Learning to write cantonese
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Nhu
Learning to write cantonese
I really want to learn how to write Cantonese. Is there any book or other means of learning the strokes of these characters out there. If any of you can e-mail me at nqvu@yahoo.com I would appreciate it. Thanks.
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Kobo-Daishi
Re: Learning to write cantonese
Dear Nhu,
Cantonese characters are mostly no different from Mandarin characters. Only a few dialectal characters are different, usually with the addition of a mouth radical, or something.
Do you know any Chinese or do you speak a Chinese dialect?
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.
Cantonese characters are mostly no different from Mandarin characters. Only a few dialectal characters are different, usually with the addition of a mouth radical, or something.
Do you know any Chinese or do you speak a Chinese dialect?
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.
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Nhu
Re: Learning to write cantonese
: I am Vietnamese and I speak/write no chinese at all. I am very interested in learning and would appreciate any help anyone can give. Thanks.
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Kobo-Daishi
Re: Learning to write cantonese
Dear Nhu,
Where are you? The United States? Canada? The United Kingdom? France? Vietnam?
Do you speak Vietnamese?
Do you specifically want to learn Cantonese or will Mandarin do? Or, do you only want to know how to write in Chinese? There are a lot of resources for learning Mandarin; but, very little for learning Cantonese. Most of the books available for learning Cantonese only teach the spoken language and not the written. Do you have any friends who speak Cantonese?
Are you using a PC or a Mac? If a PC, what version of Windows?
If you have Windows and it is not enabled to read Chinese characters, you should consider adding the capability to view Chinese. This web-page has step by step instructions for installing the fonts and an Input Method Editor (IME) from Microsoft, for free:
http://www.chinapage.org/wwwfaq.html
There are two versions. A Big-5 encoding one for the traditional characters (used in Hong Kong and Taiwan) and a GB encoding one for the simplified characters (used in the People
Where are you? The United States? Canada? The United Kingdom? France? Vietnam?
Do you speak Vietnamese?
Do you specifically want to learn Cantonese or will Mandarin do? Or, do you only want to know how to write in Chinese? There are a lot of resources for learning Mandarin; but, very little for learning Cantonese. Most of the books available for learning Cantonese only teach the spoken language and not the written. Do you have any friends who speak Cantonese?
Are you using a PC or a Mac? If a PC, what version of Windows?
If you have Windows and it is not enabled to read Chinese characters, you should consider adding the capability to view Chinese. This web-page has step by step instructions for installing the fonts and an Input Method Editor (IME) from Microsoft, for free:
http://www.chinapage.org/wwwfaq.html
There are two versions. A Big-5 encoding one for the traditional characters (used in Hong Kong and Taiwan) and a GB encoding one for the simplified characters (used in the People
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Nhu
Re: Learning to write cantonese
To Kobo-Daishi,
I live in Houston, TX (USA). I can speak and write Vietnamese. I actually want to learn either (or better yet, both)Cantonese or Mandarin. My goal is to be able to speak and write Cantonese/Mandarin. I know this would require a lot of time but I am to willing to invest whatever it take to accomplish this. Thank you very much for the information you have given me. If you can find time to give any more info, please feel free to e-mail me at nqvu@yahoo.com. Again, thanks so much.
I live in Houston, TX (USA). I can speak and write Vietnamese. I actually want to learn either (or better yet, both)Cantonese or Mandarin. My goal is to be able to speak and write Cantonese/Mandarin. I know this would require a lot of time but I am to willing to invest whatever it take to accomplish this. Thank you very much for the information you have given me. If you can find time to give any more info, please feel free to e-mail me at nqvu@yahoo.com. Again, thanks so much.
-
Mak Zai (麥仔)
Re: Learning to write cantonese(Vietnamese and Cantonese sim
Hello Nhu,
How are you doing? My name is Michael. I'm also studying Cantonese and Mandarin. In the past I've studied some Vietnamese too. As you know in Vietnamese you have the Han-Viet (漢越), which are words that derived from Chinese. The pronunciation is still quite similar to the Chinese pronunciation. In the last two thousand years China has had a lot of influence on Vietnam.
That's why at one time Chinese characters were used until they romanized everything. Almost all Vietnamese surnames are of Chinese origin, as well as many of the everyday words you use.
Here are some names. Ly 黎(Man.li2) (Can.lai4)
Nguyen 阮 (Man.ruan3) (Can.yuen2) Tran 陳 (Man.chen2) (Can.tsan4) Truong 張 (Man.zhang1)
(Can.jeung1).
