Learn Cantonese - Countries, Nationalities, Languages

[@ConnieWong-xu4kk]

Thank you for the excellent explanation of the difference between "gwok" and the lazy tone of "gwok". I am a native Cantonese speaker but grew up in America. I cannot tell the difference before but now I know. Thank you.

[@jop3193]

Excellent video. Please continue to make more. I appreciate the explanations, pace and duration of your video. I was looking for Cantonese videos that would be appropriate for kids and found your video to be good for all age groups.

[@lexaaxel916]

Great! Yes, I hadn't noticed the similarities between the Cantonese word for Macau, Australia and Europe! This really helped! :) Thanks Sue! Hope you're doing well!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi there! So nice to hear from you and I'm glad this helped. All is well ... and I hope for you, too! :)

[@kennychwk]

as Hong Kong, one thing I want to remind, England is 英國 but not also, because we also call 英格蘭 also, why have this case? it's because we all know the UK has a quick complicated politic system, and the early people don't understand, as nowadays, people know more of the world UK= 英國, England= 英格蘭 are being common

[@CantoneseCorner]

Kenny Chan thanks for commenting! I am glad you pointed this out because technically I should have discussed the rather complicated relationship and introduced 英格蘭, but chose to go simple and short. (Now if I were doing a video on football ⚽️ teams, that would be a different story! ☺️) Your comment sparked a discussion with a British English colleague of mine about how English people would likely use the term British to mean English, but the Scottish and Northern Irish and Welsh would not. And how nowadays people are so much more aware of things like you said that perhaps one day it will be more common to say 我係英格蘭人 instead of 我係英國人 to mean they are English and not meaning British but because of the history and tendency of the other countries to not use 英國 ，I think for better or worse the two will always be conflated. Thanks again ... it’s all so interesting!

[@mrtsiqsin2290]

Thank you for the video, Sue. If we are talking about the UK or Britain, we say 英國, but if we want to refer to England particularly, we would say 英格蘭. By the way, some names or characters are different in HK, the mainland China and Taiwan, e.g. Australia: 澳洲 (HK, Taiwan); 澳大利亞 (mainland China) Italy: 意大利 (HK, mainland China); 義大利 (Taiwan) New Zealand: 紐西蘭 (HK, Taiwan); 新西蘭 (mainland China) Singapore: Now most people in all three places say 新加坡, but some would still say 星加坡. That's why we often say 星馬 to refer to both Singapore and Malaysia, but never 新馬. Cantonese pronunciation of 星 is closer to the English 'sing'. For cities, I can think of two names that are quite different in the three places: San Francisco: 三藩市 (HK); 舊金山 (mainland China, Taiwan). Personally I don't like the name of 舊金山 (literally means 'old golden mountain' which has something to do with its history) because it sounds old-fashioned and snobbish. Sydney: 悉尼 (mainland China); 雪梨 (Taiwan). Both are common in HK, but now it seems only the older generation would say 雪梨. '雪梨' is actually the name of a kind of fruit, i.e. the pears in yellow colour.

[@CantoneseCorner]

MrTsiqsin Thank you as always for such an in-depth reply with such great information! :)

[@-wil2013]

Hello everyone. 星 is the same pronunciation as the English word 'sing'.

[@sannywong9718]

Hi Sue. So happy to see more videos. I did not know how to say many of these countries. I love learning from you and hope to see more lessons. Are you going to do online lessons?

[@ESPNGai]

Thank you, i've always been confused between Australia and Europe in Cantonese.

[@puccarts]

YAAAYYY!! Sue Marguerite! I'm soooo happy you've made another video! I always look forward to your videos now because they are my ABSOLUTE favourite Cantonese Language Learning videos online (You're so much better than Cantonese101 IMO). I always remember the most from your vids :) I'm still just a beginner but I've improved massively since I've started watching you, even if I knew the content, watching you always really solidifies it! Can't wait for the next one! Please do let me know if you are on iTalki or do any online tutoring, too! :)

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi there!! Thank you so, so much!! I really appreciate your taking the time to let me know how much you like the lesson -- I'm completely bowled over (do people say that anymore? :D LOL) and have a big happy smile on my face. Yes! I'm working on online courses and tutoring -- aiming for a September 1st launch at www.cantolingo.com. Stay tuned for that, but in the meantime, I'll be getting more videos up on KZbin this weekend and explaining more about what's to come. I'm excited and so glad to know you are, too! Thanks again for all your support and, of course, happy learning!! :)

[@puccarts]

@@CantoneseCorner Wow congratulations on launching the new site, soon! (Yes, I know that expression!) If you don't mind, I'll shoot you over an email just to say hi and reach out. I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled and I have your video notifications turned on so I'll be sure to get the latest news. All the best :)!

