This part is extracted from the interview of linguist John McWhorter on Aug 4, 2011. The caller, whom I assume that she is a native speaker of Cantonese, made some really fantastic comments that exhibit many myths of Cantonese : Cantonese is a dialect…. I love how the caller replied that Cantonese is a dialect … Continue reading »
Please refer to Cantonese tone chart beforehand. I made these gifs from a TV programme that introduces Cantonese tone. The rolling lines are a poem that describes the characteristics of each tone. 平道莫低昂- level path, don’t lower, don’t raise 高呼猛烈強 – “it loudly calls, vehement ardent, strong.” 分明哀遠道 – “clear, distinct, its dull, low path … Continue reading »
I introduced GoldenDict in my previous post and now I continue to introduce its Wikipedia function. GoldenDict can show content from Wikipedia side by side with dictionary entry and audio from Forvo. This function transforms GoldenDict into a Cantonese dictionary with pronunciation, picture and even passages of written Cantonese. (Of course, not every entry has … Continue reading »
I recently found a free dictionary software, GoldenDict, which supports Stardict format dictionary file and combines dictionary entries with audio clips from Forvo.com. It can be treated as a Cantonese pronunciation dictionary. As long as Forvo has the corresponding entry, Goldendict will show it. The combination of Forvo and Stardict file allows us to have … Continue reading »
Background Info After the success of the communist revolution in 1949, the People’s Republic of China decided to use horizontal writing. All newspapers in China changed from vertical to horizontal alignment on January 1, 1956. Differences The traditional writing direction for Chinese is from top to bottom (vertical) and from right to left. The picture … Continue reading »
Here’s the address http://cantokaraoke.tumblr.com/ Tumblr blog is a good place to watch video. Its interface is less complicated than WordPress. However, one drawback is its google ranking is not good. Anyway, it is a good place for video viewing therefore I choose there and I overcome the lack of traffic problem by posting links in … Continue reading »
I was asked how to reduce the distance between subtitles for my romanized/pinyin karaokes and I offered my solution by request. Site for my .ass file (yes, it is called ass!) : http://cantokaraoke.tumblr.com/ And this tumblr blog allows everyone to view all the romanised karaokes in a neat way. Download Aegisub, which is a subtitle … Continue reading »
What is Cantonese Subtitle? Most people (including Chinese) who don’t speak Cantonese think that subtitle provided by TV stations, like the picture above, is “Cantonese” subtitle. I once encountered a person, who doesn’t speak an ounce of Cantonese, couldn’t stop arguing with me that the subtitle he saw on TV was “Cantonese”. In fact, subtitle … Continue reading »
I created a few romanised Cantonese karaokes last April but I stopped doing it afterward. Now, I am going to romanise some real Cantonese songs, i.e. songs that are written with real Cantonese grammar and vocabulary. Most of the Cantopop are just written with Mandarin, i.e with Mandarin grammar and vocabulary, and sung in Cantonese. This … Continue reading »
