Cantonese Tones -- How many ARE there?

[@pvz-ob8ly]

我是台灣人，我學粵語半年了，之後想去香港當交換學生，看到生活在香港30幾年的美國人教廣東話，好吸引我，加油，我會繼續支持你的❤🎉

[@bingminmin]

sue is soooo humble. i think i have mentioned it in her other videos before. if you want to learn cantonese, she is the one! her pronunciation is even better than a lot of native speakers! the most important is she must be able to feel your frustrations while learning a new language as i believe she also has gone through those. again, she is insane! add oil sue! :)

[@HiuKwanTang]

Dear Sue, you are such a legend! I really admire you. As a native Cantonese speaker, I can understand how difficult it is to learn Cantonese as a foreigner. Even if you have the environment, i.e. you were living in HK before, it really is your determination, which makes all these happen. I promise you do really speak Cantonese like a native, or even better than quite a number of natives in some occasions. I do really like the ways that you teach Cantonese, the ways that you speak in Cantonese, your vibe and your presentation overall. You are truly inspiring and overwhelmingly charismatic. Keep it up, you will always have my back. All the best, Sue. 🎉

[@CantoneseCorner]

Wow! Thank you so much!! 💗I have no words to say how heartwarming it is to read your kind words, even though I would definitely hesitate to say I speak like a native ... sometimes I can, sometimes I make a lot of mistakes still ... depends on the topic of conversation :) 😅 I do hope that I inspire anyone learning to keep at it -- and would tell anyone learning to listen to native speakers as often as you can ... radio is great too ... especially the talk shows where mixed girls and guys are speaking because they are SO animated and you can feel how fun it is to speak Cantonese. Thank you again and I look forward to making more videos! 💖

[@theresatang8467]

Happy New year Sue🎉🥂🎊.

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you and same to you! 🥂🎊💖

[@CC-fd4hv]

I grew up till 16 in hk it was the mid 80's so we just memorised all the words... watching your videos are very educating for me too. Thank you Sue for your love and passion for our HK. May God bless you and may God bless HK ❤ by the way I would say 7 tones 😊

[@CantoneseCorner]

Yay, thank you! And may God bless you, too. 💖 Wishing you a happy new year! 💖

[@siobhonc]

Happy new year!!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Happy New Year to you, too! 💖🌸🎊

[@tcstang4281]

In my opinion, I think both explanation are correct. Cause sometimes, we will twist the sound a bit so that it's easier to pronounce the second sound. Just like in English, you will say could chu rather than could you in separate.

[@CantoneseCorner]

Excellent point! Thank you! 🤗🙏

[@sing-holui5419]

As a heritage speaker, I was taught 7 tones at some point when I was younger, but truthfully I could not and still cannot hear any difference in 蝦 and 家. It's interesting to see how the language is evolving within a single lifetime!

[@davidwong825]

@@sing-holui5419 sorry to hear about ur, predicament, simply put, now, there are speech therapist, but there must be something to do with hearing, not pronunciation

[@masahirogo3330]

What is a HERITAGE speaker

[@davidwong825]

@ “lost in translation “ like the movie, i hope it means people who know a few different language & keep their first learn language as “native” language: hence the term’heritage speaker’

[@masahirogo3330]

I am just glad that I am a native speaker so I don’t need to deal with this

[@leochongsh]

I am native hong konger, 家 doesnt have a falling tone. I pronounce 家 flat high. and I dont think 3/6, 2/5 are merging. 入聲is another topic though, it is getting more blurry which character is with that.