[@diva3713]

i think a lot of people also say 日本語，and for those of you who are still learning，the character is pronounced 'yúe'，same pronunciation as fish (魚) 。it means language，but it's a more traditional character compared to 文 。also thanks for the video！！

[@Yopee]

actually 語 is used in japanese for languages. 文 is used in cantonese to refer to separate different languages. 語 is used in cantonese mostly to refer to language groups rather than a single language.

[@CantoneseCorner]

You're welcome, and thanks so much for adding to the discussion and helping others to learn -- I love it when this happens! :) I can add that in Yale, 語 is written as "yuh" (low rising), and because Chinese likes to pair its characters, 語言 (yuh yihn - LR and LF tones) is a way to say "language" if you're meaning something like "I speak five languages" . And definitely 日本語 is used ... I always found it interesting how even Cantonese can use the 語 character with the 粵 to be 粵語 which is completely different from 廣東話! (I'll have to edit this when I get back on my computer that allows me to put in accent marks easily :) Thanks again for commenting!

[@unavailable2577]

Thank you very much!!!!

[@CantoneseCorner]

You're welcome! Thanks for commenting to say so! :)

[@ccuuttww]

This video is very sensitive especially at this moment Hk people is struggling their identities for my self I am Hong Kong citizen with birtish passport and chinese apperance

[@mrtsiqsin2290]

Do you know those who fled to Hong Kong from mainland China during 1970s and 1980s have no BNOs? If they hadn't done this, their children wouldn't be able to be born in Hong Kong. And those born in Hong Kong after 1997 have no BNOs either? It can be rather annoying to boast about your British passport when some others have no such luck.

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi there ... your comment really made me think deeper about all that's going on here and how complicated it all is in terms of passports -- as Mr Tsiqsin explained. I know that when my husband went to get his passport renewed a few years ago, he actually opted to get a HK passport for the first time over renewing his BNO (he falls into the "able to get a BNO (British National Overseas) passport" category) ... and he did so because the BNO was so expensive to renew and anyway doesn't give him any right of abode in the UK, and nowadays the HK passport seems to be pretty well accepted around the world. Whether that will be a smart move remains to be seen! (And btw, he doesn't have a US passport nor green card since we've never lived in the US, so that's all he has passport-wise.) Just curious...do you mean that you have a full British passport, though, and also a HK passport? If yes, then I think that that's the best of both worlds, but also not -- because it's like your caught in between ... rejected by both sides on some level -- is that fair to say? I know it's true for my family ... sometimes I think it must be easier if you have only one option -- and so HK people who are struggling with their identities confuses me because it's pretty clear cut -- much more so than say the third culture ppl who may want to belong to HK and be known as a HKer but who may be rejected by the "more local" population. For me, I have lived here longer than anywhere else but am very aware of how - no matter how long I live here - that I am a "guest" in this wonderful place. Meaning that I know that at any time I could be asked to leave and I'd have no right to stay ... and this has given me such an appreciation and gratefulness for the fact that I CAN stay here for however long that is. I hope I never get asked to or are compelled to leave! I really, really wish that the government/education system/parents had taken/will take the lead in promoting HK as more than just "Asia's World City". I actually did a music video some years ago called "Hong Kong Makes It Work" with a friend of mine. I'll have to dig it out and post it. We submitted to the tourism board, but never heard anything back. Hmm....maybe it's time to try again :)

[@ccuuttww]

@@CantoneseCorner Don't worry no one will ask u to leave at least most of the local people won't do that Hk is always open and wellcome to everyone who is the member of civilized world I know a lot of foreginer who settled down in HK for many years like my revended he come to HK since he is 25 and he is now 85 years old he is holding EU passport with italian tiles(the border in Europe always change his place have governed by German/Austria before during Wold war II his culture background not that italian lol) he speaks cantonese not that fluently as u but no one think that he is a guest If u really want to promote HK u should do it by yourself because the goverment not just push HK into "Asia's World City" it is "Barbaric PRC City" I will suggest u to introduce 玄學,Mafia movie,comics Martial Arts Story like (倚天屠龍記) to foreginer and bring some US element to local young people at the same time I have a video talking about Donald Trump in 玄學 kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5CQkHyVobN4rac can u repeat it in English?

