Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Cantonese Jyutping Basics (粵拼 jyut4 ping3)
Learning Cantonese is Hard
As someone who has embarked on the journey of learning Cantonese on my own, I understand the struggles that come with trying to learn a new writing system that is so vastly different from our native language.
Chinese characters, with their intricate strokes and their numerous quantities, can be daunting for non-native speakers to learn. Not to mention that there is no alphabet in the Chinese writing system, so you will have to rely on committing these characters to memory after years and years of study.
How can new students of Cantonese learn the language if they can’t read Chinese characters?
The answer is simple: Jyutping
In this blog post, we’ll go over the basics about what Jyutping is and how it helps you learn Cantonese.
Let’s go!
A Prologue: Understanding the Writing System
Before we dive into Jyutping, let’s address a potentially confusing point first: the Chinese writing system.
There are a couple of different things you should keep in mind when trying to understand what writing system is used for Cantonese speakers.
The two main distinguishing points that you should be aware of are:
- Traditional vs Simplified Chinese Characters
- Standard Written Chinese vs Written Cantonese
1. Traditional vs Simplified Chinese Characters
Differences between Traditional and Simplified Characters
If you aren’t familiar with any Chinese language or dialect, you might not know that there are actually two writing systems for Chinese characters: Traditional and Simplified.
These are two writing systems used to represent the same set of Chinese characters.
Let’s take a look at some example words:
时间 (simplified) and 時間 (traditional)
The above is the word for “time” in Chinese.
喜欢 (simplified) and 喜歡 (traditional)
The above word here is “to like” in Chinese.
Notice in this example how the first character (喜) is the same between simplified and traditional Chinese. Therefore, it is important to note that not all Chinese characters have a different variation between simplified and traditional Chinese.
History and Current Status
After the 1950’s, there was a push to improve the literacy of the Chinese population and an attempt to “simplify” the current popular script was put into effect. As a result, simplified Chinese characters were promoted for print materials and encouraged as the main choice of script.
Currently, simplified Chinese characters are used by people from China, Malaysia, and Singapore, while traditional Chinese characters are used by people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau.
2. Standard Written Chinese vs Written Cantonese
Standard Written Chinese
Standard Written Chinese is a unified writing system that is shared between all the various Chinese languages and dialects. It is mostly based on Standard Northern Mandarin Chinese and is used as the official writing system within China.
In the context of Cantonese, Standard Written Chinese is actually used for things like official documents, literature, and song lyrics.
The important thing to note, however, is that Standard Written Chinese does not always use the same characters, grammar, and phrases that Spoken Cantonese uses.
Let’s look at an example together. The phrase “I want to go home” in Standard Written Chinese might look like the following:
我要回家 （ngo5 jiu3 wui4 gaa1）
If you were to read the above out loud in Cantonese, people would understand you but no one in their day-to-day life would say that phrase in that way. Instead, Cantonese speakers would say:
我要返屋企 （ngo5 jiu3 faan2 nguk1 kei2）
Notice how the word choice changes. We used the word 返 (faan2) for return / go back instead of 回 (wui4). Also, we used the word 屋企 (nguk1 kei2) for home instead of 家 (gaa1).
This can be incredibly confusing for new Cantonese learners so make sure you understand the differences so you won’t get confused when you are reading song lyrics from your favorite Eason Chan song (or any other Cantonese musician).
Written Cantonese
If we look at the above example, the words 返 (faan2) and 屋企 (nguk1 kei2) are words specific to written Cantonese.
Written Cantonese uses a character set that is aimed to capture the actual sounds and words used in everyday speech. You might see Written Cantonese in internet forums, messaging apps, business signs, etc.
Writing System Summary
Now that we have a little bit more insight into the different Chinese writing systems, let’s take a look at how Jyutping is involved.
What is Jyutping?
Jyutping is a Romanization system designed specifically for Cantonese. Its primary purpose is to assist individuals who are unable to read Chinese characters or are in the process of learning them. The main users of Jyutping include learners of Cantonese, Cantonese teachers, and linguistics students or researchers. Essentially, Jyutping acts as a tool for language learners to be able to have a way to read and write Cantonese without having prior knowledge of Chinese characters.
The Importance of a Romanization System
In my opinion, every Cantonese learner should invest in a specific Romanization system, whether it be Jyutping or some other system. Having such a tool at your disposal provides predictability in pronunciation which will be a HUGE help for you to learn Cantonese.
With a Romanization system, you gain a set of rules for pronunciation, enabling you to take notes, comprehend those notes, and read them aloud. You are then also able to look up definitions and pronunciations online and vocalize them effectively.
Additionally, it gives native Cantonese speakers and Cantonese teachers a way to transmit the idea of how a word sounds in a standardized way. That way, if you want to ask how a particular word is pronounced in Cantonese, your Cantonese teacher can give you a standardized response without having you second guess the difference between different “Englishified” ways to write a particular word.
A note of caution though: native Cantonese speakers might not even be aware of the existence of Jyutping. In my personal experience, when texting native Cantonese speakers, their messages often contain phonetic approximations of the corresponding Cantonese or Chinese characters based on their interpretation.
Jyutping Example
First I want to encourage everyone to check out the official Jyutping website for a detailed guide on how to use the system.
As a quick overview, let’s break down a word in Cantonese together and see what the Jyutping is for it.
Take the word: 今日 (gam1 yat6) for example. This word means today in English.
If we look at the first character, 今, we can see that the Jyutping consists of 3 major parts:
- Initial (g)
- Final (-am)
- Tone (1)
These elements provide a precise framework for pronouncing every character. Every single Cantonese character will have at most these three components (some words might not have an initial).
Practicing Cantonese Pronunciation with Jyutping
You can see all the different initial and final sounds in Cantonese here on this table written on the official Jyutping website. The website is incredibly helpful as well as it provides audio recordings of each sound.
Once you get the initial and finals down, you can start working on the tones. Cantonese tones are generally hard for native speakers of languages that are not tonal by nature. You can take a look at the Tone Practice page on the Jyutping website to start improving your tones. Don’t be discouraged, mastering the Cantonese tones will take some time so just spend a little time each day to practice and you’ll get there in no time!
A Note on Jyutping vs. Yale
Some of you might already be familiar with Yale, which is another Cantonese romanization system. In the realm of Romanization systems for Cantonese, Jyutping and Yale are the two leading contenders. The majority of Cantonese learning materials employ one of these two systems.
I personally prefer Jyutping, as it seems to be the system of choice for all newer Cantonese resources and materials. Just keep in mind, that some older materials will still be written in the Yale system.
Reviewing the Benefits of Jyutping
Once you become proficient in Jyutping, your journey to mastering Cantonese becomes significantly more accessible.
Whether your goal is to read and write Cantonese characters fluently or to improve only your Cantonese speaking an listening abilities, Jyutping will become crucial to helping you learn faster. Jyutping will empower you to start bridging the gap between the Latin alphabet and Chinese characters, making Cantonese more approachable and comprehensible.
Trust me, once you have a strong grasp on Jyutping, you will start seeing your Cantonese learning progress skyrocket. Jyutping is a valuable resource for anyone venturing into the intricate world of Cantonese. It is a powerful tool that simplifies the complex Chinese writing system, enhances your pronunciation skills, and accelerates your journey to becoming proficient in Cantonese.
Conclusion
I hope today’s post helped some of you get a basic understanding of Jyutping and allowed you to feel more motivated to study Cantonese. And if you some more details about how the system works, be sure to check out the official Jyutping website for more details.
See you all next time! haa6 ci3 zoi3 gin3!