonese Resource. |
| You can also check out our advanced video series "Video Culture Class: Hong Kong Holidays." In that series, we have subtitles in written form, while the host is speaking in colloquial form, just like what you'd see on TV shows and movies. We'll link that at the end of this video. |
| Learn Chinese Characters |
| Chinese characters are not as difficult as they first appear. Once you're ready to learn, practice writing them again and again. |
| Yes, we all learned it that way. After knowing a certain number of Chinese characters, you'll become familiar with the building blocks that make the characters. By putting them in different combinations, you'll get the characters you need. |
| We've prepared practice sheets for 100 of the most commonly used characters on the "Learn Chinese Characters" section, including basic info such as meaning, pronunciation, radical, stroke count, and a stroke order demonstration. So make sure to check it out. |
| You can learn character by character, or choose the ones that already look familiar to you! Moreover, in most of our audio lessons, we provide Honzi Close-up PDF files. These show the Chinese characters introduced in the lesson, along with their practice sheets. |
| This is an excellent way to learn new words as well as to practice writing Chinese characters. |
| So remember to make use of all the resources provided on the site, and you'll be able to master Cantonese in no time! |
| The Chinese radicals |
| Speaking of Cantonese Resources, we recently added a section for learners who want to learn Chinese characters the way native speakers do. |
| That's right! When we were young, we learned Chinese characters by radicals. These are the building blocks of the Chinese characters. There are 214 Chinese Radicals in total. |
| Each radical reflects some common semantic or phonetic characteristic. For example, most characters that have the "grass" radical are related to plants and herbs. |
| For instance, 花 (faa1), "flower." 草 (cou2), "grass." 茶 (caa4), "tea." And 莓 (mui5), "berry." |
| Or, the characters that have the "rain" radical are related to rain or other weather conditions and phenomena. |
| Yes, 雨 (jyu5), "rain." 雲 (wan4), "cloud." 雪 (syut3), "snow." And 雷 (leoi4), "thunder." |
| By learning the radicals, you can easily associate a character with its meaning, or group them with relevant terms. This can help you memorize Chinese characters faster and more efficiently. |
| We also use radicals as the index for dictionaries. |
| While English dictionaries are arranged in alphabetical order, Chinese dictionaries are arranged in radicals, starting from the least stroke count. |
| For example, to search for the word 花 (faa1), "flower," first you find the "grass" radical in under the 3-strokes index. Then you count the extra strokes excluding the radical. In this case, there are 4 strokes. So under the "grass" + 4 strokes section, you'll be able to find the character 花 (faa1), "flower." |
| From that, you can find a detailed explanation about the character and its meanings. You'll also find vocabulary starting with this character, or in some dictionaries, its translation in other languages. |
| Right! So definitely check out the free Cantonese Resource on CantoneseClass101.com for more details. |
| In this lesson, we've covered the very basics of Cantonese writing. |
| You learned about the writing systems used in Hong Kong, the Chinese characters, and the radicals. |
| Don't forget to check out the Cantonese Resource page for the free resources that we talked about in this lesson. |
| In the next lesson, you'll be entering Cantonese boot camp, where you'll learn useful beginner phrases to get you speaking Cantonese right away! |
| See you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Bye! |
Comments
HideDid you like this video? Please leave us a comment!
Here you can find the Cantonese Resources mentioned in the video:
Written VS Spoken Cantonese
Video Culture Class: Hong Kong Holidays
Chinese Radical
Learn Chinese Characters
Hello Jayden,
Here're some links that might help:
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/lesson/cantonese-teachers-answer-your-questions-3-what-are-the-differences-between-cantonese-and-mandarin
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/lesson/cantonese-teachers-answer-your-questions-4-does-cantonese-use-the-same-characters-as-mandarin-chinese
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/lesson-library/advanced-audio-blog?disable_ssr=1
Sincerely,
Sybil
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Hi, are there any lesson pathways that teach primarily about written Cantonese? I would love to learn more about it and how to recognize the symbols for everyday use. Also, are the Cantonese and Mandarin written systems the same? Thanks for the awesome videos as always!
Hi Yaa,
We are glad that you liked this lesson given by Alisha and Jinho. 😄 Carry on!
Arnold
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Thank you Alisha and Jinho for teaching me about Chinese radicals.
Hi Hualani,
Thanks for your feedback! 😉
Ada
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Very well done. Thank you.👍
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for the question. 😉
Yes, Cantonese is a colloquial language, which is non-standard and full of slang. This is our spoken language in daily life. But for writing, newspapers, officials, and documents all use the standard form, whereas texting with friends use the colloquial form.
Ada
Team CantoneseClass101.com
I still do not fully understand :( cantonese SPEAKS in colloquial, but write in standard? or does cantonese speak both but mainly colloquial? i understand that subtitles use standard, but what does cantonese speak?
Hi Vicente,
Thank you very much for your comment. ❤️️ We are glad that it helps your learning. 😆
Ada
Team CantoneseClass101.com
That was really helpful in how to find the words using the radicals. At first I was scared in how Kanji is so difficult but now with that advice of the radicals I feel more confident in learning what's inportant.
Thank you
Hi Marc,
Thank you for your positive feedback on our lessons!
We hope to see you often at CantoneseClass101.com!
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Thank you Alisha and Jinho for making these videos, you do a great job, i'm learning a lot.
Hi, in the case of 'berry', what i heard is 'mui2' but i cannot find it on Google, just 'mui4'. Which one is right? I use OpenVanilla for Cantonese keyboard and it just offer 'mui4' for berry, not 'mui2'
Hi Crow,
Thank you for posting.
Glad to know that you're enjoying studying Cantonese Writing! Hope you can also teach your girlfriend :)
Here's one more related lesson for you to check out:
Cantonese Writing System
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/lesson/all-about-2-writing-system/
In case of any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team CantoneseClass101.com
I should probably be intimidated, but I'm actually far more excited to learn the written language.
My girlfriend doesn't know it so I'm sure I'll get a kick out of playfully lording the knowledge over her during our next trip.
Hello Stephanie,
Thank you for your good question.
The original grass radical is 艸. There should be a small space in the middle of this radical. But nowadays there are many ways to write it in Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong. Please check out the Chinese radical links of Cantoneseclass101.com. https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/chinese-radicals/
No.140 艸 艹 grass cou2 草花頭 (cou2 faa1 tau2)
Siuling
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Hi - I have a question about the grass radical - should the horizontal line be connected? Because the characters in the transcript show that there is a small space in the middle and that there are rather two horizontal lines with a stroke through each one.
Hello Andrew G,
Those are the very helpful pages for learning Chinese characters. Thank you for your hard work. ?
The Chinese Radicals
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/chinese-radicals/
The Basic Rules of Stroke Order
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/basic-rules-of-stroke-order/
Honzi Basics & Stroke Orders
Please click on a character to see its meaning, readings, and stroke order.
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/chinese-characters/
Cantonese Dictionary
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/cantonese-dictionary/
Jyutping Chart
https://www.cantoneseclass101.com/cantonese-alphabet/
Siuling
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Hello!
Where to find the notes/teaching materials on the radicals?
kind regards,
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for commenting! We are glad that you enjoyed the lesson! If you ever have any questions, please let us know!
Sincerely
Cristiane
Team CantoneseClass101.com