Guǎngdōng Huà (广东话)
As a follow up to Brandon Goes To Hong Kong, I wanted to share a little more about Cantonese, or Guǎngdōng huà (广东话), the Chinese dialect spoken in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, as well as in many Chinese communities outside of China.
Please enjoy this dialogue between Brandon, Mom and Gōnggong (公公)(Grandpa) which occurs after Brandon hears some local Hong Kongers speaking. I hope you find it interesting and educational!
Dialects
“I couldn’t understand anything!” Brandon said.
“I know,” said Mom, “I couldn’t either. There are many different regional Chinese dialects and they all sound very different. Just because you know one, doesn’t mean you will understand another.”
“Then how do people in different parts of China – Zhōngguó (中国) communicate with each other?” asked Brandon.
“That’s a very smart question,” responded Mom. “Just like your school in Miami teaches Mandarin, the schools in China – Zhōngguó (中国), as well as many in Hong Kong and Taiwan, do the same. This is because Mandarin, or Pǔtōnghuà (普通话), is the national or official language of China – Zhōngguó (中国). Even though the local Hong Kongers prefer to speak Cantonese, or Guǎngdōng huà (广东话), many of them can speak Pǔtōnghuà (普通话), too.”
Simplified vs Traditional Chinese Writing
“Also,” Mom continued, “and this is really interesting: they all share the same writing system based on Chinese characters. However, there are two versions of Chinese writing – Traditional and Simplified.”
“What?!?! Two Chinese writing systems? How confusing!” Brandon shook his head.
Mom nodded and added, “Simplified Chinese was made official in China in 1949. It was created to encourage literacy as many of the characters have fewer strokes than the original Traditional Chinese writing – so it’s much easier to learn. Approximately 2,000 commonly used characters were ‘simplified.’ Simplified Chinese is used in China. This means that in China, everyone reads and writes the same way, no matter the dialect.”
“But, remember,” Gōnggong (公公) added, “the same character is pronounced differently depending on which dialect one speaks. Also, here in Hong Kong, Traditional Chinese is used, not Simplified like in China.”
“I learn Simplified Chinese at school, right?” asked Brandon.
“That’s right,” answered Mom. “Simplified Chinese is taught in many of the schools abroad, like at your school. However, Traditional Chinese is still used in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong, as well as in some overseas communities and schools, including some in the U.S.”
“Ahhh, I thought there were some characters I saw on signs here that looked kind of familiar but more complicated, so I was confused. So, for example,” Brandon paused to grab a book, “this character ‘馬’ looks kind of like ‘马’ which I know is horse. Is this character horse? Are they both pronounced ‘mǎ’ in Mandarin?”
“Yes, excellent, Brandon! That’s a great example and absolutely correct!” smiled Mom.
Brandon then turned to Gōnggong (公公), “So, how do you say it in Cantonese?”
Gōnggong (公公) laughed, “Horse is actually pronounced the same in Cantonese as in Mandarin – mǎ. However, most words are pronounced differently.”
Colloquialisms
“So, it’s just the way they pronounce the words that’s different? The writing and reading for all dialects is the same?” Brandon was astounded.
“Yes, that’s basically right.” Mom explained. “The different regions may have their own vocabulary and grammar that differ slightly from Mandarin, or Pǔtōnghuà (普通话), but the words are all written the same way – either in Simplified in China or Traditional in Hong Kong. Each region has ‘colloquialisms’ or informal words or phrases used in ordinary conversation. Cantonese has many colorful colloquialisms.”
“Is that like how some parts of the U.S. call this fizzy drink ‘soda’ like we do, while other parts call it ‘pop’ or ‘soft drink’? Is that a colloquialism?” asked Brandon as he held up a can of soda.
“Yes, that is a great example,” nodded Mom. “Except that the colloquialisms in Cantonese are much more different and are usually phrases not used anywhere else.”
“Also,” Gōnggong (公公) interjected, “it’s important to note that the way people read Cantonese in text is not always the way they would speak. For example, if you watch the news, the written subtitles don’t exactly match what the reporters are saying. In spoken Cantonese, even the grammar and sentence structure can be very different.”
“Whoa this is way too confusing!” exclaimed Brandon. “School must be so hard for all the kids!”
“This is why Hong Kong kids study so much and are so smart!” laughed Gōnggong (公公) pointing to himself. “But seriously, it’s what we are all used to so it’s normal for us and we don’t really think that it’s that complicated. We think learning English is hard!”
Chinese vs English Writing
“So, how is Chinese writing different from English?” quizzed Brandon.
“Well, Chinese characters are ideograms, which are like pictures or symbols. They show us the idea or object we want to talk about. So, it doesn’t matter how you say a word in order to be able to read it. Pretty cool, right? And each character can be composed of parts that may represent objects or concepts.”
Brandon jumped up, “Oh wait, I know this – I learned this in school!” He grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote, “亻”.
“This character means ‘person,’ so whenever you see this character, which my teacher calls a ‘radical,’ the word has something to do with a person.”
“Excellent!” beamed Mom, “Can you give me an example of a word which includes that radical?”
Brandon smiled and wrote “你” while explaining, “this is the word ‘you’ pronounced ‘ní.’ See the little person radical? So you know this word has something to do with a person, which it does!”
