<p>As a Hong Konger who speaks more Cantonese than Mandarin, I find it frustrating when I know a word’s canto pronunciation but not in Mandarin. I’ve tried to guess, but I often turn out inaccurate. Are there any patterns I should know to have a higher chance of getting my guesses accurate?</p>

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2024-12-26T10:32:04.380Z
impossible lah 
水巷孑蠻
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2024-12-26T13:55:55.937Z
Reminds me of a story I once read, I'm imagining it has to have originated from [Language Log](https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/) but I am not having any luck finding it again now. There was a Cantonese speaker (interpreter?) who was trying to say "India" in Mandarin. In his mind he mapped, `[dou ---> dao]`, since Cantonese `dou` usually becomes `dao` in Mandarin. He confidently went with his assumed pronunciation `yin dao`, but everyone just heard `阴道` instead!
Mou某
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2024-12-26T21:14:33.953Z
我不敢用國語說排骨，因為怕別人會以為我說屁股
Tang Ho
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2024-12-27T01:23:51.510Z
Found a summary from [@jiebin in Zhihu](https://www.zhihu.com/people/jiebin-72). The article receives several up votes, but I don't know if they are correct because I can't speak Cantonese \`_>\`.
zrsammy
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2024-12-27T22:20:23.447Z
There are patterns, but they won't be apparent until you have a few hundred characters of Mandarin under your belt, and they probably will only get you an accuracy of about 70%.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-30T16:05:24.307Z
Probably not..I'm in the reverse situation: I'm native Mandarin speaker and I'm learning Cantonese. 
pjhades
<mandarin><cantonese><pronounciation>
How can i predict mandarin pronunciation if i know a word’s canto pronunciation? Are there any patterns I should know about?
# How can i predict mandarin pronunciation if i know a word’s canto pronunciation? Are there any patterns I should know about?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-12-26)

As a Hong Konger who speaks more Cantonese than Mandarin, I find it frustrating when I know a word’s canto pronunciation but not in Mandarin. I’ve tried to guess, but I often turn out inaccurate. Are there any patterns I should know to have a higher chance of getting my guesses accurate?

**Tags:** mandarin, cantonese, pronounciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: impossible lah   
> **username_2**: Reminds me of a story I once read, I'm imagining it has to have originated from [Language Log](https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/) but I am not having any luck finding it again now. There was a Cantonese speaker (interpreter?) who was trying to say "India" in Mandarin. In his mind he mapped, `[dou ---> dao]`, since Cantonese `dou` usually becomes `dao` in Mandarin. He confidently went with his assumed pronunciation `yin dao`, but everyone just heard `阴道` instead!  
> **username_3**: 我不敢用國語說排骨，因為怕別人會以為我說屁股  
> **username_4**: Found a summary from [@jiebin in Zhihu](https://www.zhihu.com/people/jiebin-72). The article receives several up votes, but I don't know if they are correct because I can't speak Cantonese \`_>\`.  
> **username_5**: There are patterns, but they won't be apparent until you have a few hundred characters of Mandarin under your belt, and they probably will only get you an accuracy of about 70%.  
> **username_6**: Probably not..I'm in the reverse situation: I'm native Mandarin speaker and I'm learning Cantonese.   

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## 0 answers

