Ian_Lee Posted February 4, 2004 at 07:21 PM Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 at 07:21 PM Personally I am more susceptible to Mandarin with Taiwanese accent (not the minnanese kind). In the '60s and '70s, HK was under the onslaught of Taiwanese songs. Most people liked to hum the lyrics even though some couldn't understand the meaning. By the way, actually it is not that hard for Beijingers to learn Cantonese. Faye Wang and Leon Lai don't even speak fluent Cantonese but also sing popular Cantonese songs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 4, 2004 at 11:30 PM Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 at 11:30 PM Faye Wang and Leon Lai don't even speak fluent Cantonese but also sing popular Cantonese songs. I am afraid the above quote is not very true (their canto songs are popular). Personally I find 兒化韻 quite pretentious, and prefer not to have it. And I don't think Putonghua requires that much of it (CCTV presenters don't seem to roll their tongues that much). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted February 4, 2004 at 11:53 PM Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 at 11:53 PM Leon Lai doesn't speak fluent Cantonese? You must be kidding, he's the best/most intelligent speaker among the 4 kings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Lee Posted February 5, 2004 at 12:13 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 12:13 AM I think skylee means that Faye Wang speaks less than perfect Cantonese but can sing Cantopop. I don't know if Leon is the most intelligent among the 4 kings or not. But undeniably he has the Chinese virtue of humility. He is very humble and seldom shows off. But I would say Jackie Cheung or even Andy Lau sings better than Leon Lai while Aaron Kwok dances better than him. But Leon Lai has a lot of fans especially those 30-50 yrs old married female. Some Japanese fans even organized teams from Japan to cheer during Leon's concert in HK. Some even tried to learn Cantonese because they wanted to understand Leon's songs. Anyhow, I heard Leon was invited to be the singer in the opening ceremony in Olympics 2008 Beijing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:48 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:48 AM This is a very interesting turn of the discussion. Sorry that I have not made it very clear. What I meant is both Faye Wong and Leon Lai speak fluent Cantonese and their Canto songs are popular. Faye Wong may have a trace of accent, but Leon Lai's Cantonese is perfect HK Cantonese (I doubt if his Putonghua is as good). IMHO, Lai and Lau can act (you can't deny that Lau is a very good actor). Cheung sings like an angel. Kwok is good looking (but very sadly too short). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:50 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:50 AM I don't know if Leon is the most intelligent among the 4 kings or not. speaker as in intelligently talkative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Lee Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:54 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:54 AM Skylee: Isn't Leon a Beijing native? His first popular song in 1990 was "I came from Beijing". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:59 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 01:59 AM Born in Beijing, but moved to HK when he was four if I remember correctly. Wasn't Faye Wong born in Beijing too? Roddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:00 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:00 AM Seems so. But as far as I know he came to HK when he was very young. He also spent some time in Britain, I think. Am not really that interested in him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithsgj Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:03 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:03 AM Why, is he short as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:06 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:06 AM haha very intersting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:19 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 02:19 AM But Leon Lai has a lot of fans especially those 30-50 yrs old married female. I think it's too early to use that sentence on Leon. 20-40 yrs old would be about right. He was still red hot 10 or so years ago. Going back 10 years, his fans were between 10-30, which looks reasonable to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cavebear Posted February 5, 2004 at 04:03 AM Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 at 04:03 AM I would guess mandarin caries you further. Off course in HK Cantonese is more useful. Do not have to worry about the accent. Most people, even in Beijing, are not so sensitive about the accent. Chinese belongs to all who use it as a way of communication Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geek_frappa Posted February 6, 2004 at 04:32 AM Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 at 04:32 AM I would guess mandarin caries you further. Off course in HK Cantonese is more useful.Do not have to worry about the accent. Most people' date=' even in Beijing, are not so sensitive about the accent. Chinese belongs to all who use it as a way of communication[/quote'] mandarin opens some doors. cantonese opens other doors. don't be afraid to speak with your own accent. just watch the tones and you'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geek_frappa Posted February 6, 2004 at 04:35 AM Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 at 04:35 AM This is a very interesting turn of the discussion.Sorry that I have not made it very clear. What I meant is both Faye Wong and Leon Lai speak fluent Cantonese and their Canto songs are popular. Faye Wong may have a trace of accent' date=' but Leon Lai's Cantonese is perfect HK Cantonese (I doubt if his Putonghua is as good). IMHO, Lai and Lau can act (you can't deny that Lau is a very good actor). Cheung sings like an angel. Kwok is good looking (but very sadly too short).[/quote'] they're also good human beings, which is nice to see in people who are rich and famous... cheung's voice is so amazing. even as he gets older, he maintains the power and smoothness... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest timc18 Posted February 7, 2004 at 02:38 AM Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 at 02:38 AM Leon Lai's mandarin is GOOD. It has no cantonese accent at all. He speaks in a Taiwan mandarin accent (it seems most of Southern China's mandarin speakers speak in this accent, including HK's good mandarin speakers). Funny how he has no Beijing accent. Faye Wong on the other hand, has a very thick Beijing or northern china accent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Lee Posted February 9, 2004 at 11:58 PM Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 at 11:58 PM Guest: You are wrong. Leon Lai is more attractive to the 30-50 years old female group. Just yesterday a 48-yr old Taiwanese lady who has assets more than NT$10 billion indicated in public that she wishes to be the girl friend of Leon. Read: http://news.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/news/show_news.cgi?ct=entertain&type=entertain&date=2004-02-10&id=160691 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest timc18 Posted February 13, 2004 at 02:18 AM Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 at 02:18 AM Guest:You are wrong. Leon Lai is more attractive to the 30-50 years old female group. Just yesterday a 48-yr old Taiwanese lady who has assets more than NT$10 billion indicated in public that she wishes to be the girl friend of Leon. Read: http://news.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/news/show_news.cgi?ct=entertain&type=entertain&date=2004-02-10&id=160691 omg don't mention 許純美..she is the disgrace of taiwan and the whole of Taiwan is laughing at her. She has mental problems (seriously) but she thinks she's very popular because everyone is making a joke out of her. Phsychiatrists have said she has a certain mental disease (forgot which one) that makes her grasp on reality very weak. She is currently suing 吳宗憲 for 2 million NT$ (roughly 5.8million US$) for saying she has mental problems. The sad thing is, entertainment shows are asking her to go on their programs so they can grab higher tv ratings. Even the news follows her around because people think she's such a joke. Personally, I think she belongs in a mental institution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nothingness Posted March 6, 2004 at 01:46 AM Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 at 01:46 AM i think we should talk about which accent sounds better, american or british. i'd say american accent is better Bcoz it is more popular in the world and it is quite similar to the Beijing Dialect.. cant agree more without seeing the sufficient evidence... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Calvin_Sheng Posted March 9, 2004 at 02:57 AM Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 at 02:57 AM cantonese is only used in zhujiang delta, hk, and other OLD chinese communities abroad, and the trend is that mandarin will be more and more popular, due to the large and growing educated population in mainland china, and economic reasons that taiwan, singapore are also speaking mandarin. and as i know, many mainlanders think that taiwan mandarin is too SOFT, called niangniang(women)qiang(accent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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