Wayne Cheah

This was the song I sang. You think non-Cantonese speakers could get it without looking at the words? The local singers we met by chance were non-Cantonese.

"Every linguistic authority agrees that cantonese is a different language..." I can see why. On a group tour of a small village in China, our group of ethnic Chinese were asked by the locals, who were singing in Mandarin, to sing some songs, without specifying the language. Probably it was understood to be in Mandarin. Those before me sang in Mandarin. When my turn came I asked to sing in Cantonese, (though I could sing in Mandarin) Not sure why I needed to ask permission. Perhaps subconsciously I was thinking Cantonese was somehow not appropriate in that situation. But it was well received.

"can native speakers still hear the aspiration in 他 vs 大"?, is quite straightforward. The answer is yes. Any native speaker who couldn't would be impossible to find. In any case the semantic context in which these two words appear is so different. The words are not interchangeable synonyms. You have problems with 他很大胆? Whether a letter is aspirated or not, the ears are already tuned since birth. But I do sympathize with you as I recall my own experience when I attended by first lectures in London in 1971, with English, Scottish lecturers. I could only catch 50% of what was said.

Perhaps the words following the words in dispute might help. They are 我的情也真, 我的爱也真, 月亮代表我的心, in answer to 有多深 & 有幾分? Notice that there is no mention of how "measurably" deep the love was, whether in feet or percentages. It instead talk about "love / affection being true, and the moon is used as a "comparable deepness" of the intangibility of love. So, perhaps giving numerical marks to measure "love" was not intended in this context.

@Haiz me Quote:- "Can you guys talk in English I only have vocabulary of 30 something words" On Tang Ho's side, 有多深 & 有幾分? are merely metaphorical in meaning and intent, i.e., just asking something like "how deep is your love"?, without having to come up with a mathematical assessment of the actual measurable "depth" of the "love" Whereas, Victor, on the other hand feels that 有幾分 implies or necessitates some form of measurable yardstick to determine the actual depth of the love.

Like "Throw somebody a bone"

@Michael Ramage. You could call it "Rampage Rice"?, you know, rampage through your fridge and throw what's available into your steamed rice? :) and invite Tang Ho to judge as Cantonese people are known for having a very discerning palate.

@Michael Ramage。 “。。。adding those to steamed rice seems a bit odd。。." Not really. How about the Spanish rice dish called "paella"? or the Chinese version 有味饭？

@Michael Ramage. Looking at dan's suggestion, could there be some confusion? Do you mean (a), you cook a dish using those vegetables, or (b), you put all those vegetables into a pot of rice and cook them all together?