Tones are key in Cantonese: learn this language skill to avoid some awkward situations

Subscribe to our KZbin channel for free here:
sc.mp/subscribe-youtube
Learning the subtleties of tones in Cantonese is more important than you think. Luisa Tam teaches you how mastering the pitch contours of the language can help you avoid some awkward situations.
Follow us on:
Website: scmp.com
Facebook: / scmp
Twitter: / scmpnews
Instagram: / scmpnews
Linkedin: / south-china-morning-post

[@tigress63]

She explains this so well. I understand why some Cantonese speakers also sound so unusual when they speak in English. They associate the tonal with words and not the meaning/context of the sentence. In Western languages we have tones that go lower to express statements, but raise towards the end as a question and we use intonations within a sentence for emphasis and clarity. Just like in Cantonese, you have a word that can have more than one meaning (generally they are spelled differently in Western languages and are dependent upon context as opposed to tone). English has four more consonant sounds I understand now why when individuals immigrate to a western country why the speech patterns sound unusual to westerners and that the emphasis on tone from their native language sometimes sounds like the speaker is raising their voice as opposed to using a speech intonation. This now makes complete sense. It is obvious to everyone that they are vastly different approaches to communication. But for English the whole sentence gives context to a word and not the tone; of course the opposite is true for Asian languages. Some of us really needed to hear the examples slowly in a few different ways to understand this difference. Thank you so much for the explanation.

[@sylvansheen8598]

As a mandarin speaker who is learning Cantonese currently, I can finally understand the struggles of TONES for non-Chinese speakers.

[@megabigblur]

Next time SCMP does another one of these Cantonese learning videos, please put the tone numbers in the subtitles to help people who are trying to learn.

[@williamcll]

Going from Canto to mandarin easy, not so much the other way around

[@stevencvisuals]

Totally true!

[@stevencvisuals]

I can easily pick up mandarin

[@RomanesEuntDomus.]

Yeah, but I think learning Mandarin first prepares you for the more complex system of Cantonese. I'm currently learning Chinese characters and the Mandarin pronunciation and plan to start Cantonese next year

[@ruhmuhaccer864]

@@RomanesEuntDomus. How has it been going? My experienc was that Mandarin made thinks more difficult. Since you can't unnature the rather intense tones of mandarin compared to cantonese's softer changes in tone and tone level.

[@wifferste]

When I started learning the language, I remember how frustrating the tones were. But now, I hardly think about them and focus more on listening and repeating how I hear it. Funny thing is it makes sense now because when I hear someone not saying it correctly, it feels wrong.

[@enricostucchi3415]

Lucky you... I tried but no way to figure out... And my family in law are hers but no way... They play me on in my cantonese

[@wasantube]

Same as Thai language: different tone = different meaning.

[@Air-Striegler]

....but also same tone, different meaning!

[@lewjames6688]

Yes but at least with Thai they use an alphabet. So, they get to "cheat".

[@Andsleeter]

Probably because of all the cantonese people in Thailand.

[@MoPoppins]

Vietnamese, too.

[@rc-xv4xq]

Sawadikrup

[@chrisdooley6468]

Having lived and worked in HK I made many blunders while learning on the fly so to speak. I learned very little mandarin because Cantonese was the de facto language for just about everyone. I find it beautiful and to my ears sounds better than mandarin imo

[@leealex24]

Outside of HK and maybe Guangzhou, Malaysia has probably the next highest cantonese speakers at least 3-4mil people especially in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Cantonese has a very high status among ethnic chinese in Malaysia.

[@penguinlim]

@@leealex24 also, chinese centers in the US such as the Bay Area in California have many Cantonese speakers (especially restaurants and older folk)

[@dlm6207]

don't forget "hongcouver" (vancouver) where cantonese is used everywhere!

[@peterpaullee9952]

Need to learn it before it is all Mandarin in HK 😣

[@lexo3121]

i started learning cantonese pretty much for that reason 😔

[@user-vj4ih9pp9z]

@@lexo3121 Mandarin can understand all. Cantonese not soo much. Mandarin is very popular.

[@HeyUncleA]

꧁T͓̽i͓̽t͓̽t͓̽y͓̽F͓̽r͓̽o͓̽s͓̽t͓̽e͓̽r͓̽M͓̽c͓̽D͓̽r͓̽a͓̽m͓̽a͓̽꧂ nope

[@gamermapper]

Free hk, not only à mandarin 🍊 from the ccp

[@stevencvisuals]

I don't think hong kongers will switch languages. I think they'll try and preserve it!

