There's No "R" In Shrimp

I dislike Romanised Cantonese when it's incorrect.

Two of the worst translations, which grate at me each time I hear them spoken or see them in print, are har gau (shrimp dumpling) and char siu bau (barbequed pork dumpling).

The proper way to write them, using the Yale Romanisation system (minus tonal accents), is ha gaau and cha siu baau.

Note the missing "r"? That's because the sound doesn't exist in Cantonese; native speakers often have difficulty curling the tongue to produce the "r" sound.

Listen with care to anyone fluent in the dialect and you'll hear distinct tones in ha gaau: the first a high, level tone; the second a lower tone which rises to medium-level.

So where did the offending consonant originate?

Could it have begun with British-accented English, known for inserting the phantom "r" between words which end and begin with a vowel sound? For example: I sawr 'im coming out the pub late last night, Missus.

True, neither ha gaau nor cha siu baau fit that criteria, but the tones are suspect. Some native English speakers are tone deaf, which makes Chinese dialects all but impossible to learn.

Vocal quality is also a factor: sometimes Cantonese speakers enunciate with what I call "thick" vowels; the "a" can come out sounding as though it had been dunked in honey. Projecting from the back of the throat can garble the sound enough to add a hint of an "r".

Mispronouncing these words is forgivable, but writing them the wrong way isn't.

I know it's pedantic, but I feel the same way when people write or say the word definitely as definately.

← Older Posts · 早前 | →