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The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

cantoscrolls.com

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Re: The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

#21

Post by fearedbliss »

gfaure wrote: post #10

> - Characters starting with the vowel i sound more an e. Therefore, "to invite", 請 (cing2), sounds more like ceng2, and "to hear/listen", 聽 (ting1), sounds more like teng1. As a Cantonese speaker, I love the effort here! However, the above isn't correct. This is an example of vernacular vs. literary pronunciation, and 請 has both pronunciations, depending on context. For instance, 請 is ceng2 when used as the verb "to…

Thanks for that! Yup I'm well aware of the differences between literary and casual (and of course the differences between Standard Chinese and Written Cantonese). My goal for this project is to help preserve and teach the Cantonese language based on my understanding (which is still improving), but more importantly teaching it as a completely independent language because that's what it is. In this instance Standard Chinese or any sort of literary pronunciation is essentially useless to me since people aren't speaking that way, and I also am a strong believer of writing the way you speak. Mandarin speakers also used to have this problem until the mid 1800s when the transition from 古文 to 白話 took place, and standardized on Beijing dialect.

And you are definitely right about 懶音. They are both explained in the same section not because they are the same thing but because they are both modifications occuring for the sound pronunciations.

Re: The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

#22

Post by fearedbliss »

10594891 wrote: post #13

I'm confused, is there supposed to be some kind of game on the site that isn't loading for me? There are references to things like "dungeons" and "encounters" and so on, but all that I see are a bunch of pages with lists of words/phrases in boxes.

Haha. As described in the title of the game, it's a Mental RPG. The game takes place in your mind. The site only gives you the environment for you to simulate in your mind. Think about Dungeons and Dragons "Theater of the Mind" but for language learning. Every encounter with a word is a battle. You defeat the enemy once you understand it. It's honor system based given that only you would know if you actually understand it.

Re: The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

#23

Post by fearedbliss »

awongh wrote: post #19
koshergweilo wrote: post #18

This is awesome, there aren't many good resources to learn Cantonese, especially compared to Mandarin

It's crazy that in some ways cantonese is a dying language, or at least one that's being sidelined by the government, esp. as Hong Kong is being fully transitioned back to China. But just as many people speak cantonese as speak italian.

It won't die as long as we keep using it. Use it or lose it pretty much. I do think there are a lot of people that might want to learn Canto but since it doesn't have any official standardization and there being an active push by greater forces to suppress it, it would be difficult for anyone outside of Hong Kong to learn it. This is where my 粵卷 comes in. I want to continue improving and refining my teaching strategy over the years and create a standard that people can use to learn the language.

The Cantonese Scrolls is designed to run directly in your web browser (thus cross platform), portable (in that it's conveniently located anywhere you have a computer - small mobile phone, or a desktop), so you can study on the train, but most importantly it's designed to be offline and downloadable. I want the 粵卷 to be a Cantonese learning resource that is freely available for anyone in the world that view/download it, for anyone that has the desire to learn, and for it to outlive me. I do see this being a life long project so I hope I can continue improving this project over the course of my life.

Re: The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

#24

Post by fearedbliss »

Svoka wrote: post #12
fearedbliss wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I'm aware of. I believe I'm the first person to frame (and in a way "open source") a language program in this type of way. My perspective is a mixture of a lot of different things including my love for Diablo 1 (and its minimalism and simplicity) and 2 (Original, not Resurrected).

This is amazing! Consider potentially adding support for WebSpeech api to make it easier. Something like const voice = speechSynthesis.getVoices().filter(e => e.lang==='zh-HK').at(-1) const utterance = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance('你好') utterance.voice = voice speechSynthesis.speak(utterance)

Thanks for the suggestion. Take a look at my other reply above, but The Cantonese Scrolls is a project that needs to be able to run offline, directly in your web browser, with no network calls. I allow everyone to download the entire project and self study offline or self host it if they want. This serves as both a backup mechanism, and a defense mechanism against any potential government censorship by countries that don't want Cantonese to exist.

Re: The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

#25

Post by fearedbliss »

tdeck wrote: post #20
jhsvsmyself wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hop on OpenAI voice mode and start speaking. I do this for Mandarin and Spanish, it even speaks my native Afrikaans! Valuable and only $20 a month. Also, it's great because it can speak about anything, which I find refreshing rather than having domain specific resources.

I've found it often answers a Cantonese question in Mandarin. I'm not sure if that's because it converts to written Chinese, then answers the text, then reads it in Mandarin. But sometimes if you use a Cantonese specific word like 乜野 it'll be (presumably) converted to written Cantonese and then will answer in Cantonese.

哈哈。嗰個AI覺得廣東話同國語一樣.

-.-

Re: The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

#27

Post by k_sze »

Right off the bat, 小念頭, siu2 lim6 tau4 seems to be incorrectly romanized. 念 should be nim6, not lim6.

lim6 is what we call 懶音 (literally "lazy pronunciation").

The statement that "Cantonese has no formal standardization for its phonetic and writing systems" deserves a better explanation. There are in fact multiple standards, as can be seen on the website of the Multi-function Chinese Character Database developed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong:

- https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/initials.php

- https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/finals.php

- https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/tones.php

When you search for a Chinese character on the Multi-function Chinese Character Database website, by default, it will give you the jyutping (粵拼) romanization (you can select a different romanization system from the drop-down at the bottom left of the screen).

Re: The Cantonese Scrolls – A Cantonese language learning mental RPG

#30

Post by fearedbliss »

chongli wrote: post #7
999900000999 wrote: post #2

Very neat! I've only studied Mandarin though, are you aware of a similar game for that ?

I have been using Duolingo for a couple years to learn some Mandarin. Its resources are pretty good, if a bit dodgy here and there (some occasional weird pronunciations or translations). I'm really excited about a Cantonese resource though. I have a few Cantonese-speaking friends and I would love to learn some myself!

Thank you :). Definitely feel free to use, download and share 粵卷 for your learning. I'll be continuing to make improvements to it over time. This is a life long project of mine so expect more improvements as my Cantonese develops.
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