Cantonese Slang Makes No Sense

Sign up for The Canto to Mando Blueprint: www.thecmblueprint.com/chines...
Support my work: paypal.me/chinesewithjessie?c...
Keep Watching:
Cantonese Makes No Sense
• Cantonese Makes No Sense
Mandarin & Cantonese Interview with Polyglot Steve Kaufmann
• Mandarin & Cantonese I...
Body Parts in Mandarin & Cantonese & Jiangxi Dialect
• Body Parts in Mandarin...
You can also find me at:
Instagram: @jessie_the_dreamer
/ jessie_the_dreamer
TikTok: @Jessie Z
www.tiktok.com/@jessiez87968?...
For business inquiries: [e-mail]

[@odd1ty612]

Mandarin: haha my tones are so difficult Cantonese: *Allow me to introduce myself*

[@Xerxezkov]

Vietnamese & Thai: hmmmmmm

[@ManomiiFox]

@@Xerxezkov Narrator: Vietnamese wasn't invited

[@ManomiiFox]

@@ghostland8646 that wasn't the point. i was saying that the video was solely focused on Chinese. vietnamese has nothing to do with chinese, even if they are similar in slang and what not.

[@6Uncles]

Vietnamese has quite a bit to do with Chinese despite what Viet or Chinese people think. Besides borrowing a ton of vocab and pronunciation, and historically using and adapting hanzi

[@Spish0]

I think you deserve a point for 濕濕碎 when you said ‘trivial things’ haha. A lot of Canto dictionaries give this exact definition for this word. 濕濕碎 is used to describe something as being easy to do, like ‘piece of cake’ in English and is also used to describe an amount of money or other things as being a small amount

[@lungchan1729]

Yes you are right. It has that meaning too. Jessie was right.

[@Ultimecea90]

Actually, you're right. Wong actually admits the fact that it stands for something you don't have to mention aka trivial things. That's what it meant since I watched tvb from 1990 and that's where I learned my Cantonese

[@lordkent8143]

The thing about being a canto speaker who learned Mandarin through Cantonese shortcuts is that you retain an Cantonese accent with your Mandarin, unless you were one of those who grew up learning or using both. It's very hard to get rid of the accent. Every time I use Mandarin every Mandarin speaker assumes I'm from Hong Kong 😂. Nope, just an ABC who speaks English the best.

[@The_Art_of_AI_888]

Cantonese is more complicated and has much more slang than Mandarin. As Cantonese, we often speak out many slangs out of our mouths very naturally, but never actually think about and fully understand how every slang came from lol

[@rickychong9691]

你倆個 還睇掂睇都唔似廣東人，講話都唔正，能有此節目出街，又有人捧塲睇，算係咁啦😂

[@CL-ui8jx]

This is so helpful and entertaining, thank you both! Also the course looks really interesting, I'll give it a go!

[@shirlieleung2420]

This is so fun! Hope you do another video with more cantonese vs manderin slangs it’s so interesting

[@biggusdiccus6969]

25仔 is more like snitches or traiters than undercovers. It's a slang from the triads, with multiple alleged origins.

[@tayonguyen]

we need more videos like this, the education-entertainment feels genuine like a podcast

[@shughl1]

Awesome video! I think this is the first time we saw Lee get thrown off his stoic base! He was really shocked! haha!

[@sunsiare2371]

Your video being fun and informative aside, I really do appreciate you considering Cantonese in your videos once in a while. Please keep doing it! I'm still focusing on learning my mandarin but living in Hong Kong makes me want to know more about Cantonese!

[@DWPLife]

This reminds me of AAVE (African American Vernacular English) and the Cockney Rhyming Slang. Terminology that is so hyper localized to the culture you have to thoroughly understand the culture in order to understand the terms meaning.

[@lingokev]

Educational and entertaining all in one! Thanks for sharing and explaining these phrases with us! So there’s gonna be more videos about Cantonese coming up right…?! 😁🤞🏼

[@ChinesewithJessie]

Definitely! Mandarin, Cantonese and other Chinese languages as well!

[@wedonteatbears]

My favorite Cantonese slag is still 食玻璃大, literally “growing up eating glass”, which refers to people who stand in the way of others watching TV

[@seebauong9593]

濕濕碎 (sap-sap-soi) has become such a common slang word here in Malaysia not only among the Chinese of different dialect group but other races (non Chinese ) also pick up this phrase.

