Basic Cantonese. Help?

[Tae Li]

Joedoe, im laughing my arse off!!!! i didnt know you had a sense of humour!

and im sure i am quite cabable of taking out all those actions but its more ROMANTIC when the guy see's you making an effort in HIS very difficult language.....then see how you get rewarded...lol

Tae Li

aahhh....serpent......i might be considerably younger than J et Li but id stil you know what with him ANYDAY!! he just takes my breath away, and for your information im learning mando so i can communicate with someone....not you.

btw...your quite enthusiastic yourself!

[jon]

Joedoe

"jon - maybe the poeple that keep using 'sifu' have watched too many kung fu movies Or maybe they genuinely respect him and that is their way of showing it."
* Nah there just all trying to annoy me i know it, its a big plan just to get to me They all plot and conspire!

Seriously though i respect him more than most there, im one of the few who darn well makes an effort to show up reguarly!
For all of there posturing and 'sifu' this 'sifu' that most of them train about once a month and then talk or sit down the whole time there 'apperently' training.

Im just having a vent dont mind me...
I have no problem with people being respectful towards there sifu but having a good instructor does not make you a good student and all the posturing in the world wont make him gain respect from your talent.
If i want to impress my sifu ill get good to a level where people know who i am and where my play comes from.
Calling him master every five seconds will not get that done any faster.

So yeah there is my big stink for the night, ive even managed to hide it within a perfectly innocent thread.

[crumpet]

it depends on context, for eg. ng hay is closer to 'that's not it', than it is to a basic no. if you're offered tea and don't want any, you don't say ng hay, you say 'duk loh' which means 'it's ok'. of if it's something a bit more formal, you can say 'ng gun ngiu' which means it's not a prob. these aren't the literal translations btw, literal translations mean diddly squat when it comes to context. 'mo' is the simplest 'no' you can get in cantonese as well. someone asks for a cigarette, you say 'mo' and wave your hands around a little. for yes, you can say hay, yau (have) or yiu (want)

for goodbye, there are 2 i only ever use: bye and jao lah, which means "i'm going now" (jao means to run) joi gin is very formal, kinda like konnichiwa in japanese, even though everyone thinks it's a standard goodbye. those 2 means 'farewell' rather than seeya.

thank you- doh jeh (formal) ng goi (colloquial) same thing with context... if someone gives you a present, you say doh jeh, if they give you tea, you say ng goi.

if you're non-chinese, you can always get away with saying the wrong word just as long as you use body language with it. if someone pours you tea (sorry, i have a yum cha restaurant stuck in my head!) and you say doh jeh, which i think is too formal, you can get away with it by bowing your head a little at the same time. though you should really be tapping your fingers, but that's ok

and jon, you should ALWAYS address an elder by their title, it's very rude to just start off a sentence like we do in english. he probably doesn't mind it from what you say, but just keep it in mind for other elders you might come across. also, don't ask if he wants tea, just pour.

[dezhen2001]

in my experience: being one of the newest students of my Sifu, i'm often the tea boy... When the cup's empty, just pour! Especially if it's your Sifu or Sigong! They'll tell u if they don't want any more

trains good awareness and gong lik for my wing chun

david