[@ajisenramen888]

There are 68 Million native Cantonese speakers in China which is equivalent to the number of native Italian speakers. A fun fact I learned today.😀

[@Ale-zo7ii]

And I'm an italian who wanna learn cantonese ;) 😂

[@druganema8219]

68 Millions insane people. Completely

[@leealex24]

Outside of HK and maybe Guangzhou, Malaysia has probably the next highest cantonese speakers at least 3-4mil people especially in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Cantonese has a very high status among ethnic chinese in Malaysia.

[@foreveranon6940]

@@Ale-zo7ii just curious, what interests you? i think canto is a wonderful language, but doesn’t seem like many westerners are interested. if anything mandarin is a better language for the west because it’s “useful in business.” don’t let anything stop you from learning canto :)

[@Ale-zo7ii]

@@foreveranon6940 first of all thank you very much! Well I've been studying Mandarin since over 3 years or more now, and i always liked Asian cultures and languages. Hong Kong's history is so intereting to me, but sadly not many people know about it here. I also think that learning Mandarin is a very big challenge as a westerner, and using the knowledge i have about Mandarin to learn Cantonese would be like killing two birds with one stone. Some other reasons i love Cantonese are that its phonology is very unique and many things in general didn't change much from middle Chinese, unlike Mandarin. It's kind of sad to me that many parts of China are losing their language/dialect, they're a big part of the regions' cultures. Right now I'm soooo busy with school and there aren't many resources to learn Cantonese so i don't think i can make it soon, but I'll sure start learning this awesome language in the future:)

[@sr.liam17]

In Mandarin, there is a famous poem called The Lion Eating Poet In the Stone Den. It is made up of only Shi sounds but different tones.

[@RomanesEuntDomus.]

Ok...

[@user-bx8sj6qm3w]

And the "youngest girl attacking a chicken" one with only ji with different tones and hanzi. it's so funny I love it.

[@blindwhy]

Ok but who asked?

[@Ztama12]

@@blindwhy No one did. No one asked for you to comment either though, so what's your point?

[@user-ux1jh2ro1n]

Yeah, but that is not understandable in speech to mandarin speakers, it was made to try and serve as an argument to the need of characters in mandarin

[@fushigidane888]

Please keep this up! These videos about Cantonese are amazing and fascinating!

[@user-bk8sk5cl2o]

00:05 I don't believe it at first, but when i show this video to my mum, she understood that sentence straight away. Now I am a believer.

[@Chan-me5wg]

People who don't understand Cantonese may think that she sounded like a goose In fact, what she said was, "That (this) brother is taller than that brother."

[@RaymondHng]

@@Chan-me5wg _Older_ brother, not younger brother.

[@Chan-me5wg]

@@RaymondHng well I didn't say younger brother

[@RaymondHng]

@@Chan-me5wg No, you did not say younger brother. But saying brother alone is ambiguous.

[@Chan-me5wg]

@@RaymondHng still don't get why you are being so serious

[@zoranivkovic1980]

Tones are my nightmare, but after your videos I feel more relaxed. Thank you for your explanations and - greetings from Serbia.

[@ilovelimpfries]

Easily the best thing I learned today.

[@panzwes5993]

This is a fun video to introduce people to Cantonese; I quite enjoy reading the articles on SCMP too, so hopefully there will be a few more videos to come - how about common foods (or slang words for food)?

[@LNG_3]

I think she was trying hard not to say 打飛機 😂😂😂

[@RomanesEuntDomus.]

I don't speak Cantonese but that's the same in Mandarin 😂😂

[@angiethompson5648]

Wow.. this is fascinating... and so confusing.

[@bcskqc]

to use everyday and less contrived examples, 買賣 (buy and sell) , 夫婦 (a couple, literally husband and wife), these are common terms used everywhere. Also the exact same word with the same meaning can have different tones depending on the context, such as when one says 一 盒 朱古力 (a *box* of chocolates) vs 一個盒 just (a *box* ) . For the term 哥哥 in that tongue twister like sentence, the 1st and 2nd 哥 have different tones.

[@SquidandCatAdventures]

Love the examples

[@ban6096]

Dear Ms.Luisa Tam, Thank you very much for your classes. I would like to wish you and the newspaper staff

[@user-hn5xp5xk7x]

Who’s a Cantonese speaker here? Rmb that one Cantonese tongue twister ‘Every country have its own anthem’ LoL and this one is = Gó go go gò gòu gwó gó go go gó 💀

[@hazelng5157]

It means "that older brother is taller than that older brother" directly translation

[@kori228]

on top of that, the "gwo" word (过/過) is pronounced as "go" by many speakers informally, so it's go2 go3 go4 go1 gou1 go3 go2 go3 go4 go1

[@BAn-mu4qe]

Thank you for this informative and amusing video.

