Learning the Tongue Twisting Cantonese 2

After a few days of racking my brain checking out if I left out a few Cantonese terms I know, I have created a small list again ^.^

But before that, I would like to explain my background.

I want to make it clear that when I say I'm a Filipino-Chinese, I mean I'm 100% Chinese by blood but I still consider myself as a Filipino because I am a Filipino citizen and more importantly I was born and raised here in the lush archipelago of the Philippines. Even though I don't look like the typical Filipino (Malay race), I still consider myself as a Filipino. It's almost the same when we say Singaporean-Chinese but the Filipino Chinese population here in the Philippines is relatively smaller compared to Singapore. 

I learned Fookien and Filipino side by side as I grew up, later on Mandarin was infused in my academic curriculum because I studied in a Chinese Episcopalian school in Binondo called St. Stephen's High School. However, I also grew up watching Mandarin films alongside with Cantonese films but I was really frustrated with Cantonese films because I can't seem to follow what they're saying, it's so much easier to follow Mandarin dialogues so I just opted to watch more Mandarin films but of course now I regret not learning Cantonese. Going back to my Chinese schoool, I also learned to read and write Chinese, more importantly I learned to create Chinese calligraphy- it's a dying art like the abacus because no one seems to practice it anymore but I hope it will be revived.

The Chinese language spoken in the Philippines is quite unique as compared to the other variations in Asia; our Fookien accent is not the original Fookien accent in China or Taiwan. Our accent has changed due to the Spanish, English and Filipino influence; I think in the Filipino term our Fookien accent has become more malambing  but it's still has a distinct accent apart from the Filipino accent. I find the original Fookien accent to be more stiff and straight, they also use deeper words and terms that sometimes it's hard to understand what the others are saying even if we speak the same language. However, China and Taiwan's Fookien speaking population can fully understand what we're saying but Filipino Chinese can't fully comprehend what they're saying. Philippine born Chinese incorporate Spanish, English and Filipino words and we speak it naturally like how we speak Chinese. This might be interesting to take note of, we have Chinese dishes that are named in Spanish terms like camaron when it's our Chinatown's famous deep fried shrimp coated in batter, we refer to spoon and fork 'teng si' and 'tsiam ma' but sometimes we interchange it with cuchara and tenedor, sometimes we use the Spanish term referring to numbers and time like uno, dos, tres, alas-singko, alas-kwarto etc. We also say business terms like buena mano haha! My mother can speak better Spanish even if she's Chinese because back in her days Spanish is incorporated in their school curriculum. In my perspective interchanging various terms in various languages something that comes naturally that I don't even think there's a border between Spanish terms and Chinese terms anymore. 

My father also said that Hong Kong's Cantonese accent is different from what he is using; my family Cantonese accent is the Taishan (Tai-San) variation. I can't truly point out how the accent is different but perhaps that might be the explanation why sometimes I understand Cantonese and sometimes I don't.

I always wondered how come I find it difficult to learn Cantonese though I know Fookien and Mandarin already, later on I'd learn that Cantonese retains more of the ancient complex Chinese language and Mandarin is simplier. Cantonese has more variety in terms of intonation and each intonation would change the word's meaning; the same rule applies in Mandarin but Mandarin has less intonations and variations.

I'm not very familiar with the social situation in China, I'm more familiar with the social situation in Hong Kong and Taiwan because I have relatives in these two islands. I'd be hopping back and forth Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines every now and then. I'm not sure but I think as of now, the Chinese government promotes Mandarin to be the primary language, I also suggest that if you would like to learn one Chinese language, go for Mandarin because it is widely recognized and used everywhere. However, in my case, my goal is to learn and be familiar with Cantonese because as I've said it's my family's dying tradition. Cantonese is my fifth language, I'm quite old to start learning but still it doesn't stop me from learning and widening my horizons.

Okay, so here's a small list of Cantonese terms and translations:
*I'm not sure if I've repeated some of the terms before but that's okay, better to repeat it again and again so it would be stored in my brain*

hai = 是 (yes)
yiu = 要 (want)
yao= 有 (have)
ngam = 對 (correct!)
*Chinese words typed courtesy of my friend Abi <3*

Sin sang- sir, mister
Siu tse- miss
Tai ko- big brother

Ko- brother

Ku ma- aunt

Pang yaw- friend

Siu pang yaw- literally means small friend but it just means 'friend' but you address this to kids

Lam pang yaw-boyfriend

Noi pang yaw-girlfriend

Low po-wife, in Mandarin it's Law pwo

Sek fan lo- time to eat/ kain na!