Here are a couple examples of everyday words.
police Canh Sat 警察 (M.jing3cha2) (C.ging2tsat8)
attack cong kich 攻擊 (M.gong1ji1/2) (C.gung1 gik1/7) customs hai quan 海關 (M.hai3guan1) (C.hoi2guan1) aim,goal muc dich 目的 (M.mu4di4)
(C.muk6/9dik1/7)
Besides these words you might know some idioms that they took over from Chinese, for example:
doc nhat vo nhi 獨一無二 (M.du2yi1wu2er4) (C.dok6/9yat/17mou4yi6) or bat tinh nhan su 不省人事 (M.bu4xing3ren2shi4) (C.bat1/7sing2yan4si6)
Cantonese and Vietnamese share many similarities.
You'll find Vietnamese resembles Cantonese much more than it does Mandarin. Maybe you should start with Cantonese first. Vietnamese has six tones and so does Cantonese if you don't add the (falling tone) and the 入聲(促聲) the choppy sounding words.
I was able to find a Han-Viet dictonary(漢越辭典) while visiting in HK once. It's published by the
商務印書館(Shang Wu Yin Shu Guan). They have also published a number of books about Cantonese and Mandarin. Inside the Han-Viet dictonary you can find the Vietnamese pronunciation for around seven thousand Chinese characters. If you can find one buy one. You already speak a tonal language, learning Cantonese and Mandarin shouldn't pose as abig problem. Get to know Chinese people, watch some HK movies in Cantonese. You can also try listening to Chinese music if you like it. There are many ways to learn
the language. try a couple of the above mentioned.
Take Care 保重
Michael 麥仔
: To Kobo-Daishi,
: I live in Houston, TX (USA). I can speak and write Vietnamese. I actually want to learn either (or better yet, both)Cantonese or Mandarin. My goal is to be able to speak and write Cantonese/Mandarin. I know this would require a lot of time but I am to willing to invest whatever it take to accomplish this. Thank you very much for the information you have given me. If you can find time to give any more info, please feel free to e-mail me at nqvu@yahoo.com. Again, thanks so much.
How are you doing? My name is Michael. I'm also studying Cantonese and Mandarin. In the past I've studied some Vietnamese too. As you know in Vietnamese you have the Han-Viet (漢越), which are words that derived from Chinese. The pronunciation is still quite similar to the Chinese pronunciation. In the last two thousand years China has had a lot of influence on Vietnam.
That's why at one time Chinese characters were used until they romanized everything. Almost all Vietnamese surnames are of Chinese origin, as well as many of the everyday words you use.
Here are some names. Ly 黎(Man.li2) (Can.lai4)
Nguyen 阮 (Man.ruan3) (Can.yuen2) Tran 陳 (Man.chen2) (Can.tsan4) Truong 張 (Man.zhang1)
(Can.jeung1).
Here are a couple examples of everyday words.
police Canh Sat 警察 (M.jing3cha2) (C.ging2tsat8)
attack cong kich 攻擊 (M.gong1ji1/2) (C.gung1 gik1/7) customs hai quan 海關 (M.hai3guan1) (C.hoi2guan1) aim,goal muc dich 目的 (M.mu4di4)
(C.muk6/9dik1/7)
Besides these words you might know some idioms that they took over from Chinese, for example:
doc nhat vo nhi 獨一無二 (M.du2yi1wu2er4) (C.dok6/9yat/17mou4yi6) or bat tinh nhan su 不省人事 (M.bu4xing3ren2shi4) (C.bat1/7sing2yan4si6)
Cantonese and Vietnamese share many similarities.
You'll find Vietnamese resembles Cantonese much more than it does Mandarin. Maybe you should start with Cantonese first. Vietnamese has six tones and so does Cantonese if you don't add the (falling tone) and the 入聲(促聲) the choppy sounding words.
I was able to find a Han-Viet dictonary(漢越辭典) while visiting in HK once. It's published by the
商務印書館(Shang Wu Yin Shu Guan). They have also published a number of books about Cantonese and Mandarin. Inside the Han-Viet dictonary you can find the Vietnamese pronunciation for around seven thousand Chinese characters. If you can find one buy one. You already speak a tonal language, learning Cantonese and Mandarin shouldn't pose as abig problem. Get to know Chinese people, watch some HK movies in Cantonese. You can also try listening to Chinese music if you like it. There are many ways to learn
the language. try a couple of the above mentioned.