[@kinciscorner]

Here is SE Asia. The slangs are so commonly use, we also use it in Mandarin, direct word translated version. Also mixture from hokkien and hakka. It's so blended in, I didn't realize its origin is from cantonese if you didn't mentioned it.

[@AlexBizzar]

50% of me: "I can't wait to learn more about Mandarin, Cantonese, and Chinese culture!" Other 50% of me: "What amazing outfit is Jessie going to wear today??"

[@b3dubbs72]

i got into this channel thinking how stylish and smart Jessie is, but I might get out of it learning mandarin and cantonese

[@ShockingDidYouKnowTikTok]

I actually like this channel, you earned a sub

[@davidng92]

this was a very fun and entertaining video! I'm surprise I actually use some of those canto slag with out knowing they were slang.

[@CL-ui8jx]

Anyone wondering what's on the unspeakable card like me?😏

[@tonyyoung3985]

So how did southern Chinese say, "stand someone up" before airplanes were invented?

[@sususegar]

That's a good one😂

[@TheSSrank]

失約 I guess

[@mangirabaul4224]

It’s so cute seeing you speak canto. Keep it up

[@g718ny]

No way haha that dude in the beginning is staring like he'll punch you if you accidentally step on his shoes 🤣

[@rikjamesguitare]

Fun fact: Scorsese's masterpiece "The Departed" is based on "Infernal Affairs", though he added a Boston/ Whitey Bulger element.

[@rinky_dinky]

Yo Jessie , knowing what it means it's quite nice , but knowing the origins is even better !

[@HH-nz3vc]

I think the “keep watch” slang was used in an old movie. The title was something like Crazy Bumpkin.

[@rafaelcwang]

Cantomando just stopped the ads for ball shaving devices and started paying other people to promote their course. This is how you know they’ve made it

[@pinkpotatoes9849]

Mando is closer to written Chinese while spoken Cantonese is colloquial. We had to write formally anyway so we just need to speak that way when speaking Mandarin.

[@crimson2knight]

Can we get a video with Lee explaining the history of some of these phrases and how they came to be?

[@sochisi8175]

you two are so wholesome :)

[@denniswman]

Don't know if people consider this an old one or not, but I've always loved the phrase "牛皮燈籠".

[@mizzsia2077]

点了也不会亮？

[@RiAirgead]

"You got a KISS card! XD XD hahaha"

[@ReiKoko]

I didn't know some of the first few and thought my canto card was gonna have to be revoked until I got to the second half of the video 😆 To be fair, I'm an overseas chinese, so there's a lot of slang I don't know.

[@KirkKiyosadaTome]

You guys are so cute! Thanks, Jessie!

[@MultiFinlayson]

Jessie 的视频简直太好玩了！

[@QuizmasterLaw]

You know what else doesn't make sense? Love! :)

[@jasonreviews]

Anthony Wong is toisanese haha! he's my people. I'm telling you my people created this batshit slang. Donnie Yen is also toisanese. Andy Lau. Beyond. Basically all the cantonese actors are not speaking their native tongues. I think 80% of them live in canada or the west now at this point. Mandarin is too proper. Cantonese know mandarin because we just learn as well too at the same time. There are actually 4 Cantonese dialects. Yuehai (including Zhongshan, Chungshan, Tungkuan) as represented by the dialect of Guangzhou City; Siyi (Seiyap) as represented by the Taishan city (Toishan, Hoishan) dialect; Gaoyang as represented by the Yangjiang city dialect; and Guinan as represented by the Nanning city dialect, which is widely used in Guangxi Province. If not otherwise specified, the term Cantonese often refers to the Guangzhou Dialect, which is also spoken in Hong Kong and Macao. I understand all of them. But they're also all very different. Guangzhou and HK cantonese are completely different. I prefer HK cantonese because I watch TVB. But since my mom grew up in guangzhou. I also speak guangzhou. guangzhou cantonese is closer to mandarin because of the vocabulary is the same. HK Pop is different beast.

[@Jumpoable]

Batshit slang LOL.

[@jasonreviews]

@@Jumpoable yes BAT SHIT. I don't know any language as vulgar as cantonese.

[@Jumpoable]

@@jasonreviews LOL you should talk to some Teochew (Chiu Chow) people. They can talk real NASTY.

[@jasonreviews]

@@Jumpoable nah. I'm good. The chiu chow i know. Know cantonese.

[@Ultimecea90]

@@Jumpoable actually, hockien ( South Asia minanese) or hainanese are more vulgar in our vocabulary. Teow chew is more of our polite version

[@stelazhou]

i like your videos jessi!

