Written vernacular Chinese Puns

Sorry if this is an obvious question, writting chinese is still new to me. Say I want to text my dad and he only knows chinese. I like some basic chinese words, phases and sentence. Should it be written chinese or vernacular? Or maybe does it really matter?

I grew up speaking cantonese but never got into writting it until recently.

Background:
I speak Cantonese at what I would guess as a 6-7th grade level; I'm an ABC with parents and grandparents that only spoke Cantonese so I have solid basic grammar and basic vocabulary. However like many of you with similar stories, I can't read a menu, struggle with intermediate vocabulary and Cantonese TV news might as well be a foreign language. I decided I wanted to get better at speaking and reading. This is how I did it.
Quick and Dirty Guide:

1. Watch Cantonese media on Youtube:
   https://www.youtube.com/user/bobsyouruncle1981
   https://www.youtube.com/user/Bombafunnylife
   https://www.youtube.com/user/BombaVideoPro
   https://www.youtube.com/user/dante21222324
   https://www.youtube.com/user/wingshantsui
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTnIsR6EbLydNkQ-OafJccA/featured
2. Download Pleco on your phone. Make sure to enable all Cantonese libraries. And set the review testing to Spaced Repetition. I used paid version.
3. Go to comment section of the video you just watched and copy some highly rated comments. Make sure you watch the video first!
4. Paste comment in to Pleco and translate. Boom, you now just read something funny and/or insightful, and makes sense in the context of the video you just watched!
5. Add words you don't already know into your Pleco vocabulary list. I do anywhere from 10-50 words or compound words a day.
6. Everyday review all vocabulary in the Spaced Repetition Test.
7. Download Anki for your phone and/or use web version. Install this deck: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/763798048
8. Practice your Cantonese along with the Anki Audio and add words you dont know to Pleco and review Pleco vocabulary.
9. Repeat

Results:
About 10 hours a week for 3 month I have learned to read about 800 words/compound words. Mostly I already knew these words because I speak at an elementary level but now I can read! Its pretty fun because I'll read some Youtube comments and be all like 哈哈哈...that was funny. And sometimes I'll read whole paragraphs and think wow that was 簡單! You also pick up a lot of Standard written Chinese too and vocabulary that you didn't already know. Eventually I want to start reading newspapers. I can practice my vocab anywhere; while sitting on the bus or taking a break at work, you just flip through the Pleco app.
TLDR:
Learning how to read written Cantonese/Standard Chinese when you already know how to speak a little is way easi

I'm an agnostic who has never read the bible but is interested in doing so. I have tried in the past but struggle to get past the very old school grammar and ways of speaking (similar to people struggling to read or enjoy Shakespeare).

Is there a re-written version? Basically, I would love to read a few hundred pages of a modern author retelling the story. Any options?

Story featured today that's making a big splash as it's a "step towards diversity":

https://people.com/human-interest/american-girl-unveils-first-chinese-american-girl-of-the-year-doll-corinne-tan/

> American Girl's newest "Girl of the Year" is making history.

> The famous brand unveiled Corinne Tan, its first Chinese American "Girl of the Year" on Thursday. Corinne is described as an avid skier who lives in Aspen, Colorado, where she "loves hitting the slopes, being a big sister, and training her new puppy."

> The brand shared on their website that Corinne and her story help young girls "embrace family change," "share feelings," "stand up to racism" and "tackle problems one step at a time."

> Corinne's story was developed by author Wendy Wan-Long Shang, who also helped craft the character of Gwynn, her little sister.

> Shang said in a statement that she hopes Corinne can provide better representation, according to a press release shared on Thursday.

> "What I really hope is that there is some part of Corinne's story that makes readers feel seen, whether it's because they are Asian American, or because they're part of a blended family, or because they love skiing," Shang said. "I think when readers feel seen, they realize that they matter and their experiences matter, and that they are meant to be the stars of their own stories!"

More:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10358685/American-Girl-rolls-companys-Girl-Year-doll-Chinese-descent.html

> The doll's backstory, written in two short volumes by 'The Great Wall of Lucy Wu' author Wendy Shang, takes place in the exclusive Colorado ski town. There, Corinne Tan and her younger sister Gwynn - the toy company's first 'little sister' doll - ski and skate, adjust to their parents' recent divorce and move to a more posh part of town with their new stepdad.