Tip- plate

Wun- rice bowl

Fai Chiu- chopstick

Tsi kang- spoon

Tsa- fork
Soi-water
Tsa-tea

Lo mai- sticky rice/glutinous rice

Lo mai Kai- a food that's similar to ma-tsang (sticky rice with some minced meat wrapped in a lotus leaf)

Po- hotpot

Soi kuo- fruits

Ping o- apple

Lai- pear

Tsang- orange
Ling Mung- lemon

Pa tsi- potato (but we also say this when we refer to French fries)

Tai pa tsi- big potatoes

Siu pa tsi- small potatoes

Nei yaw mai siu ngo me?- did you buy roasted goose?

Yaw ah- there is/meron

Mow ah-nothing/wala

Lau soi-leaking water 

Lau- floor ex. 'sam lau' means third floor

Tsi so- restroom

Tam lok lok- Tam means wet, lok means going down. I'm not sure if this is Cantonese but I often hear my father pertains this to the wet ground, he usually say this when there's a drizzle and the ground is wet.

Ping ko- who is?

Ping ko nei ku ma?- who is your aunt?

Me si ah?- What is it? 

Tsaw tim?- what is?/who is? (I'm not really sure if this means 'who are you finding?')

Tim kai?- Why?

Leng leng (pronounced as lieng lieng)- beautiful/pretty, my father also used to say this during my childhood

Siu-smile, in Fookien 'tsio'

Soi- years old, example: yi sap soi means twenty years old, in Mandarin it's 'swei', in Fookien it's 'heh'

Nei hou ma?- how are you?

Ngo hou hou- I'm fine

Hou mo hou?-good or not good? in Mandarin it's 'haw pu haw?', in Fookien it's 'ho bo ho?'

Twei um tsei- sorry
Siu sum- take care, in Mandarin "Xiao sin"

Kong- talk, speak

So yi- so

Fai tit- hurry up, another term my father used to say

Mou i si (pronounced as mow eee see)- it's nothing

Mou man tai- no problem

Mou tso lo-that's right/not bad

Mou ta la- stop fighting already

Um tak ka- no way

Ho lin- pitiful, in Mandarin "khe lien", in Fookien "Kho din"

Lai- come

Tsoi la- get out

Tsow- go

Tsam ka- join

Hou kan tan-it's easy/simple

Hou lo man- so romantic

Hou la- okay

Siu san-take care

Tsow meng ah- help!/ saklolo!

Pat yaw- help/aid/tulungan

Pan fa-solution 

Tang- wait ex. Nei tang ngo means wait for me

Tsow san- goodmorning

Kong hei nei- congratulations to you

Kwai-kind/nice/mabait

Um koi Sai- more polite form of thank you, you say this esp. when someone does you a favor

Kam nei ne?- how about you?

Yaw mou yat ah?-somebody there? May tao ba?

Tso lei la- come out

Tsong tswo- please take a seat

Tson pei- prepare

Hou to tsin- so much money

Muy kai-accounting 

Fa ta la- we're rich!

Tsa yow ah-work harder, keep it up, in Mandarin it's Tsia yow ah

Sa- kill

Ki fan-marry

Pai- worship, same term in Fookien
Yiu- want
Um yiu- don't want

Yi Seng- doctor

Sam lei-psychiatry

Yi- treat (medically), in Fookien it's pronounced as 'eee'

Sam lei yi seng-psychiatrist 

Tsi sin- crazy

Fei Kei- airplane

Tow- degrees 

Si kan- time

Lak tim pun- 6:30, in Fookien 'lak tiam pua'

Pio/Sou pio- watch

Tsam man- last night, it sounds near to the Fookien term Tsa-am

Mow- dream, in Fookien "Bang"
Ngo yiu fan kao/kaw la- i wanna sleep
Ngo hou ngan fan la- i'm sleepy


Chok khaw- football

Thiu-Diving

Phaw- Run

Yi fu- clothes

Khu-pants

Tong fat- animals

Kaw- dogs

Ma- horse
Chu- pig
Ha- Shrimp 

Ka tsam-cockroach, in Fookien 'ka tsua'

Um sek thieng- I can't understand

Hyong Kong- Hong Kong
Hyong Kong Tek Si Lei/Dek Si Nei- Hong Kong Disneyland

Pa Sei- Brazil

I Ta Lei- Italy

Fei Li Pan- Philippines

Ma Nei La- Manila

Mei Kwok- USA

Ow Tsaw- Europe

Ngo yiu hui Hyong Kong Dek Si Nei- I want to go to Hong Kong Disneyland

Thanks so much to my friend Abi and Jennifer Hui for correcting my Cantonese and teaching me more words ^.^