1. Hello – Nay Ho
2. Can you speak Cantonese? – Nay Sec Um Sec Gon Gwong Tong Wa
3. Yes. I can speak Cantonese – Sec. Ngaw Sec Gon Gwong Tong Wa
4. You speak Cantonese very well – Nay Gwong Tong Wa Gon Ta Ho Ho
5. I don’t know – Ngaw Um Sea Doh
6. I know – Ngaw Sea Doh
7. You know – Nay Sea Doh
8. Do you know? – Nay Sea Um Sea Doh Wa
9. Yes. Yes I know – Sea. Ngaw Sea Doh
10. No. I don’t know – Um Sea. Ngaw Um Sea Doh
11. I want to – Ngaw Sam (or some, I can’t tell)
12. You want to – Nay Sam
13. Do you want to? – Nay Sam Um Sam Ah
14. I don’t want to – Ngaw Um Sam
15. I want to eat something – Ngaw Sam Sec Ya Tea Yeah. (This is a low level tone compared to Can which is a high level tone. This is where this shit gets hard!)
16. You want to eat something – Nay Sam Sec Ya Tea Yeah
17. Do you want to eat something? – Nay Sam Um Sam Sec Ya Tea Yeah
18. Yes – Sam
19. I want to eat – Ngaw Sam Sec
20. Yes. I want to eat something – Sam. Ngaw Sam Sec Ya Tea Yeah
21. No thanks (to the question above only) – Um Sam. Doh Jay
22. But I want to drink something – Dawnhi Ngaw Sam Yum Ya Tea Yeah
23. To drink – Yum (mid rising tone)
24. Do you want to drink something? – Nay Sam Um Sam Yum Ya Tea Yeah
25. No thank you. But I want to eat something – Um Sam. Doh Jay. Dawnhi. Ngaw Sam Sec Ya Tea Yeah
26. But I don’t want to eat – Dawnhi Ngaw Um Sam Sec

This is going to be pretty freaking hilarious when I go around trying to speak this language in Hong Kong. It will be like when I call for support and someone in Bangalore takes the call. They may be speaking English, but I sure as hell can’t understand them. Well, at least I may be able to understand a little of what is spoken to me and that should probably help as well. But I am probably not going to be understood much.

Murasaki,

Are the nine tones you talked about….

Low level, low falling, low rising
Mid level, mid falling, mid rising
High level, high falling, high rising