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How to say “Merry Christmas” in Mandarin & Cantonese?
聖誕快樂 （圣诞快乐)
Mandarin:sheng4 dan4 kuai4 le4 (all 4th tones)
Cantonese: sing3 daan3 faai3 lok6 (all 3rd tone but the last one 6th tone) Read the rest of this entry »

“The Qingming Festival (traditional Chinese: 清明節; simplified Chinese: 清明节; pinyin: Qīngmíngjié, or Ching Ming Festival in Hong Kong, Vietnamese language: Tết Thanh Minh), meaning Clear and Bright Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival on the 104th day after the winter solstice (or the 15th day from the Spring Equinox), usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar (see Chinese calendar). Every leap year, Qing Ming is on April 5th.”

For 2003, 2007, 2011, Qingming is on April 5th (leap year every four years), but for 2001-2002, 2004-2006,2008-2010, it falls on April 4th. So this year 2009, we will have Qingming Festival on April 4th, the same for next year 2010.

“Qingming is a statutory public holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It has long been a public holiday in the latter three jurisdictions, but became a public holiday in mainland China in 2008 for the first time since 1949.”

Qingming was frequently mentioned in Chinese literature. Among these, the most famous one is probably Du Mu’s poem (simply titled “Qingming”):

清明

杜牧

(source from wikipedia)

Other English names of this festival: Tomb-sweeping Day (China mainland translation); Ching Ming (official in Hong Kong); Pure Brightness

(For other Chinese festivals and holidays, check out the Chinese Lunar Calender for 2009 )

清明

【唐】杜牧
清明时节雨纷纷，路上行人欲断魂。
借问酒家何处有？牧童遥指杏花村。
作者简介：杜牧（公元803－约852年）唐代诗人。

You can play or down the mp3 for this famous Tang peom in Cantonese and Mandarin here:

 

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Just found a good link for Mandarin speakers to learn Cantonese:

轻松学粤语 http://hemanhong.inetradio.cn/program/3361.aspx

11 FREE LESSONS!

You may find some good comparison between Mandarin and Cantonese too, but you need to know how to read Mandarin first. Enjoy!

1)Let’s continue to compare Cantonese and Mandarin pronunciation
B)There are some Cantonese sounds that do not exist in Mandarin.
e.g. Sounds with the ending ‘m’: saam1 三(three)/衫(clothes) caam3 杉(fir) sim4禅（Zen)
In Mandarin, they are pronounced as: san1三 shan1衫(clothes)/杉(fir) chan2禅(Zen)
From the above, you know that the different characters with the same pronunciation with the same tone in Cantonese may pronounced very different in Mandarin and vice versa. This causes mistakes for Cantonese and Mandarin-speakers trying to speak the other language.

By mistake, Mandarin-speakers may say saan1 ger3 instead of saam1 go3 for 三个（three items)
and Cantonese-speakers may say cen4san1 instead of chen4shan1 for 衬衫 (shirt).
In many of the cases, these Northern and Southern accents can be understood.
Sometimes, it causes lots of misunderstanding or discomfort for the listeners.
Note that we do not have zh、ch、sh、r、x in Cantonese while
in Mandarin there are no ending m (aam, am) p, t, k or initials m and ng or the following finals (added initial g, s, f to make examples):
goe鋸 soeng商 soek削 seoi需 seon詢 seot摔 syu書 syun孫 syut雪, fui 灰(no. It is not the same as ‘ui’ in Pinyin for Mandarin)

Some may want to say the Cantonese Jyutping ’s’ is the same as ‘x’ in Pinyin. No, there is a little difference.
e.g. The Cantonese syun1孫(grandson) is not the same as xun1熏(smoked) in Mandarin
The Cantonese si1gwaa1丝瓜(Luffa) is not the same as xi1gua1西瓜(water melon) in Mandarin

Maybe the subtle difference is hardly noticed for beginners.
Any feedback or correction is welcome.

Please bookmark this series for more updates soon.
We use Jyutping for all examples of Cantonese words, and Pinyin for Mandarin.

 

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The Cantonese vs Mandarin or Mandari vs Cantonese Series (1)
Although Cantonese use the same set of Chinese characters (almost… maybe 5% difference), there are a lot of differences between Cantonese and Mandarin. Not just the differences in pronunciation, but also in grammar and word usage.

Today, we are starting a series to show the differences for those who are interested.

For beginners of Chinese, we do not encourage learning both Cantonese and Mandarin at the same time. You need to learn the one that you think is the most useful for you currently for one or two years and master the basic before you move onto the other.

I hope this series is useful for those Mandarin-speaking and Cantonese-speaking learners who want to learn the other one.

I can’t stress it enough: do not learn both languages at the same time. Master one first.

1) First major difference is pronunciation between Cantonese and Mandarin
A)Cantonese has at least 6 tones (some said 9 tones) while Mandarin has only 4 simple tones plus a neutral tone, which does not exit in Cantonese
e.g.
Here’s the tone comparison between Cantonese and Mandarin:
Cantonese:fu1夫 fu2虎 fu3富 fu4扶 fu5妇 fu6负 (click for details)
Mandarin: fu1夫 fu2福 fu3斧 fu4富/负 xing4fu 幸福=happy/happiness
Note that Mandarin xing4fu幸福 is pronounced as hang6fuk1幸福 in Cantonese
Any Mandarin word with tones from 1 to 4 may become a neutral tone (some mark it with 5) when it is the 2nd character of word. e.g. 欺负 qi1 fu5 = to bully

Cantonese tones become one of the hardest thing to learn for Mandarin-speaking people, but if enough listening and practice are done, it can be overcome more easily.

Please bookmark this series for more updates soon.
We use Jyutping for all examples of Cantonese words, and Pinyin for Mandarin.

 

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