[@AsiaLoverBoy_87]

Jessie我觉得你们两个在一起看起来很可爱. 今年06月我也打算开始学习广东话。我觉得广东话就是一个非常有趣的语言。

[@West_most_of_Sengkang]

In the ad from Canto to Mando Blueprint at around 2:11 of this video, the sentance 你走得咁快 in Cantonese in fact means you left so early/ u ar leaving so early (你這麼早離開 in Mandarin). And in some context, this semtence means u passed away so early (when u say 你走得咁快 to a dead body or the grave of someone u know). You walk so fast in Cantonese is 你行得咁快/咁急。Verbal Cantonese 走 either means "leave" or "run", but referring to "walk" in formal writing. A lot of ABC / BBC / CBC dont really know the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin. Even ppl born in Guangdong Province nowadyas were with their Cantonese heavily affected by Mandarin speakers on TV, radio, and ppl from other province

[@TranTek]

Cantonese is so much fun which i kept and drop the other two lol Fu chen original my native tongue when i was little kid and we also understand chiu chow Mandarin is what we had to learn in school i do have to use it sometimes here in Canada like English, you just have to use them to get good at it One i like to learn is Shanghainese

[@engineplay3365]

Jesse, what is the game of that couples coin ball toy you use. Thank you

[@cyborgchicken3502]

Jessie do you know of any apps or online lessons that can teach an English speaker Cantonese? Every time I find a language learning app or online lessons they only ever teach Mandarin, and I would like to learn both languages

[@k29vin]

Drops is the only mainstream app that has Cantonese. It's great to build your vocab, with correct pronunciation! I wish it taught more than that though - it doesn't really teach characters, sentence formation, grammar, etc.

[@yukin1990]

二五仔= Meaning More like a Traitor .....

[@eamcnn1]

Mandarin: Cantonese slang is weird Also Mandarin: 你很奶呀 ._.

[@Seele2015au]

4:49 潮州音樂 is 歇後語： a bit like Cockney rhyming slang you are only meant to say the first half, and the second half is implied. This is to say, you never say 「潮州音樂，自己顧自己」 , but only 「潮州音樂」。 7:21 大頭佛 (literally big head buddha) actually means something else: when a plan fails to work out and ends up in a situation that cannot be easily resolved, the situation is called a 大頭佛。 Example: "we considered every possible eventuality when formulating our project, and yet we ended up with this 大頭佛"

[@fishkuan8762]

The course that's designed for Cantonese speakers (for people in hong kong/ Macau ? or Guangdong? ） is actually a bit'' unnecessary'' to be honest .maybe except for the part of learning Pinyin. for example （緊--> 在）（你走得咁快-->你走得這麼快 ）（但係人才先係最重要㗎-->但是人才才是最重要的） I literally think everyone 100% (as long as you went to school) knows about the difference. we learn Chinese at school, the only difference with mandarin speakers is we are taught in Cantonese (teachers speak in Cantonese ) and the written language is actually the same as people in China and we are not allowed to write colloquial Cantonese (actually we never learnt Cantonese writing) at school for our homework and stuff as you can go to the government websites of Macau and hong kong, there aren't any colloquial Cantonese on the websites which you see us using on social media.) so that's why it makes Cantonese special, at school or work we use formal writing (traditional characters of course) , and on social media or communicate with friends we use Cantonese words) I think the course is only helpful for ''foreigners'' who learn Cantonese or mandarin first and but then want to learn the other)

[@HuiXiu]

Where did you get the niu dan ji and cards? Are there different versions?

[@ChinesewithJessie]

I got it from Taobao, you can find many different versions😊

[@Li.Siyuan]

C'mon Jessie - what's on the "unspeakable" card?

[@Cantonesian]

二五仔，即背叛者，《東周列國志》中梁五和東關嬖五被稱為二五耦 (來自維基)

[@user-qb4ke6gm5b]

0:26 i am watching that movie now

[@hellochinese520]

这视频真好玩。 好喜欢老师每期的服装

[@LegitJDG534]

So if it's easy to go from Cantonese to Mandarin, would going from Mandarin to Cantonese be about the same level of difficulty?

[@ianchen9217]

no.

[@sususegar]

Chinese dialects are almost like different languages from each other. It'd be like going from Spanish to Portuguese, related but sometimes unintelligible and misunderstood. Assuming you're a not Chinese, it may just appear "easier" to learn if you already have a grasp of tonal language. I can still mix up certain word tone/stress between 3 dialects.