Take Care 保重
Michael 麥仔
: To Kobo-Daishi,
: I live in Houston, TX (USA). I can speak and write Vietnamese. I actually want to learn either (or better yet, both)Cantonese or Mandarin. My goal is to be able to speak and write Cantonese/Mandarin. I know this would require a lot of time but I am to willing to invest whatever it take to accomplish this. Thank you very much for the information you have given me. If you can find time to give any more info, please feel free to e-mail me at nqvu@yahoo.com. Again, thanks so much.
-
Nhu
Re: Learning to write cantonese(Vietnamese and Cantonese sim
Hello Michael,
Thank you for the pointers. I realized that there are some similarities between Vietnamese and Cantonese (this is expected because of the interwoven histories of the two countries). However,I did not know that some of the last name you mentioned such as Nguyen is also a chinese last name. If you know of any way I can get a hold of a Han-Viet dictionary (without going to HK), please let me know. I do listen to some chinese music and my favorite actor is Cheung Wai Kin. It would be nice if I can learn enough Cantonese/Mandarin to understand his music. Please keep in touch. Nice talking to you.
Thank you for the pointers. I realized that there are some similarities between Vietnamese and Cantonese (this is expected because of the interwoven histories of the two countries). However,I did not know that some of the last name you mentioned such as Nguyen is also a chinese last name. If you know of any way I can get a hold of a Han-Viet dictionary (without going to HK), please let me know. I do listen to some chinese music and my favorite actor is Cheung Wai Kin. It would be nice if I can learn enough Cantonese/Mandarin to understand his music. Please keep in touch. Nice talking to you.
-
Kobo-Daishi
Re: Learning to write cantonese(Vietnamese and Cantonese sim
Dear Nhu,
Yes, all of the names of Vietnamese that I’ve seen so far have been from Chinese surnames even Nguyen. I work with a lot of people from Vietnam, most of them are ethnic Han, a few mixed Han/Vietnamese and a few Vietnamese. The funny thing is that the non-Han Vietnamese here all have the surname, Nguyen.
Other Vietnamese names and their Chinese counterparts are:
Ly 李 (Mand: li3, Cant: lei5; plum) Li, Lee
Vuong 王 (Mand: wang2, Cant: wong4; king) Wang, Wong
Vo 武 (Mand: wu3, Cant: mou5; martial/military) Wu, Mo
Lam 林 (Mand: lin2, Cant: lam4; woods/forest) Lin, Lam, Lum, Lim
Vang 黃 (Mand: huang2, Cant: wong4; sulfur/yellow) Huang, Wong
Truong 張 (Mand: zhang1, Cant: zoeng1; (a measure word)/open up) Chang, Cheung
Tran 陳 (Mand: chen2, Cant: can4; arrange/exhibit/narrate/tell/old/stale/to state/to display/to explain) Chen, Chan, Chin
Ngo 吳 (Mand: wu2, Cant: ng4; province of Jiangsu/ancient kingdom) Wu, Ng, Eng
Han 韓 (Mand: han2, Cant: hon4; (former) Chinese state/the Korean ethnic group) Han
Kim 金 (Mand: jin1, Cant: gam1; metal/money/gold) Jin, Kum, Kim
Many more. Too numerous to list. The same applies for Korean surnames. Japanese surnames are a different matter even though they use Chinese characters.
Incidentally, My surname is Lee. It’s supposed to be the biggest surname in China and the world.
I hope your computer is able to view the Chinese encoding. This is Big-5 encoding.
There was a web-site by a university professor who was working on a book where he was going to list Chinese characters with their pronunciation in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and most of the major Chinese dialects. He posted some sample chapters, then, he stopped. The chapters only had the Mandarin pronunciation, and, he was working on the rest. This was a few years ago.
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.
Yes, all of the names of Vietnamese that I’ve seen so far have been from Chinese surnames even Nguyen. I work with a lot of people from Vietnam, most of them are ethnic Han, a few mixed Han/Vietnamese and a few Vietnamese. The funny thing is that the non-Han Vietnamese here all have the surname, Nguyen.
Other Vietnamese names and their Chinese counterparts are:
Ly 李 (Mand: li3, Cant: lei5; plum) Li, Lee
Vuong 王 (Mand: wang2, Cant: wong4; king) Wang, Wong
Vo 武 (Mand: wu3, Cant: mou5; martial/military) Wu, Mo
Lam 林 (Mand: lin2, Cant: lam4; woods/forest) Lin, Lam, Lum, Lim
Vang 黃 (Mand: huang2, Cant: wong4; sulfur/yellow) Huang, Wong
Truong 張 (Mand: zhang1, Cant: zoeng1; (a measure word)/open up) Chang, Cheung
Tran 陳 (Mand: chen2, Cant: can4; arrange/exhibit/narrate/tell/old/stale/to state/to display/to explain) Chen, Chan, Chin
Ngo 吳 (Mand: wu2, Cant: ng4; province of Jiangsu/ancient kingdom) Wu, Ng, Eng
Han 韓 (Mand: han2, Cant: hon4; (former) Chinese state/the Korean ethnic group) Han
Kim 金 (Mand: jin1, Cant: gam1; metal/money/gold) Jin, Kum, Kim
Many more. Too numerous to list. The same applies for Korean surnames. Japanese surnames are a different matter even though they use Chinese characters.
