How to Speak with Numbers in Chinese

In the West, we use acronyms for online chatting and texting such as BRB and LOL. For the Chinese, we use numbers!
Cantonese version: e.ntd.tv/17dLVVZ
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MOBILE LINKS: More OTGW Vids!
First Date: Asian Girl & White Guy (ft. The Kloons): e.ntd.tv/11waABT
Diary of the Deprived Asian Child: e.ntd.tv/10M0yfz
The Complicated Chinese Family Tree: e.ntd.tv/X97aBJ
The Complicated Chinese Family Tree - Cantonese Version: e.ntd.tv/XLW8Tf

[@CelesteRug]

I can imagine kids in china during class passing their calculators to their crush instead of love letters

[@jxstin8091]

Celeste Rug I’m in Malaysia and it just happened

[@chanelplayz2407]

kids in China dont use calculators in classes

[@edlynmongoc7781]

Yeah..but its quit interesting..

[@NowhereBeats]

It's funny that 555 means crying. In Thai 555 means laughing.

[@insertnamehere4793]

Lol nuce

[@chromicreads5064]

555 yeah ikr!!

[@minghansong2412]

I was just thinking that.

[@yasminramzan6959]

Lol

[@Averagebum21]

+Jaw Ji 555 = Ha ha ha!!

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

That's the reason why we made this channel. For people to understand Chinese culture. We are glad we are able to help people. :) Thank you!

[@luzdalucy]

Yizhan brought me here🙈💚❤️

[@duaashaikh-pv4ow]

So mee

[@liluoke]

this was so amazing. for an ABC trying to connect back to chinese culture, your channel is #1. i applaud every video you guys make

[@MisskacangPink]

174-yi qi si DIE TOGETHER. xD

[@FlashCue]

Even though I'm Japanese 4 is also means death in my country. Thats why in Japan theres no such thing as a 4th floor and 4th room.

[@basbas63]

Please tell me there is a movie that has the cheesy name 'the 4th floor' xD That would be cool actually ^^

[@RaymondHng]

4 = death also exists in the Korean language.

[@niuniu113]

Ahhhhh, I just found you guys' videos today, while looking for videos to learn Chinese. You guys are soo great! The videos are soo interesting and funny! :D Keep making videos! :)

[@kauemoura]

你們的視頻越來越好！謝謝你們！加油！

[@leeleehenry293]

I just love to hear you guys speak in your language its so intriguing thanks for the video

[@tulioeduardo7815]

love it. My Chinese friend tried explaining this to me once, didn't quite get it. But your video explains a lot. thank you

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

It really depends on how similar the sounds are with the words. We will have a Canto version coming up soon!

[@illisssy]

This is really creative!! I would have never thought there to be so many ways to communicate just by using numbers. Love it, can't wait for the Cantonese version =D

[@autumnleaf1973]

Never understood anything about the numbers until I watched this episode. Thanks. You are so NB!

[@dragonbore5733]

还有1783174一起爬山一起死, it means let's hiking and let's die together. lol

[@evawuchoi2642]

Thank you for updating us all these modern knowledge... PRETTY COOLLLLLLLLL!

[@LianneLeong]

YAYYYY i needed this!! thanks!

[@chiaraa2983]

By the way, love your face at 1:40! 😂 "三八 means "biatch???" 😂😂

[@ffffiona]

no~~~~~38 means a little bit crazy bitch is婊子【【Don't say that to others

[@evelyneschuurman3699]

I thought 38 was a term for middle-aged women who like to gossip..

[@chozang520]

dont say 38 to any chinese girls。if U do， they will kill you。

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

Never intended for the video to be funny but glad you enjoyed it. It is very interesting what Chinese people do with numbers.

[@pinkperfectionss]

Love this video! :) More please!

[@SYSan86]

Thank you!!! This is so funny and now i know where it stands for

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

The Cantonese version of How to Speak with Numbers in Chinese is up! Link in the description!

[@eggy543]

No one: Some random Singaporean: 0:40

[@lythsian]

This was the funniest thing I've seen since YESterday!! Still, I've never thought of numbers being like that. I thought it was very funny, especially 555.

[@richarddebideen9870]

great vid I learned a lot keep up good work

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

It's for people to tell the difference between 1 & 7 in telephones/serial numbers/room numbers etc. And for chatting homonym purposes it's sometimes yao, sometimes yi.

[@HeavenlyHappy]

I'm totally subscribing .. That was hilarious.. I love Chinese everything❤

[@frenchmakeup]

So interesting! Thanks!

[@AsianY0uTubeGuy]

IT'S ME LAAAH!!! ROFL!!! I couldn't stop laughing. Had to play that over and over XD

[@Darwin4th]

Loved the ending :D

[@ruthl8453]

9394 (makes sense in canto)

[@andrzejkowasz]

You've made my day :D

[@ShahVacations]

Love it ♥

[@maymay1889]

can't wait for the canto ver , gonna learn new slangs in cantonese -lol

[@ThatNateGuy]

Couldn't agree more. I'm totally blown away by what a rich family of languages Chinese is.

[@languageadventurerme5432]

☺ Great information.

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

I think for texting and online chatting mainly.

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

I think it's more of a formality thing. Written Chinese is definitely more formal but you can also write spoken Chinese.... if you know what I mean.

[@pekkle0724]

This is so cool. Can u do a canto version?

[@lil-lonesome-sock1079]

Oh ha! I found this really amusing!

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

Yes... doing research now. Anyone have suggestions for Cantonese ones?