[@SSL_SSL]

蘇珊你好，新年快樂 !!! 粵語有6或9個聲調啊？ 答案並不明確。 而家官方公認嘅係6，可能高達9，甚至乎7。 當我喺香港長大時，我唔係透過閱讀圖表嚟學習聲調嘅，因為當時沒有。 我靠記憶學習，聽老師如何發音，然後我透過一遍又一遍嘅重複嚟練習。 如果我遇到一個對我嚟講好陌生嘅單詞，我會去搵懂點發音嘅人查或查閱字典。

[@LucAskAng]

可能是由于不同拼音系统分类方法不一致。另一种说法是6声9调：789是136的短版，结尾有tpk。

[@CantoneseCorner]

Happy New Year to you, too! 💖🎊 Thank you for commenting and sharing your experience -- I know what you mean, I learned half in class and then half from just speaking with people and picking it up. So there are a lot that I dont' know ... like just a few days ago, I learned that 埋單 (màaih dāan / maai4 daan1) used the character 埋 .... I thought it was 賣 and so technically it would be the 6th tone (maaih / maai6) even though I said it as the 4th low falling tone. I just assumed it made sense to be "sell the bill" and never bothered to find out because I said it correctly. 😅

[@davidwong825]

😂yes, the NORTH, always wants to harmonize Cantonese, as their final ACT, or symbol of re-unification 😢, though I have no problem following your English narration, 😅next to impossible to tell from your English text, whether it is the right TONE😮, never learn phonics, only fool prove learning process used to be renting ALL tv drama series, ( listening to their dialog & lines non-stop sure help)from THE only tv station, & that station has since merged with the NORTH, 😮, assuming you have spent time with HK locals, NORTHERNERS would be A PROPER term to describe the mainland “people” & I think you are somewhat driving your would be students😂nuts, for the six EXAMPLEs you pick, even native hkers would find them tongue twisters, & you are also RIGHT, any given Chinese characters, I can easily find 3 more different characters which sound exactly the same, that’s the easy part , to find the 5th/6th, would become not so much fun, & I mean if you are into lyrics’ 2nd interpretation 😅, thanks for your effort, & if the native Cantonese speakers find it easier to simply ‘submit’ to the north & formally abandon their own language, not our battle to fight or WIN, afterall, 😮in history, back when Taiwan was colonized by the JAPANESE, the Japanese were patient enough to wait 28 years to ban all publications in CHINESE, & when it comes to patience, we really REALLY should NOT underestimate the communists

[@CantoneseCorner]

I say this all the time too to friends here ..... they play the long game. The very loooooooonnnnnnggggg game. But then Buddha says to live only in the present, the here and now. Somewhere in between lies the answer, I think. I learned soooo much living in Hong Kong with my mother-in-law about respect and keeping an open mind, listening and learning to and about all sides of life. I miss her and Hong Kong so much it hurts and I have to actively stop thinking about it. I think historically people will look back and realize that Hong Kong was the perfect blend of east and west and so much more was lost when Hong Kong was handed back. Literally physically painful to think about how alive with possibilities Hong Kong was and how the light has gone out now. The cultures blended so well .... I think people didn't fully realize what they had until it was gone because there was this hope that 'the north' would realize what they had and preserve it and celebrate it. The hope that things would continue and even be better than before or be as good as before was short-lived and by then it was too late. OMG now I'm starting to tear up. IYKYK, right? 😭😭😭 I think that's why I need to go back ... but then again, no. No easy answers. 💔

[@davidwong825]

@ honest to GOD, don’t go back, unless , u somewhat want to be a martyr or sort, sadly, not joking,

[@masahirogo3330]

家=加sound except家lasts slightly longer than 加. 家=kaaa 加= ka

[@masahirogo3330]

It depends if you are from 廣州or 香港

[@Than211]