[@Kentalot]

No and for multiple reasons. Here's a non-exhaustive list. 1. Many Cantonese speakers can read standard Mandarin, which is standard written Chinese and what they're taught to write in school and most cantopop songs are written in. As a result they know all the Mandarin vocabulary, just read in Cantonese. As a result they can easily pick up Mandarin by altering the Cantonese pronunciation of those Mandarin words. Mandarin speakers do not have that benefit as they have never learned written vernacular Cantonese 2. There's an easy way to "map" a Cantonese pronunciation of a word to the Mandarin pronunciation with accuracy of probably 85%. It is a many to one type of mapping where Mandarin has a lot fewer sounds in their language (not talking about tones. There's no intuitive way to map tones that I know of). However going back the other way is a one to many mapping where one Mandarin sound can map to many different Cantonese sounds. So you'd mostly have to randomly guess which one and you are more likely to get it wrong than the other way around. 3. Many more Mandarin speakers to practice with and learn from compared to Cantonese speakers. Many Cantonese speakers have relatives or close friends that speak exclusively Mandarin but the opposite is less likely. 4. Learning 4 or 5 tones is way easier than 6 or 9 tones of Cantonese (depending on how you count). Mandarin is essentially a subset of Cantonese tones so Cantonese speakers already know the Mandarin tones, really. 5. Cantonese people are just smarter 🤣 just kidding Therefore great job Jessie!!

[@lordkent8143]

Depends. I like to say Cantonese is meant to be learn from interaction with Cantonese speakers and media. Not from a school setting. A lot of Chinese migrants and even expats manage to pick up Cantonese because of the exposure. Cantonese is very memorable. It's loud, expressive, and engaging.

[@jimmykaming]

it is easy for me to go from Canto to Mando,but not the another way round.

[@phonepup06]

Interesting video! What is the significance of the numbers in the written words?

[@ChinesewithJessie]

Those are Cantonese tones

[@DanteAtropos]

2-5 has to do with Triad Hong men distaste for 7 and how it is also the slang for chicken which is a item they sacrifice during their oaths. It also has to do with the occult astrology that the stars of 2 and 5 in the dipper constellation is bad luck and what are know ass plague or illness stars signs.

[@dahur]

Redeem the "unspeakable" card now.!

[@Cantonesian]

食檸檬，源於被拒絕時對方的搖頭，搖頭粵語叫擰頭，檸擰同音，又被拒後心都酸了，如同吃檸檬一樣難受。

[@shawnk2704]

Perfect 👌

[@unknownuser31792]

Jesse and Lee! No amber today :(

[@MaiElizabeth]

Can’t help it but I must say “I like your dress”

[@lycheeberries]

Ahhh, such a cute couple!!!

[@anasmirza346]

我已经下载了你所有的视频。你所有的视频都很棒而且很有用。我真的从你的视频中受益。我真的很喜欢你的视频。哇太快乐您的视频频道很棒。

[@shen8888]

That’s just how Cantonese works, Cantonese works from “the sound” of the words. For example 靜雞雞 " jìng gái gái" means “to quietly, sneaky”. That’s how Cantonese works so just deal with it :) And you guys should remember “All languages sometimes they don’t make it any senses, not just “slang” :v Even Mandarin sometimes makes me confused like people don’t speak it properly. For example (game) in school teach me ”you xi” BUT in real life people say "you she” :v Everything I know is a lie !!! God is brutal out here :v

[@loislindsay]

Today is my birthday jesse will you please do drunken master jackie chan

[@Winteramen]

Canto slang is not weird. Just gotta know the stories behind why we say what we say

[@antoniussugianto7973]

ANTON learning cANTONese...lol x D

[@peachierose3356]

as a Cantonese, I don't know most of these hahaha

[@mhow4967]

For years I have been trying hard to learn Cantonese but sad to say that I am not not successful. However, my Mandarin is getting better and better. My HK friends always helpful. The other day someone come up this word......咸湿 Literally, for me means "salty wet" But he told me it's "Ham shop" I'm confused 😜

[@loudandproudkitcheng8172]

咸湿 means having a dirty mind, as in thinking of “adult content” stuff

[@mizzsia2077]

Salty can mean dirty or obscene in Cantonese. 咸片=porn 咸猪手 = sexual harrassment (to be more specific, groping)

[@mizzsia2077]

Oh dear, it took me a while to realise ham shop is a shop that sells ham 😂 I thought it's pronunciation of some other Cantonese words

[@Noname-iz9uo]

I like her blind confidence

[@bigboldbicycle]

I hear 失失碎 (sat sat sui) instead of 濕濕碎 (sap sap sui) in the video?