[@KhushiSingh-hy6wt]

Thanks mam you helped me a lot ..😘😘

[@lucky85dog]

I love how languages/cultures are different. Pronunciation seems more important in chinese than in spanish. German is more like reading every letter written. OTGW: is (technical) written chinese grammar similar to spoken chinese, or is it different like spoken english and written english?

[@atlaspressed]

Fascinating.

[@HomasterX]

this is great, fast learning by remembering numbers

[@azoj777]

*I've also been learning Spanish. And your English is really good! How long have you been studying English?

[@jUniooOr1987]

Canto: 9394 = messing around with this and that 886 = bye bye la

[@khunmewpan7090]

I like the last part is funny haha

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

Good idea! Do you have anymore?

[@jensentung]

1:27 They spelled idiot wrong hahahah LOVE YOU OTGW

[@niuniu113]

Hahaha, I am Chinese. But I was born in Germany and I've lived there my entire life until last year. Now I am an exchange student in America and obviously I can speak English. But I am also learning Spanish since 2007. And now you just talked about the Chinese, German, Spanish and English language! :D

[@gracez8243]

LOL this is awesome

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

This used to be more of a Southern Chinese people thing since 4 and 8 sounds like death and fortune in Cantonese. During the 80s when the market expanded, it moved to the north as well. So I guess the recent 20-30 years that it spread all over? I don't think traditionally ppl associate numbers this way since they actually have deep cultural meaning too.

[@jonathansarial8466]

imagine kids listening to the word death but you have great teaching skills

[@ZdrytchX]

When I encoutnered this I thought the ywere talking in alt-key codes, but of course there are too many characters to memorise, so this makes much more sense.

[@narshad24]

Thanks Carmen :)

[@putrariskiadi1906]

Shes top notch!

[@em10hu]

You'll post a Cantonese version soon?? :D

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

Thank you! And please help us share the video too!

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

You're watching it because it's interesting!

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

There is! Video will be up soon. Stay tuned!

[@rubydelaluna7591]

I love this video! :D Are there any misunderstandings with "er bai wu" and "liang bai wu"? For example when I go shopping and the price is 250 (& I don't want to offend anyone by saying that number). Or does the word er bai wu only exist in the chat language? :)

[@arntodd2322]

Very interesting.

[@TVADSNOW799]

They are random numbers. It is really interesting to see numbers used that way. I've seen letters and numbers used to create words in English. But numbers alone is new to me.

[@SuperJaaaaaa]

thats my boy :D I agree with u

[@sfighter991]

Interesting!!!

[@Janet_________]

thats so awsome you can text in numbers =D

[@user-ke3vq5se9n]

Very interesting

[@Nahmee143.]

That is so COOL! xD

[@Musiclover6404]

wow I want to learn the full language now, can you just go ahead and start teaching us via youtube like really teach us, your awesome.

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

Learn something new everyday.

[@marchenawake12]

now i get it. cool !

[@star1216furball]

The most common one IMO is: 88=ba ba= bye bye or you can also write it this way 8181= ba i ba i= bye bye

[@matty543210098]

I feel like this channel was made to prepare me if I ever fall for a lovely chinease girl :)

[@NavinKhunte]

1:03 this feels good to hear😌 As a Japanese speaker 😅😂

[@unique_BD]

Great

[@awale223]

The only ones I know are in canto and about luck so I hope you post a canto one as well!! The ones I know: 888, 168, 328... and that's really all! >.

[@femiisme9679]

Like your vids

[@JasonLoftus]

Love the show, guys. BTW, Montreal's area code is 514. "So can I call you?" "Oh, 514..."

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

Thank you. You can also check out /learnchinesenow they teach Chinese we are more about the culture/comedy.

[@chabelitacaluza]

This is interesting 😊😊😊

[@xsymphonicality]

Canto version!! PLEASE! :D

[@Watercastleshorts]

You misspelled "Idiot" at 1:28. Great video!

[@Adelle655]

Haha the end

[@hubertchen3309]

8181 - bye bye

[@CWTHenrik]

you have good accent

[@webdep51]

Good way to learn Chinese numbers :)

[@janicehuang2626]

Really, all I can say is, wow! Though I've only heard of one of them before; three-eight (yeah, don't really want to type it out in either languages. Are most of these recently invented?

[@catchmeinheaven]

It so funny! Because I use these a lot to make fun of my sister!

[@aznblueboi916]

Yes canto version please

[@snorxify]

Makes me want to watch Detective Conan w/ German Subs again, sorry of course I know it's Japanese, but for us western europeans it sounds so similar. And there are also often these games with words, probably it's an asian thing. Very interesting video.

[@franciscahernandez2243]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahhaahahahhahahahhahahaahahhahaahhahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahah thts fast and funny crying !

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

hahaha! now you can say the other numbers back!

[@apetpg]

I love this... wish i knew about this before I went to my China trip. :D 520! or was it 250...hmnn

[@tdneVmo]

means................ biatch,, :D:D Omg this is soo good!

[@juliedanceballet9212]

amazing

[@NTDOffTheGreatWall]

hahahaha! good one!

[@ReiKoko]

yeah, that's what i thought, cos a lot of them don't make sense when you say the numbers in canto. i didn't realise there were so many number-acronyms o.O

[@5233andy]

Please do one in Cantonese. 14, 18, 28, etc have varied meanings in Cantonese!

[@zoidee88]

Can you do a canto version? ^^

[@fustilarian1]

4 is also death in cantonese, 14 is "definite death". 8 is prosper. 138 is prosper from the time you were born. 3 is life (or birth), 13 is definite life.