[@Andsleeter]

Excellent examples

[@brenthung1632]

Thanks for the Masterclass/

[@samtasticpanda9914]

Hakka and Teochew =) So many dialects

[@jvstvorothii]

my grandparents speak Hakka.

[@sarah-dq5rl]

I want to learn Cantonese 😭

[@perfectstudents8361]

A funny Cantonese word I learned from my Malaysian friend is: Aussie /ohsee/ means "to defecate" 😄. Australians may be offended.

[@Chan-me5wg]

Lol, me and my friends use "Mars Language" (unofficial romanized Cantonese). There, Organs (Or Gun Si) means 屙緊屎 aka pooping

[@ai00436]

I live in australia and my singaporean parents said that to me lol

[@joshuawongyh]

Malaysia Cantonese is diversify

[@Skystryfe]

@@SomPrax LOOOOL

[@leealex24]

Outside of HK and maybe Guangzhou, Malaysia has probably the next highest cantonese speakers at least 3-4mil people especially in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Cantonese has a very high status among ethnic chinese in Malaysia.

[@olivier0092]

amazing! could you please do a video on lazy tone?

[@doitnow4320]

Need to learn Cantonese

[@joshuakurian4827]

Wow gee, the subtitles really help here...

[@EppingForest304]

Brilliant 👍

[@Akira794613]

Awesome 😱👏🏻👏🏻

[@VirtuaFighterRPG]

Id love to learn Cantonese. I fell in love with how it sounds. Its so so expressive more than English. Can anyone help me learn this? Learning a language from asia is a dream of mine

[@waichingor1529]

Hi j, I am a Canto tutor, are you still interested in learning canto?

[@manucg8655]

Hello... what happened?

[@JWentu]

A serious question, I am really wondering about this. People normally tend to have voices with very different pitches (at least this is my experience from travelling throughout all of Europe). I guess the same happens in China. So if a set of letters changes meaning with the pitch it is pronounced with, how does this work with a person that has a low-pitch voice, in the bass register, for instance. It seems strange to me that a tall man with a very profound deep voice has to squeal in falsetto to be correctly understood. Does the frequency of the sound to produce a high tone need to be high in absolute terms or just high relatively to the speaker's voice? In order to produce a high tone do I need to emit a sound that is at least a certain amount of Hertz or does it need to be high frequency with respect to the rest of the sounds I can produce? Thanks

[@oui_liam]

it's the same for train and truck, there are very similar in cantonese

[@ahmadsantoso9712]

wow that is a superior language

[@vincentlui1456]

As a cantonese native speaker, I find it quite difficult to pronoun this few words which have the similar pronounications. As you know, there are nine tones(=or you can say there are nine intonations.), referring to different meanings. Therefore, if you really want to practice cantonese, the first thing you should do is to distinguish the differences between Mandarins and Contonese. Being confused to the words, they might easily mix up the words together and people might not be apprehensive to what you've said.

[@evelinecarolinelienhuaming1184]

Woaw Hongkong Cantonese is Very Unique!!! 😀😁😀

[@Zergcerebrates]

HK isn't the only place that speaks cantonese, the same cantonese is spoken in Macau and the entire province of Guangdong, 80+ million speakers.

[@upinderkumar8189]

china great country and cantonese language and luisa tam leng nui beautiful south china morning post

[@kori228]

she has a bit of an accent when speaking Cantonese, interesting 女 is neoi/leoi for most speakers from what I've heard, rather than nui. Sounds more like Taishanese here. her 菜 and 除 sound really similar, a lot closer than what I usually hear.

[@user-qb4ke6gm5b]

yep

[@Crieslol]

By just imagining those scenes im starting to feel embarrassed although it has never happened to me 😂😌

[@4637812648]

Tonal languages are compensating for a limited number of syllables. They are tricky to learn and heavy to use.

