Note

[WongHua]

My boyfriend (廣東人) wrote this for me, i was only able to read some of it, and i tried translating but i can't distinguish some of the characters.

He wouldn't tell me what it said because he "didn't exactly know how to say it in english".

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me translate this! ^ ^

I would ask my friends but they all know him so i don't want it to be awkward hehe~

Thanks!! ^ ^

[leeyah]

It's written in Cantonese. Here's my try:

我吾知同你有没结果。但是我同你认识两个月时间真系好开心。同你在一起的时间过的真快。你知道吗？爱一个人很难，但有一个这么爱自己的人更难。

o m zi tong nei jaumei gitguok。dansi o tongnei jansik loenggo jut sigan zanhai hou hoisam。 tong nei zoi jathei dik sigan guok dik zan faai。nei zidou ma? oi jatgo jan hen nan, dan jau jatgo zemo oi zigei dik jan geng nan。

I don't know what will become of us, but I was very happy these two months I spent with you. Time with you passed so quickly. You know? Loving someone is not easy, but it gets even harder when someone loves you so much.

[Hofmann]

It's not pure Cantonese or pure Mandarin. It's quite odd. If I were to read this aloud, some parts would be in Cantonese and other parts would be in Mandarin.

In Cantonese, it would be

我不知同你有無結果，ngo (too lazy to add tones) m zhi tung nei jaumou gitgwo,

但係我同你認識兩個月時間真係好開心。 daanhai ngo tung nei jingshik loenggo jyut shigaan zhanhai hou hoisam.

同你一齊忌時間過得真快。你知不知？tung nei jatcai ge shigaan gwo dak zhan faai. nei zhi m zhi?

愛一個人好難，但有一個恁愛自己忌人更難。oi jat go jan hou naan, daan jau jat go gam oi zigei ge jan gang naan.

Edited July 18, 2009 at 01:48 AM by Hofmann

[Ncao]

My boyfriend (廣東人) wrote this for me, i was only able to read some of it, and i tried translating but i can't distinguish some of the characters.

He wouldn't tell me what it said because he "didn't exactly know how to say it in english".

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me translate this! ^ ^

I would ask my friends but they all know him so i don't want it to be awkward hehe~

It's not pure Cantonese or pure Mandarin. It's quite odd. If I were to read this aloud, some parts would be in Cantonese and other parts would be in Mandarin.

I thought this kind of writing was only common with people from HK. I thought the people in Guangdong would use pure standard Chinese (Mandarin) because of the Mandarin education.

[BrandeX]

yes

[Hofmann]

Hong Kongers are also taught Vernacular Chinese. This kind of writing has nothing to do with what they're taught, but whether or not they care enough not to mix up languages when writing. If it had to do with what they're taught, this guy probably wrote like this because his Cantonese sucks, not because his Vernacular Chinese sucks.

[Meng Lelan]

this guy probably wrote like this because his Cantonese [bleep], not because his Vernacular Chinese [bleep].

Ok, well, then show us. Re-write his note in pure Cantonese for us.

[calibre2001]

Should be 唔 not 吾

[HashiriKata]

this guy probably wrote like this because his Cantonese sucks, not because his Vernacular Chinese sucks.

I wouldn't judge his Cantonese so severely. The note is intended for someone very intimate to the note-writer, and not something to show off his writing to cold (and probably jealous ) readers; therefore, mixing up languages in this type of writing is a very natural thing to do, especially in a mixed environment.

[leeyah]

Exactly.

I don't think OP will be interested in our discussion here, but nevertheless for all the 'cold' commenters who started it, I'd like to say the text is a good example of Guangzhou Cantonese, a mixture of Mandarin & Cantonese. The same goes for the writing, basically no strict rules for Cantonese as it is a dialect, not offical language. And I'm sure all who have been to GZ will agree that t is quite common to hear a person being asked in one and getting the answer in another, all the time. But it sounds very cute actually when you hear kids switch them, or better say 'mix' them in conversation.

Re-write his note in pure Cantonese for us

Well, actually, I think he already did that

using 有无 jaumou instead of Mandarin 有没(有)：我不知同你有无结果

(although 有冇 jaumou is just 'totally' Cantonese, or?)

using 但系 instead of 但是: 但系我同你认识两个月时间真系好开心

using 一齐 jatcai instead of 一起 jathei: 同你一齐忌时间过得真快。你知不知？

(although 你知唔知? would IMHO be 'more' Cantonese in place of 你知道吗?)

& adding words in: 爱一个人好难，但有一个恁爱自己忌人更难

(although I'd have used 咁 & 嘅 instead: 但有一个咁爱自己嘅人更难, but I'm just a learner, so... )

Thank you Hofmann.

But, what romanization is this you're using which has sh- instead of s- in 认识，时间 & zh- in place of z- (dz-)?

Here's 恁 , but can you please 指教 more on the use of 忌? Archaic? Bookish?

Edited July 19, 2009 at 05:23 PM by leeyah

[WongHua]

Leeyah! Thanks so much for the translation!! you're great!! ^ ^

He is from 恩平 and speaks the local dialect, maybe that's why it's written differently than standard cantonese, also colloquial mannerism maybe?

Thanks everyone for your very interesting input

[Hofmann]

Re-write his note in pure Cantonese for us.

請見 post #3.

basically no strict rules for Cantonese as it is a dialect, not offical language

Standard Cantonese is official in the Hong Kong S.A.R. But that doesn't really matter. As long as something is a language, it has rules on grammar and vocabulary. Therefore, Shanghainese, which is not official anywhere (as far as I know) also has rules that can't be screwed up.

The romanization system I used is a slightly modified version of Jyutping to differentiate alveol-palatal affricates and fricatives from alveolar affricates and fricatives. To turn it into normal Jyutping, change all /zh/ /ch/ /sh/ to /z/ /c/ /s/ and add tones.

恁，咁之正字也。Completely interchangeable with 咁 when it means "如此." Same with 忌 and 嘅 when it means "之."

And don't misquote me!!!

I said

If it had to do with what they're taught...

[vampire]

恁，咁之正字也

:shock:

[Yan Hoi]

Good job, leeyah.

But the last line "Loving someone is not easy, but it gets even harder when someone loves you so much" would be more accurately translated as:

"Loving someone is not easy, but it's even harder to have (find) someone who loves so you so much."

The difference is subtle, but crucial.