Mom beamed. “Great job! You’ve got it! Now, I know I just said that characters are symbols with no pronunciation attached to it, but there are exceptions. Some characters, or radicals, can have a sound attached to it. Sometimes radicals have a similar sound instead of a meaning, which can help you figure out how a word is pronounced. I know this is really confusing . . .”
“Yes! I learned this in school, too!” interrupted Brandon as he grabbed a sheet of paper. He then wrote the character for horse “马” followed by the character for mother “妈”.
“See? They have the same radical!” exclaimed Brandon as he pointed at the character “马”. “They are pronounced the same but with different tones. Horse or ‘马’ is pronounced ‘mǎ’ while mother or ‘妈’ is pronounced ‘mā’ – different tones!”
“Do you notice anything else about the words?” asked Mom?
Brandon scratched his head and said, “the first radical in mother ‘女’ means female, so mom means female horse?”
Mom and everyone else around laughed! “It’s not an exact science,” said Mom as she ruffled Brandon’s hair.”
“OK, so back to your original question about the difference between Chinse and English writing. As we just discussed, each character or part of a character has a meaning based on symbols. This is very different from English, which uses phonograms,” expounded Mom.
“What are phonograms?” asked Brandon.
Mom explained, “Phonograms are symbols that represent a vocal sound. You know, like how each letter of the English alphabet has its own individual sound.”
“You can sound out words written in English by putting together the sounds of each letter, but you generally can’t in Chinese because the Chinese characters are pictures and not usually sounds, is that right?” asked Brandon.
Mom hugged Brandon. “Yes! And because Chinese characters generally contain no information related to how the characters are pronounced, each character is pronounced in a way unique to each dialect. That is why Cantonese sounds so different from Mandarin and why you and I cannot understand Guǎngdōng huà (广东话).”
“But Gōnggong (公公) can because he grew up in Xiānggǎng (香港), and he can also speak Pǔtōnghuà (普通话) because he went to school. And he can read Traditional Chinese because he grew up in Hong Kong, and can also read Simplified because he lives in China now. Is that right?” asked Brandon.
“Yes, that’s right – Duìle (对了),” confirmed Mom.
Gōnggong (公公) winked and said, “Ngaam ge (啱嘅).”Brandon had no idea what that meant and just gave Gōnggong (公公) a funny look.
Gōnggong (公公) laughed and this time said, ““Deui liu (对了).”
This sounded familiar but not quite right to Brandon so he continued raising his eyebrow at Gōnggong (公公).
Finally Gōnggong (公公) said, “Duìle (对了)!” which Brandon knew meant “that’s right” or “correct” in Mandarin, or Pǔtōnghuà (普通话).
“So, Let me get this straight, ‘duìle (对了)’, which means correct is pronounced as ‘deui liu (对了)’ in Cantonese. But what was that first thing you said?” asked Brandon.
Gōnggong (公公) winked and said, “’ngaam ge (啱嘅)’ or simply ‘gaam (啱)’ is more colloquial and is what local Hong Kongers would likely say to each other. No one really says ‘deui liu (对了)’ here in Hong Kong.”
Tones
“One more thing,” Mom said while raising her pointer finger, “Guǎngdōng huà (广东话) is also different because there is an additional tone. You know how in Mandarin there are 4 tones[1] and 1 neutral tone when speaking?” Brandon nodded.
“Well, in Cantonese, there are 6 tones!” exclaimed Mom.
Brandon opened his eyes wide with surprise and concern.
Mom noticed and quickly added, “But don’t worry, all of our relatives here speak English and Mandarin fluently so you won’t have to learn a new dialect to communicate with them!”
Brandon looked relieved, but said, “Well, it might be fun to learn a few words in Guǎngdōng huà (广东话).” This made Gōnggong (公公) grin from ear to ear!
Guǎngdōng Huà (广东话)
“What would you like to learn first?” asked Gōnggong (公公).
Brandon answered the question with a question. “What’s something popular that’s from Xiānggǎng (香港) that I would know?”
“Well, I know you love dim sum. Dim sum originated in Xiānggǎng (香港) and is now popular everywhere! Do you know how to say dim sum in Mandarin or Cantonese?”
“In Mandarin it’s ‘diǎnxīn (点心)’,” answered Brandon.
“That’s right. In Guǎngdōng huà (广东话) it’s ‘dímsām (点心),’ replied Gōnggong (公公).
“Oh! That sounds similar – dim sum; dímsām (点心). Makes sense,” said Brandon.
“How do you say Hong Kong or Xiānggǎng (香港) in Guǎngdōng huà (广东话)?” asked Brandon.
“Hong Kong is pronounced ‘Hoeng Gong’ in Cantonese,” answered Gōnggong (公公). “It means ‘fragrant harbor’.”
“Hoeng Gong,” repeated Brandon. “Oh! I get it! So the English name, Hong Kong, is from the Cantonese pronunciation: Hoeng Gong (香港), and not the Mandarin pronunciation: Xiānggǎng (香港)! But why ‘fragrant harbor’? It doesn’t smell fragrant to me!”
Gōnggong (公公) laughed. “No? I think it smells lovely,” kidded Gōnggong (公公). “But really, it is because this has been a major harbor for transporting agarwood and its oil and resin, which has been used to make fragrances like perfume.”
Brandon sniffed the air and smiled.
[1] There is a short tutorial video on Pinyin pronunciation and tones at http://eugeniachu.com/pinyin-pronunciation-video/.