[@stevencvisuals]

Not gonna lie it's very true. I grew speaking cantonese as I have parents from hong kong. But I mainly spoke english as i went to a school in UK. Its fun being a bilingal

[@Chan-me5wg]

Very fun though. It is tricky when you don't have much grammar, but it is so fun when you get used to it, since you have so much freedom it moving the words around. There are also fascinating colloquial words :3 Such as "la la lum" , which tells people to do sth quickly when you are a bit annoyed. "Ma guai fan" means troublesome , and guai (ghost) is usually used when one is joking around / annoyed Therefore, foul languages in Cantonese are even better :p

[@jamz391]

We have the same thing in Tagalog, “Bababa ba?” meaning “Is it going down?”

[@rc-xv4xq]

Pacquiao bababa ba

[@karaqakkzl]

Barbarian in European languages describes of non-Europeans speak nothing but Bar Bar, so Tagalog is Barbarian all the time?

[@johnsungunlee]

Cantonese: *Leng* nui = pretty girl English: *Leng* = very attractive person Hotel: trivago

[@RaymondHng]

The number sequence 一六二四 (1624) in Cantonese sounds like 一路易死 (one road easy death).

[@Bevis888]

👏😆👍Cantonese is so fun~

[@danieIturner]

It made sense to me because I am from Hong Kong.

[@AmbiCahira]

A similar one in Swedish; Far, får får får? Nej, får får lamm. / Father, does sheep get sheep? No, sheep get lamb.

[@secretname1957]

🙏🙏🙏

[@Erik_Emer]

Wish the subtitles came with tone markers.

[@RomanesEuntDomus.]

香港人 need to fight to preserve their identity and culture and protect it from China! Please don't sell your soul to the CCP 香港 加油!!!

[@SoroushTorkian]

I mess up sugar and soup regardless of Canto or Mando lol... also the word iron (as in ironing)

[@scorpio252000]

It’s an interesting video. With all due respect, I think she’s making Cantonese harder than it really is. First of all there are only 6 tones. The 3 additional tones or sounds are just ending consonants. Secondly when one is speaking in a sentence there not much lost in the meaning even if the tones are a bit off. In addition, like all other languages, Cantonese have various dialects and accents so the 6 tones don’t always apply with other accents.

[@hultonclint]

Yeah, it seems like 90% of Cantonese speakers tell that lie about "9 tones" and use these exceptional situations to make it seem impressive.

[@leenlurvetop8162]

LOL!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤣🤣🤣

[@just4therecord]

For a non canto speaker this is so confusing. As a canto speaker, this is hilarious 🤣

[@fakhrianirsali6380]

Me when I watch this vid in HD: *WiFi不破!!*

[@sushigoose_]

So.... Tong for sugar sounds lower and tong for soup sounds a bit higher?

[@even___]

Ruushii Sushi yes

[@breadyegg]

Sugar 4th tone (low descending), Soup 1st tone (high tone)

[@Karitorii]

Tong also means candy btw

[@JayJay-cz3lr]

Wait till they find out about Shanghainese, Hokkien & Hainanese.

[@chrisdooley6468]

Not to mention Fuzhounese too lol

[@mbvie]

WHAT THERES MORE

[@Stryker-ye7wn]

Then you got Taiwanese

[@stonechen6231]

My parents spoke like 4 languages if you count dialects

[@ajisenramen888]

Taiwanese minanyu is a form of Hokkien just like Penang Hokkien

[@carlranns6658]

The Cantonese for Sunday and Monday are Sing Kei Yat and Sing Kei Yat

[@Nurjahanislam01]

How to say #disable

[@susanralph274]

save the righteous and fun and happy language we don't mind the difficult! save the world

[@cecilia86zj]

What is Choi sum?

[@user-zf3ol9eg3v]

Question, Do Chinese and Cantonese understand their dialects each other?

[@cee_el]

Most canto speakers can understand mandarin but most mandarin won’t understand canto.

[@anameidonthave7957]

They can't understand each other. I have to consider both Cantonese and Mandarin are different "language" for exactly, not a "dialect".

[@ginalee7148]

Native Cantonese speakers understand Mandarin is just because they have been taught the language at school, not that they’re born to understand Mandarin.

[@RaymondHng]

The _spoken_ language is called Mandarin (普通話/國語). Mandarin and Yue Cantonese (粵語) are non-mutually intelligible spoken languages. The _written_ language form is called Standard Chinese and it is understood when read by speakers of either spoken language.

[@Bruhh221]

@@cee_el how?

[@gregorytennell833]

That sentence reminds me of coco on fosters home for imaginary friends.