[@CantoneseCorner]

@@ccuuttww Thanks! I agree ... HK is quite accommodating! I will have to watch the video when I get time -- thanks for sharing it. I was able to find the video I was talking about before ... have a look! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXrWY5yYatx7gqc

[@ffudon]

Great delivery, ho ho yau sam ;-)

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much! :)

[@dawnnadir]

Love your videos!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much!! I'll be making more soon. :)

[@dazzmand]

Hi Sue, I’ve only ever seen Australia and Europe written (if in Yale) and spoken without the Ng at the start. So Australia would be Ou Jau and Europe would be Au Jau. I thought I was going crazy so I looked it up in a few online dictionaries and my Pleco Chinese Dictionary app and it also doesn’t have the Ng at the start. Do you know why this might be the case?

[@AznDudeIsOn]

Yaht Bun is supposed to sound like Nippon instead of sounding like Japan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Japan BTW, Great video! I enjoyed it! I learned a lot, I didn't know about the w in gwok and the official way to say Japanese. It's very common in casual speech to say Yaht Bun Wah (日本話), as another commenter has already mentioned.

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thanks for the link -- so interesting! (I admit, though, that after reading about all the different names and origins of Nippon and Japan that it kind of made my head spin :) I didn't even think of "Nippon" ... makes sense though! Interesting, too, how Dutch uses "Japan" because their "J" sounds like "Y". Thanks again for sharing all that! :)

[@philho1565]

@@CantoneseCorner Japan is an interesting one. If you look at the Kanji representation, "Nihon" and the Chinese "Yaht Bun" are written exactly the same way. 日本 If you take the literal translation of Nihon as "the Sun's origin" as in the linked article, 日 in Chinese typically means "day" but in archaic use, can also mean "sun" Also in archaic use, 本(Běn) can be used to mean "origin". So "Yaht Běn" in Cantonese has the same meaning as "Nihon" in Japanese.

[@joetam538]

I've always wondered what's Turkey the country in Cantonese? Is it really "fire chicken"?

[@rb4108]

I've also heard China referred to as 大陸 daai6 luk6. What's the difference between 中國 and 大陸?

[@Yopee]

大陸 literally means big land so it's used to refer to the mainland

[@CantoneseCorner]

H there! I'd say it's the difference between saying "China" and "the Mainland". Most everyone I've ever heard when referring to China in Cantonese here in Hong Kong would say 大陸 (and 大陸人 when referring to a person from the Mainland of China). I hope that helps ... great to hear from you! :)

[@choiwaynekiet]

you can also say 日本話

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thanks, Wayne! :)

[@tszwahyeung1410]

應該係歐洲人火藥時代開始征服其它民族。澳洲土著嗰陣可能仲係石器時代，好多大型動物溫馴得無可救藥，啲歐洲殖民者去到澳洲打獵食晒佢哋就絕種，不過仲可以見到袋鼠，可能見佢得意唔捨得食。美洲土著係印第安人，迪士尼有套動畫「風中奇緣」講歐洲人殖民美洲嘅故事。仲有就係非洲，好多非洲人運去做奴隷。一帶一路其實係某種新殖民主義，控制世界島就控制地球大多數領域。

[@tada512tada5]

What is korea in cantonese?

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi there! 韓國 (hon4 gwok3 in jyutping and hòhn gwok in Yale) is how to say (South) Korea. North Korea is 北韓 (bāk hòhn in Yale and bak1 hon4 in jyutping) Hope that helps!

[@zen-wondervlogz9244]

Philippines in Cantonese please

[@Solomaster49]

Old Cantonese people will say 法蘭西 Instead of 法國🇫🇷。西多士=法蘭西多士。文 and 語 are interchangeable 英文；英語。

[@CantoneseCorner]

Solomaster49 thanks for much for commenting! It couldn’t have come at a better time since I had just posted to my Instagram channel @cantonesecorner about French toast and had mistakenly thought that the sāi 西 in the sāi dó sí 西多士 simply stood for “west” - had no idea France is also (and I’m guessing more properly?) known as Faat laahn sāi 法蘭西 and so that’s where the sāi comes from. Thanks so much for the lesson! 🙏😁🙌