Is it possible to read cantonese by learning the Cantonese-only characters?

[RogerGe 7]

I can read mandarin fluently, and whenever I see some cantonese I always see a bunch of cantonese only characters like 唔, 係, 咗, 冇, etc. Is there a list of cantonese only characters? If I learn the mandarin equivalents of them, will I be able to understand written cantonese? I know there are lots of grammar differences, but would I be able to guess the general meaning? 

[Publius 1,622]

You mean like this?

Can't answer your other questions.

[陳德聰 1,465]

In some cases, yes. In others, no.

 

You can guess 打電話畀我 = 打电话给我 = 给我打电话

 

But can you get from 佢好肉酸 to 他很丑/恶心?

 

Basically you'll be out of luck with words that are simply different vocabulary, but learning the special characters will boost your comprehension quite a lot I would expect.

[lips 258]

8 hours ago, RogerGe said:

If I learn the mandarin equivalents of them, will I be able to understand written cantonese?

No.

 

Why do you want to read "written Cantonese"?

[Lu 3,191]

I'd think you'll still miss things, but it will boost understanding quite a bit. Some Cantonese-specific characters are very common ones.

[bryce1 10]

@Publius

That's a great list! Thanks! May I ask where you got it from?

[Publius 1,622]

@bryce1Sorry I don't remember. It's been a few years. Judging by the signature at the end though, it must be a long Weibo post by 廣州日報 (weibo.com/gzdaily).

 

Also useful for anyone learning Cantonese or simply trying to figure out a Cantonese word: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/