[@NoCareBearsGiven]

Can you make a video on teochew? 潮州话

[@aishx]

How did stand someone up end up as 'FFK' in South East Asia? 🤔

[@finnick3222]

Cantomando 真的无处不在啊😂

[@anthonymiu489]

The thing is most Cantonese speakers use traditional Chinese characters

[@Otaku_X_Gamer94]

Please do some Chinese scenes in the game Sleeping Dogs

[@traderbychoice7560]

You are so gorgeous you remind me of the asian girl in Big Trouble in Little China.

[@wenyewlee]

huh Jessie is from Xinjiang?!

[@sathariel3231]

Of course it doesn’t it just works

[@bonnieho6011]

jessie! 你猫好得意阿!

[@ashman4827]

be really careful when you pronounce "deal", it can mean something else in Cantonese.... 😉

[@sususegar]

Also be careful with "delay no more", don't say it too slowly.

[@naeixwuch1324]

lol listening to Mandarin speaker speak Cantonese is funny because their little accent make it sounds funny. and basically Lee is speaking more of a HK style which have way more slang and differ from the Guangzhou style.

[@AmelieZh]

Im also mando but speaks canto funny lol

[@cyber1991]

Mandarin is influenced by the Manchu emperors. It's Cantonese (6 tones) and Hokkien (5 tones) that preserve more tones and Chinese characteristics like k,t,p endings. but Cantonese also lost the voiced consonants of Old and Middle Chinese.

[@EricChien95]

Wasn't mandarin used since Ming as Court Official language. Hence the term Mandarin from Portuguese Mandarim to mean Minister. Also it used to be called 官话

[@The_Art_of_AI_888]

Actually, Mandarin was evolved from Ancient Chinese and influenced by many ethnic groups, started from Jurchen's influence from the Jin dynasty (1115-1234) when the Jurchen people occupied and lived in ancient Beijing, then later influenced by the Mongolian when they overthrew the Jurchen. And Mandarin only became the "official language" (官话) by the Han Chinese emperors from Ming Dynasty. Then the Manchurians didn't want and didn't use Mandarin as the "official language" at first, but later they had no choice but to used Mandarin as the "official language" over their mother tongue Manchu language. Simply because Han Chinese were the majority... and Han Chinese civilization, its culture, and its language: Mandarin, was way more powerful, deep, and more superior language.

[@nauy]

Cantonese is like the Cogney dialect of English.

[@VChong1991]

Dis gurl wif her 5 3 5 4 yeh.

[@iwavns]

3:51 听起来很像粤语的“屌”🤣

[@pauleng1105]

Next time make him use the phrase in a sentence before you guess.

[@crawfordm.j.7954]

Cantonese is one only kind

[@alexsandrkerensky7457]

All slang makes no sense because the reasons for slang is rooted in history,, like unsung heroes dates back to medieval times

[@Pen2paw]

Jessie 男朋友好有知识。

[@Ahmadsyazwan5355]

Hi jessiee 你好

[@DoomyRei]

Verry complicated

[@MoShi1647]

Please use Tradition Chinese for Cantonese plz, a little🤏 bit disrespectful. We never use Simplified Chinese.

[@MoShi1647]

But I know you’re giving non-native speakers Cantonese course thou You should put this important information under your description. Thanks for you understanding.

[@Aikidox49]

Are they brothers?

[@holongvitochan1305]

It is a rude click-baiting title. If you do some research, you will find all the slang that you thought “nonsense” has historical or cultural reasons to support.

[@ErixZ128]

half of canto vocab is slang

[@maxwu7473]

姐姐長得像劉若君

[@lifespacextimexbodyxchaos4595]

🥺... 😘😇✨💥🔥🎶🙏✌️

[@Cantonesian]

潮洲音樂，往往在拉弦時發出gigigugigi的聲響, 仿似粵語的自己顧自己，又廣府人聽不懂潮洲音樂，總覺雜亂無章，各演奏者都好像是自個拉自個的，自己顧自己。

[@jiaxuanyang5467]

I know 放鸽子 is ghost someone, get another expression!

[@msbrownbeast]

Mandarin is totally inferior to Cantonese especially when it comes to cursing.

[@user-yw1xz9qh8r]

放心 香港人的普通話都這樣 我班都有好幾個不會普通話 教不會了 放心吧