[@ai00436]

Bruh I'm a Cantonese speaker and got caught off-guard at the start ww

[@mandy811]

honestly, i grew up speaking cantonese but as i kept growing up, im more fluent in english than canto and sometimes i pronounce the tone wrong abd how to say some words in canto which is kinda awkward when my relatives always speaks to me lol

[@anisaguine]

The fun part is when you totally know the correct way to say it, but your tongue is so used to English inflections that it automatically screws up your tones and makes you look like an idiot...

[@mandy811]

@@anisaguine so true 😭

[@secretname1957]

That's why I did not Force my self to learned Cantonese because sometimes I forget the tone

[@user-mt8xr6pg6h]

i might randomly say tong tong for sugar soup one day lol.

[@carlranns6658]

"Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo" makes perfect sense to any English speaker ... well not quite

[@MinhLe-wj1cd]

This happens in Vietnamese too

[@bearbearcutecute]

Avoid choi sum at all costs in HK unless you want to be a panda.

[@bearbearcutecute]

Watch at 2:36

[@blueraineee]

@@Jtzkb You'll get punched in the eye - bruised. Like how pandas look.

[@leandrobayonito]

Just like Thai, Khmer, Laotian, Burmese, intonation may be so hard for me to learn. It takes time.

[@BuzzCruise5743]

To learn Cantonese have sence if you already can speak Mandarin.

[@MeowBockbock88]

Not quite. Tones used in Cantonese arent exactly the same as in Mandarin. Mandarin only hve 4 tones, plus one neutral tone. But cantonese hve it more. And without sharp ears to catch the difference, even a Mandarin speaker find it hard to learn Cantonese.

[@ijansk]

Maybe it is better to learn the tones through the words themselves because when I watch videos on Cantonese tones and they are taught on a tone chart dome tones simply sound the same.

[@buffal0008]

*Im so fluent in nothing that I don't understand this at all.*

[@andreyv116]

Lack of tone numbers (or diacritics) in the subtitles is unfortunate

[@dzzthink3655]

not putting the number tones in subtitles makes this video hard to get

[@angelor.8582]

I heard Cantonese people try to speak English with British accents before. That was... yeah.

[@ericyang3212]

free hk

[@juliettebaysinger46]

Practice makes permanent not perfect

[@ic3yboy]

🐔🐥

[@hectorvelasco8823]

"bababa ba?" "bababa"

[@sweiland75]

How can you hear when you're unconscious?

[@ats6880]

Haha. I'm Cantonese and I can't even get the tones right😅😂

[@vipmonicake]

Dang, I couldn’t tell apart the two Ngo, I and the goose :(

[@joshuawongyh]

I'm expecting her to say dah fei kei

[@jacobcheung2661]

Oh c'mon.... (for those who don't know, dah fei kei, literally meaning "hit the plane" is a slang term for pleasuring oneself, especially males.)

[@WbZ-sb9si]

Fo gei can be turkey.

[@steven97wong]

Fo Kai is Turkey

[@officialnyiyanmoehtet]

ကျောင်းကြောက်‌ကြောင်ကြောင်းကြောင့် in Burmese (Myanmar) means "Because of the situation of the cat being afraid of school."

[@krypalex9537]

One of those awkward situations is when you're doused in petrol and asked to prove that you aren't a spy reporter 😂

[@firosuke]

what if I want the waiter to take their clothes off, but they bring me a plate of choi sum instead?

[@RayMak]

Hahahhaha not many people get this

[@alvarezkentalfe521]

How are you here?

[@thrasherkind4327]

@@alvarezkentalfe521 yes

[@mehhhhh421]

Come on, I just started understanding Mandarin tones

[@prettytse7762]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jun8206]

It's actually 嗰個哥哥高過嗰個哥哥

[@markculshaw224]

She says there are nine sounds and six times .... Bull .... There are six modern tones ( there are no sounds ...) The top tone can be top flat or top drop which suggests actually 7 tones still used

[@enricostucchi3415]

Lost my hope to learn it.... Quit from my course as well! But still love watch lam videos, unfortunately Hker not so friendly if you don't speak properly.... For them time is money so they don't like to waste of time with someone who does not speak clearly.

[@koostory1776]

Maybe the Chinese Government should tone down it’s police control to the Hong Kong people.

[@mochichichi2458]

Nahhhh they doing alright 👍

[@eugiboy1]

I mean, but this is a tongue twister.

[@harveyliuistrong9669]

Tonal language is not perfect for oral, but is very suitable for print media due to its picturistics. Short messeges in chinese are very concise and rich in meaning. In the future human being will skip oral communication and exchange information via brain wave, just like short messeges. Picturistic language will show its advantage.

[@gasun1274]

你講咩呀