Incidentally, My surname is Lee. It’s supposed to be the biggest surname in China and the world.
I hope your computer is able to view the Chinese encoding. This is Big-5 encoding.
There was a web-site by a university professor who was working on a book where he was going to list Chinese characters with their pronunciation in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and most of the major Chinese dialects. He posted some sample chapters, then, he stopped. The chapters only had the Mandarin pronunciation, and, he was working on the rest. This was a few years ago.
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.
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Mak Zai (麥仔)
Re: Learning to write cantonese(Vietnamese and Cantonese sim
Hello Nhu,
I haven't seen that dictionary here in Vancouver. Vancouver has a lot of Vietnamese and Chinese. I searched for that kind of dictionary very long and finally found one in Hong Kong. I doubt that you'll be able to find that book, outside of Asia.
Perhaps you would be able to find it in San Jose.
I think there's supposed to be a large Vietnamese community there. I lived in Germany for a number of years. Actually that's where I started to learn Chinese. I would borrow music videos in Cantonese and Mandarin, and listen to the pronunciation of the characters. At that time I couldn't find any materials for learning Cantonese. I would write the characters down on paper and the way I thought they were pronounced.
Later I went to Hong Kong where I found tons of dictionaries and study books. Actually you can find just about as much in Vancouver, Canada as you can in Hong Kong. Hope you can find that dictionary somewhere's in the States.
Michael Mak Zai
: Hello Michael,
: Thank you for the pointers. I realized that there are some similarities between Vietnamese and Cantonese (this is expected because of the interwoven histories of the two countries). However,I did not know that some of the last name you mentioned such as Nguyen is also a chinese last name. If you know of any way I can get a hold of a Han-Viet dictionary (without going to HK), please let me know. I do listen to some chinese music and my favorite actor is Cheung Wai Kin. It would be nice if I can learn enough Cantonese/Mandarin to understand his music. Please keep in touch. Nice talking to you.
I haven't seen that dictionary here in Vancouver. Vancouver has a lot of Vietnamese and Chinese. I searched for that kind of dictionary very long and finally found one in Hong Kong. I doubt that you'll be able to find that book, outside of Asia.
Perhaps you would be able to find it in San Jose.
I think there's supposed to be a large Vietnamese community there. I lived in Germany for a number of years. Actually that's where I started to learn Chinese. I would borrow music videos in Cantonese and Mandarin, and listen to the pronunciation of the characters. At that time I couldn't find any materials for learning Cantonese. I would write the characters down on paper and the way I thought they were pronounced.
Later I went to Hong Kong where I found tons of dictionaries and study books. Actually you can find just about as much in Vancouver, Canada as you can in Hong Kong. Hope you can find that dictionary somewhere's in the States.
Michael Mak Zai
: Hello Michael,
: Thank you for the pointers. I realized that there are some similarities between Vietnamese and Cantonese (this is expected because of the interwoven histories of the two countries). However,I did not know that some of the last name you mentioned such as Nguyen is also a chinese last name. If you know of any way I can get a hold of a Han-Viet dictionary (without going to HK), please let me know. I do listen to some chinese music and my favorite actor is Cheung Wai Kin. It would be nice if I can learn enough Cantonese/Mandarin to understand his music. Please keep in touch. Nice talking to you.
-
Mak Zai (麥仔)
Re: Learning to write cantonese(Vietnamese and Cantonese sim
Hello Kobo-Daishi,
I see that you also know a little about Vietnamese. I really enjoy studying languages. Looks like you have the same interest. 我想問吓.你中文嘅教乜嘢? 你嘅名好似係日本嘅名.我噚日初次瀏覽呢個網站.我已經睇過好多嘅message.我好似話過你係講台山話而你係美國華裔.啱唔啱?我唔係唐人但係我對廣東話好有興趣啦.我將喺今個月去廣州中山大學深造.希望啲中文可以進一大步.得閒時,多啲傾偈.
