Cantonese Slangs

I just don't use any of those "latest slangs" (that I know of, which is old news BTW) just in case people listening don't know what I am talking about...

My parents are more updated in the "latest slangs" department than me

 

The thing is that using too much of the latest slangs from HK in north america just seems weird to everyone because no one else talks that way. Even if other chinese people understand what you mean, they will still think you are weird and abnormal.

 

wow 'bang king kong" -__-

 

true that yo. haha I know like 5 canto slangs that I'm familiar with but have never used it with anyone cantonese. It's a different culture in north america than in hk, something normal there could very well sound vulgar here.

 

That's possible too, now that you've mention it... I don't think much about cursing in English (only to the extent as fraggin', b*tch and the likes) but I would eat my own tongue before willingly cursing in Chinese without discomfort...

 

and it gets kinda weird if you weren't brought up in a culture where everyone talks cantonese. I would speak cantonese only when it's absolutely necessary like to my immediate family and maybe at a restaurant and never to my chinese friends or ever use slangs,

 

I speak to people in the language they are more comfortable with (unless they wanted to practice their non-native language)

So ending up with speaking Cantonese with Cantonese people, Mandarin with Mandarin people, and English to CBCs

 

actually haike has the chiense slangs, those other posts are phrases, the slangs are to say of write something but in a shorter form, so i cant think of any, but what haike posted those are slangs

 

What I define as cantonese slangs are phrases or words that cannot be interpreted literally. Doesn't necessarily have to be in a shorter form.

 

And somehow nobody's manage to spell my nick correctly?! -huh

 

so funny: gum zyan.

 

Anyone care to translate that into Chinese characters? I don't understand the second pinyin... -mellow

 

... Cantonese Slang can't be translated into written Chinese
Good sample is: "are you afraid" (lee loot) in slang

 

Not true, most of them Cantonese slangs does have the Chinese character, although I must admit that even less people will know the Chinese character >.<

 

If you look at TVB dramas and they use slang, you will read totally different translation.

 

Because the person who sub the TVB dramas is not very good with the language? JKS

'tis true, not many people know what the characters are for those slangs, they just substitute it with something of similar meaning >.< lazy bums...

 

I think TVB series are mostly in cantonese, so if mandarin speakers want to watch them, they would have to look at the subs. If cantonese slang is written out, it would make no sense to mandarin people.

 

the reason they will not write the spoken slang is that people may not understand it. So what they do is write the meaning of the slang in the subs.

Also remember spoken cantonese is not the same as written chinese, so the subs often are different to the spoken but will convey the same meaning

 

Just watch Jan Lams stand up comedy.... ul remember only two phrases..... "Chiew diy lung!" and "ging gao siew!" which means "super retarded" and "super funny!"

 

"hat jiu pai, gum dai"- if you don't know that means black label, gold trim is actual name for a certain gang in Hk