Writing Cantonese

Discussions on the Cantonese language.
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Sassy

Writing Cantonese

Post by Sassy »

Hi,
I've learned that one is able to write in Cantonese using special vernacular characters. Although it is not accepted as "correct", I would like to learn a bit anyway. Chinalanguage.com has been great in helping me decipher some of the words I've already seen, but I have the following question that it can't seem to answer: how do you write the verb "push/shove" in Cantonese vernacular characters? it is pronounced "ung" as in "kui UNG joh kui ge booi lok dei" (he pushed his cup on to the floor)
Paul

Re: Writing Cantonese

Post by Paul »

: Hi,
: I've learned that one is able to write in Cantonese using special vernacular characters. Although it is not accepted as "correct", I would like to learn a bit anyway. Chinalanguage.com has been great in helping me decipher some of the words I've already seen, but I have the following question that it can't seem to answer: how do you write the verb "push/shove" in Cantonese vernacular characters? it is pronounced "ung" as in "kui UNG joh kui ge booi lok dei" (he pushed his cup on to the floor)

The character used for push/shove "ung" is "擁"
Your sentence would be written like this"佢擁左佢既杯落地. Ung also has the alternative pronunciation "Ngung"
Paul

Re: Writing Cantonese

Post by Paul »

: : Hi,
: : I've learned that one is able to write in Cantonese using special vernacular characters. Although it is not accepted as "correct", I would like to learn a bit anyway. Chinalanguage.com has been great in helping me decipher some of the words I've already seen, but I have the following question that it can't seem to answer: how do you write the verb "push/shove" in Cantonese vernacular characters? it is pronounced "ung" as in "kui UNG joh kui ge booi lok dei" (he pushed his cup on to the floor)

Hi,
Sorry about last message. Seem to have a glitch in the Chinese encoding. Let's try again.
:
:The character used for push/shove "ung" is "擁"
:Your sentence would be written like this"佢擁左佢既杯落地. Ung also has the alternative pronunciation "Ngung"
Kobo-Daishi

Re: Writing Cantonese

Post by Kobo-Daishi »

Paul,
Shouldn't the character for push, "UNG" have a mouth radical on the left. In the book, "The Right Word in Cantonese", the character includes a mouth to the left of 擁. I understand that a lot of characters unique to the Cantonese dialect have a mouth radical to the left of it.
Also, what program did you use to print the Chinese characters. Since, you were able to print out 'keuih', which is unique to the Cantonese dialects you must have a program with Cantonese fonts. I would dearly like to know. Thank you.
Kobo-Daishi
Paul

Re: Writing Cantonese

Post by Paul »

: Paul,
: Shouldn't the character for push, "UNG" have a mouth radical on the left. In the book, "The Right Word in Cantonese", the character includes a mouth to the left of 擁. I understand that a lot of characters unique to the Cantonese dialect have a mouth radical to the left of it.
: Also, what program did you use to print the Chinese characters. Since, you were able to print out 'keuih', which is unique to the Cantonese dialects you must have a program with Cantonese fonts. I would dearly like to know. Thank you.
: Kobo-Daishi
Kobo-Daishi,
Yes you are right that many characters unique to Cantonese dialect use "口" on the left side. I use a programme called Chinese Star 2.97(中文之星)
it seems to have most of the Cantonese 'dialect'characters on it eg:唔,冇,乜,咩咁 etc. Others are a little harder to find eg:'ge'(possessive pronoun)I have to use'既', without the mouth radicle. same goes for jo(past tense) I have to use '左'joh(left)and 野 for the 'yeh' in 'matyeh'Still its not a great obstacle as people will understand your meaning by the context of sentence.
Chinese Star is from Mainland China so the input is either in Mandarin Pinyin or Chinese phonetics or Chong Kit(倉頡)
Hope this has been of some help to you. Best wishes Paul.
Sassy

Thanks Paul and Kobo-Daishi

Post by Sassy »

Thanks for the help, Paul. I always had a suspicion that it was that character, but I was never able to find a concrete example (i.e. on internet sites) to confirm my suspicions. The fact that I don't have a dictionary with Cantonese characters in it doesn't help either!
Thanks Kobo-Daishi for adding the fact that it takes a mouth radical.
How did you two pick up on these characters? (out of curiosity) I've only recently found out about them and am having difficulty learning them, (even though they are frowned upon by most elder Chinese).
Anonymous

Re: Writing Cantonese

Post by Anonymous »

: Also, what program did you use to print the Chinese characters. Since, you were able to print out 'keuih', which is unique to the Cantonese dialects you must have a program with Cantonese fonts. I would dearly like to know. Thank you.
Any program that supports displaying BIG5-encoded Chinese text. BIG5 is the equivalent of ASCII for traditional Chinese characters.
It has its origin from Taiwan, I suppose, but it does include the character for kuei and some other Cantonese words. I still find this mysterious.
Mel Fox

Re: Writing Cantonese

Post by Mel Fox »

HELP I am going to a Cantonese wedding on this Saturday - 28th July _ can anyone help me with the correct Cantonese fonts for a wedding greeting along with English translation? I need to do a silk painting for the event Many thanks I know they will appreciate your help
melanie Fox
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Re: Writing Cantonese

Post by guaka »

The character used for push/shove "ung" is "擁"
Your sentence would be written like this"佢擁左佢既杯落地. Ung also has the alternative pronunciation "Ngung"
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