麥仔
: Dear Nhu,
: Yes, all of the names of Vietnamese that I’ve seen so far have been from Chinese surnames even Nguyen. I work with a lot of people from Vietnam, most of them are ethnic Han, a few mixed Han/Vietnamese and a few Vietnamese. The funny thing is that the non-Han Vietnamese here all have the surname, Nguyen.
: Other Vietnamese names and their Chinese counterparts are:
: Ly 李 (Mand: li3, Cant: lei5; plum) Li, Lee
: Vuong 王 (Mand: wang2, Cant: wong4; king) Wang, Wong
: Vo 武 (Mand: wu3, Cant: mou5; martial/military) Wu, Mo
: Lam 林 (Mand: lin2, Cant: lam4; woods/forest) Lin, Lam, Lum, Lim
: Vang 黃 (Mand: huang2, Cant: wong4; sulfur/yellow) Huang, Wong
: Truong 張 (Mand: zhang1, Cant: zoeng1; (a measure word)/open up) Chang, Cheung
: Tran 陳 (Mand: chen2, Cant: can4; arrange/exhibit/narrate/tell/old/stale/to state/to display/to explain) Chen, Chan, Chin
: Ngo 吳 (Mand: wu2, Cant: ng4; province of Jiangsu/ancient kingdom) Wu, Ng, Eng
: Han 韓 (Mand: han2, Cant: hon4; (former) Chinese state/the Korean ethnic group) Han
: Kim 金 (Mand: jin1, Cant: gam1; metal/money/gold) Jin, Kum, Kim
: Many more. Too numerous to list. The same applies for Korean surnames. Japanese surnames are a different matter even though they use Chinese characters.
: Incidentally, My surname is Lee. It’s supposed to be the biggest surname in China and the world.
: I hope your computer is able to view the Chinese encoding. This is Big-5 encoding.
: There was a web-site by a university professor who was working on a book where he was going to list Chinese characters with their pronunciation in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and most of the major Chinese dialects. He posted some sample chapters, then, he stopped. The chapters only had the Mandarin pronunciation, and, he was working on the rest. This was a few years ago.
: Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.
I see that you also know a little about Vietnamese. I really enjoy studying languages. Looks like you have the same interest. 我想問吓.你中文嘅教乜嘢? 你嘅名好似係日本嘅名.我噚日初次瀏覽呢個網站.我已經睇過好多嘅message.我好似話過你係講台山話而你係美國華裔.啱唔啱?我唔係唐人但係我對廣東話好有興趣啦.我將喺今個月去廣州中山大學深造.希望啲中文可以進一大步.得閒時,多啲傾偈.
麥仔
: Dear Nhu,
: Yes, all of the names of Vietnamese that I’ve seen so far have been from Chinese surnames even Nguyen. I work with a lot of people from Vietnam, most of them are ethnic Han, a few mixed Han/Vietnamese and a few Vietnamese. The funny thing is that the non-Han Vietnamese here all have the surname, Nguyen.
: Other Vietnamese names and their Chinese counterparts are:
: Ly 李 (Mand: li3, Cant: lei5; plum) Li, Lee
: Vuong 王 (Mand: wang2, Cant: wong4; king) Wang, Wong
: Vo 武 (Mand: wu3, Cant: mou5; martial/military) Wu, Mo
: Lam 林 (Mand: lin2, Cant: lam4; woods/forest) Lin, Lam, Lum, Lim
: Vang 黃 (Mand: huang2, Cant: wong4; sulfur/yellow) Huang, Wong
: Truong 張 (Mand: zhang1, Cant: zoeng1; (a measure word)/open up) Chang, Cheung
: Tran 陳 (Mand: chen2, Cant: can4; arrange/exhibit/narrate/tell/old/stale/to state/to display/to explain) Chen, Chan, Chin
: Ngo 吳 (Mand: wu2, Cant: ng4; province of Jiangsu/ancient kingdom) Wu, Ng, Eng
: Han 韓 (Mand: han2, Cant: hon4; (former) Chinese state/the Korean ethnic group) Han
: Kim 金 (Mand: jin1, Cant: gam1; metal/money/gold) Jin, Kum, Kim
: Many more. Too numerous to list. The same applies for Korean surnames. Japanese surnames are a different matter even though they use Chinese characters.
: Incidentally, My surname is Lee. It’s supposed to be the biggest surname in China and the world.
: I hope your computer is able to view the Chinese encoding. This is Big-5 encoding.
: There was a web-site by a university professor who was working on a book where he was going to list Chinese characters with their pronunciation in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and most of the major Chinese dialects. He posted some sample chapters, then, he stopped. The chapters only had the Mandarin pronunciation, and, he was working on the rest. This was a few years ago.
: Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.