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/american-girls-2022-doll-year-trailblazing-skier-corinne-81979527

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/video/meet-american-girls-2022-girl-year-doll-82000830

https://www.today.com/parents/parents/american-girl-introduces-first-asian-american-girl-year-doll-rcna10427

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/meet-corinne-tan-american-girls-142258645.html

Here's a spoiler filled recap/review for Corinne's first book: https://www.americangirldollnews.com/post/corinne-meet-book-summary-with-spoilers-and-revi

Since Cantonese is pretty similar to Mandarin Chinese, would it be possible to be able to read vernacular Cantonese (without knowing how to pronounce it) by just memorizing the equivalent vocabulary for each Mandarin word?

For example, 是 => 係 , 不 => 唔 , etc...

Is there an Anki deck for this or something similar? Any experience trying to do this?

(Apologies if this is not the right sub）

How prevalent and pervasive were regional dialects in Ming and Qing vernacular novels? I came across this early Qing novel 豆棚閒話 somewhere and instantly recognized what appears to be Wu Chinese:

只見那五十三格大石礓礤上跑起三兩個來，道：“可是那位官兒要尋唦 白賞朋友麼？我去！我去！”和尚道：“弗要亂竄。一夥做淘走去，憑渠揀罷哉

Are there other pre-ROC vernacular literature that were written with influence from dialects? How common were they?

Thank you for the overwhelming responses. I can’t get to all of you because I didn’t expect this to be as massive of a question as it turned out to be, so instead I’ll give all of you who offered explanations a wide thanks

Hello,

As a heritage speaker who is improving their Cantonese through the use of Jyutping, I'm interested in the idea of learning Chinese characters one day in order to read colloquial Written Cantonese.

But can someone explain to me what makes Written Chinese "Mandarin"? I've heard that the grammar or syntax follows that of Mandarin but what does that really mean? I have no literacy skills in Chinese nor do I speak Mandarin so please explain it to me as if I was a child.

How is it that Chinese characters don't work for whatever language that adopts it (similar to an alphabet)? Doesn't Japanese employ the use of kanji successfully in their writing system?

Why are there certain words that exist in Written Cantonese that are considered "informal" in Written Chinese?

Any help would be great!

I remember reading a required literary book in HS where the characters are mostly African American and it was mostly dialogue iirc. The main character is a woman who experiences a lot of romantic and financial hardships. Towards the end her spouse got bit by a dog with rabies and became rabid himself.

But the thing with this book is that the text was written *with the Southern twang*.

Ex: I'm just picking with you -> " Aah'm just pickin wid ya. "

Hi y'all, I've been studying the Reformation lately and my book wrote about how the introduction of the Bible into multiple languages resulted in other books that would have otherwise used Latin being printed in local languages instead (things like philosophy and science). I was wondering if this transition also changed the way those languages were written and spoken, and in what way.
Thanks in advance!

I remember seeing ROFL a lot more about a decade ago, along with the other two mentioned. But it seems like over the years it’s been getting used less.

Why do we think this one was left behind?

Like, if a Chinese or Japanese person were making a drawing that just happened to include a square, would they draw it with that same order, as if it were ロ?

in classical it's "hear", as you can tell with the 耳 ear

wondering how that change in meaning happened

I’m wondering about words that do not have corresponding characters. Like in Taiwan, are there colloquial words and phrases that are said but cannot be written in Chinese? I don’t know much, but I feel there a very common words from different dialects that do not have hanzi. Or have all these words been transcribed by pronunciation?

Is there a good phone app that scans written Chinese on paper and then translates it to English? Trying to help our kids with their Chinese homework.

Cuneiform: 𒐕𒄄𒀹𒊮𒀀𒌋𒑰𒄖𒀸𒉌𒉘𒉽, 𒊺𒂜𒀸𒍝𒄿𒀹𒋙𒄿𒑰𒅕𒍪𒌦𒀸𒄿𒉘. 𒊿𒀸𒆗𒋙𒀭𒀸𐎳𒂗𒑰𒄷𒌦𒑠𒊭𒀭𒀸, 𒍪𒌋𒀹𒍝𒄿𒀹𒆷𒌍𒀹𒆗𒋙𒀭𒑠𒂄𒀹. Original Chinese riddle: 一个小姑娘，生在水中央。身穿粉红衫，坐在绿船上。Translation: A girl lives on the water. She wears a pink shirt and rides a green boat. (A plant)