As a native speaker, it's a little odd to learn and understand the idea of tones because it comes so naturally to me. That said though, because I've learned a little bit of Mandarin, I can understand how daunting the idea of learning tones are. I personally don't feel like there are THAT many tones because when I speak, I'm not consciously thinking about getting tones exact and I think that kind of goes back to how tones are now being merged and 'eliminated'. For the most part, I feel like that getting it 'close enough' and people are not misunderstanding you, that is what really matters (especially for a non-native speaker) - I've noticed living in the US that US-born Cantonese speakers aren't even completely accurate with their tones. An example I like to use, however, when talking about tones, are the words "buy" and "sell", misusing tones here can really be confusing because you can't tell contextually which one is being asked; e.g. asking a shopkeeper "Are you buying?" vs. "Are you selling?" because the topic is about making a purchase. I think similarly, talking about the L and N sounds and how they are now kind of used interchangeably almost kind of shows how the language is evolving and that might not necessarily be a bad thing, especially if it makes it easier for people to learn (there's no point in being the only person who speaks Cantonese the "correct" way if you have no one to talk to, right? LOL). I'm not saying that Cantonese shouldn't be taught properly but if the rest of society doesn't feel like adhering to those rules, then who am I to enforce it?

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on tones! 🙏 Teaching a language is quite difficult because you don't want to be so strict that you discourage people from learning, but also don't want to be so lax that you're considered a terrible teacher ... and then with the language (any language) changing constantly, there is that to keep up with as well, plus some may think you're not qualified to begin with! ☺lol. If I think about it too much, it's exhausting and then I get discouraged myself. Progress over perfection is what I tell myself all the time for pretty much anything I'm doing .... videos included 😅 I guess what I'm saying is while it's impossible to enforce, and it's tough to feel like you're fighting a losing battle, I don't know how to teach it other than the way I know it, and if it's been changed or changing, well, then at least students know why they may hear it different ways or be told that there are different ways to say it. I guess like in English (kind of), I'm thinking words like "sus" ... few would say the whole word "suspicious" in place of it, even though that's what it means...and I had to look this up because I'm old haha and also because I wasn't sure if it was "suspicous" or "suspect" it stood for (apparently can be both since they mean the same, but most definitions say "suspicious"), but anyway, apparently the abbreviation has been around since the 1920s (so says the AI description) but only gained traction after a video game in 2018. Now even my little nephews who are 7 years old are using it! So in teaching it, I would have to teach the whole word, then say while that is the proper word, no one will say it like this in casual conversation nowadays. You can, of course, but 'sus' will be more likely. Not a tone difference, but the same idea of teaching what is proper and what is being used. Ah, language! So much fun. 😂🥰🤗

[@Than211]

@@CantoneseCorner I totally get it, especially seeing as how Cantonese isn't really seen as a proper language/dialect and we even have to make up some characters to compensate for that fact. That said though, teaching it how you know it is probably the best anyone can ask for with a language/dialect like this and I can totally respect that. Also yes, Among Us totally revitalized the word "sus" but it was kind of born out of necessity than 'just because' - it mostly came about because in Among Us, you're trying to find the mole/killer and you only have a limited amount of time to discuss who it is (similar to Town of Salem if you're familiar with that), so having to repeat "suspicious" over and over again and each player saying it really cut into the amount of time you had to get to the relevant information so that is how "sus" was born (or used). Now in casual conversation though, "sus" is used more casually, more akin to "something fishy" or "something isn't right" about person/thing. It is interesting how pop culture changes the way we talk though - speaking of, I'm not quite sure where "cap" originated from and I'm still not quite used to hearing it, I must be getting old myself LOL.

[@LucAskAng]

恭喜发财

[@yasminejade]

6 tones 9 sounds. If they r merging, my opinions are: 3 merges with 5. And 4 merges with 6 It is funny that many native Hong Kongers and native Cantonese speakers are educated in their native language's phonology. This is unthinkable for a Mandarin speaker which must know Pinyin or Chuyin

[@Bevis888]

2025 year🥳🎉

[@joyceloyoutube]

I don't think they are merging... But not sure if the younger kids or teens are pronouncing things differently.

[@jasoncollins865]

Still think I prefer Yale Romanisation. Jyutping doesn't feel particularly natural with the pronunciation.. "zek" - "z" "zou" - "j" "jan" - "y"

[@masahirogo3330]

You say 今incorrectly