LurvJenny Posted April 16, 2010 at 09:48 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 09:48 AM My mandarin isn't all that great, but I've got many friends who are Cantonese. They've been teaching me the basics like bing go (Who/where), lok u (rain) etc etc. When we got to the food/fruits, I found two that stood out the most. I think its soo adorable. (I've just spelt it phonetically) Strawberry - see-tow-bei-lei KFC - gei-en-gai Does anyone else know more? I'd love to see what other cute words they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebhk Posted April 16, 2010 at 11:13 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 11:13 AM Yea, there are a lot of funny loan words in Cantonese. For example to fail - fei4 lou2 (the word also means fat man) number - lam1 baa2 file - faai1 lou2 store room - si6 do1 fong2 Mac Donalds - mak6 gei3 and many many more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LurvJenny Posted April 16, 2010 at 11:22 AM Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 11:22 AM Lol thanks Sebhk. I think you have just made my day. Hehe. You are lam1 baa2 ONE~ Hope you have a fab weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted April 16, 2010 at 01:43 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 01:43 PM Those are just transliterations of English words. There are Sinitic terms for all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LurvJenny Posted April 16, 2010 at 01:47 PM Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 01:47 PM Hi Hoffmann, Do you know the Sinitic terms for them? I'd be interested to know. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebhk Posted April 16, 2010 at 03:36 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 03:36 PM Those are just transliterations of English words. There are Sinitic terms for all of them. That is true. But what started as transliterations developed into something more in Hong Kong. All of the terms I mentioned have written representations, such as 冧巴 for lam1 baa2 (number), and many are used instead of the "correct" or original Chinese words in in spoken Cantonese. And some transliterated terms found their way into Mandarin as well and have become very widespread. For example: beer - be1 zau2 - 啤酒 (is there even a sinitic term for this?) bus - baa1 si2 - 巴士 LurvJenny, you can find some more loan words with written representations that are used in Hong Kong Cantonese on page 9 of this presentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted April 16, 2010 at 05:16 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 05:16 PM Blah. I shouldn't have said "all." It's impossible for foreign proper names and some products to have Sinitic terms. strawberry 草莓 fail 失敗 number 號數 file 檔案 stor(age) room 儲物室 bus 公車 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calibre2001 Posted April 16, 2010 at 10:52 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 at 10:52 PM (edited) 鬼鬼祟祟 - sneaky, discreet to the point of ppl thinking you are up to no good I don't know if it exists in mandarin but I always thought it sounds cute. Edited April 17, 2010 at 02:08 AM by calibre2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trien27 Posted April 17, 2010 at 12:30 AM Report Share Posted April 17, 2010 at 12:30 AM (edited) lok u (rain) It's 落雨 = "LOK YU" = to rain [verb]; raining [verb: present tense form], not 雨 = YU, rain [noun]. 鬼鬼祟祟 The Mandarin borrows from Cantonese, but take each character's pronunciation in Mandarin, "gui gui sei sei" Edited April 17, 2010 at 03:40 PM by roddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted April 17, 2010 at 12:40 AM Report Share Posted April 17, 2010 at 12:40 AM The Mandarin borrows from Cantonese, but take each character's pronunciation in Mandarin, "gui gui sei sei" ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE?? About the BORROWING and the PRONUNCIATION?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted April 17, 2010 at 01:22 AM Report Share Posted April 17, 2010 at 01:22 AM ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE?? Probably not. Besides, I've read too many of his posts to assume otherwise. By the way, both 雨 and "rain" can be verbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trien27 Posted April 17, 2010 at 03:33 PM Report Share Posted April 17, 2010 at 03:33 PM (edited) 鬼鬼祟祟 Fine. It's derived from Shanghainese, maybe? Everybody happy now? Source: http://www.shanghaining.com/forum/thread-187552-3-1.html Guess I'm wrong again: If you take 红楼梦 which seems to be the origin of it: The novel is written in the so-called guanhua 官话, the idiom of the magistrates, which is closer to vernacular rather than classical Chinese and helped establish the legitimacy of the vernacular idiom. Its author, Cao Xueqin, was well versed in Chinese poetry and in classical Chinese, having written tracts in the erudite semi-wenyan style. The novel's conversations are written in the Beijing Mandarin dialect, which was to become the basis of modern spoken Chinese, with influences from Nanjing-area Mandarin (where Cao's family lived in the early 1700s). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber#Language Edited April 17, 2010 at 03:58 PM by trien27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted April 17, 2010 at 03:41 PM Report Share Posted April 17, 2010 at 03:41 PM Trien, I've reverted your edits - please don't delete stuff which people have commented on, it makes the discussion impossible to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.