Cheung Chau Water Dialect 長洲水話 ~ Chantoneasy | Lism | Eco Cheung Chau

Did you know that the name ‘Hong Kong’ came from the Water Dialect 「水話 」, which used to be spoken by local fishermen, the “Tanka” or “on-water people” who lived along the coasts of Southern China for hundreds of years? Sarah Yip from Eco Cheung Chau / Floatudio is happy to share her collection of the fast disappearing Water Dialect vocabularies she has gathered through direct interviews with Tanka elders in Cheung Chau and other islands. You can learn to speak Water Dialect like a native, as well as the Cantonese equivalent, by simply following the Chantoneasy®️ method developed by Tiff Chan.

您知道「香港」英文名字的讀音是依據「水話」的嗎？「水話」是過去幾百年南中國沿海「蛋家」漁民，即「水上人」所說的話。Sarah Yip (Eco Cheung Chau / Floatudio ) 樂於和你分享她在過去幾年由親自訪問長洲及其他離島「蛋家」長輩搜集回來的僅存「水話」詞彙。憑Tiff Chan 陳曉蕾創立的Chantoneasy®️譯音系統，你定能輕易準確的講「水話」及同義的廣東話。

Recorded in 2017 by Tiff Chan and Sarah Yip, you hear Cheung Chau residents speaking Tanka phrases.

Through a few interviews and conversations with first, second and third generation fishermen families living in Cheung Chau, Chantoneasy® supports Sarah Yip from Floatudio and to gather first-hand information on the particular words that can still be remembered by fewer and fewer people. The Water Dialect is spoken by the Tankas or boat people -  水上人"the people who live on the water" (officially named ‘on-water people’). Their families were fishermen, distinctly different from city dwellers, who they still call 街上人"the people who live on streets". 

水話 "Water Dialect" consists of specific words that are distinctly different, yet spoken in the context of Cantonese, most often to make references to their boats when giving orders (ie for orientation). It is hard to guess the meanings of their terminology – some are related to what they are referring to in Cantonese, but most only translate by sound (‘homonyms’) and not by meaning. 

This project reveals the roots of why 'Hong Kong' was spelled this way, despite modern pronunciation 'hœng gong'. It is how "the people who live on the water" still pronounce it today. It is likely that they have been in Hong Kong far earlier than the Han Cantonese. Perhaps there was a time when they spoke a much purer version of Water Dialect without as many recognizable Cantonese words.

This information does not do justice to the legacy of ‘on-water people’ in Hong Kong’s history. Here’s your chance to keep the Water Dialect alive, by respecting their place in forming a part of Hong Kong as we know it today. Surprise the fishermen next time you’re taking a sampan ride or buying fresh produce from them! 

透過跟長洲漁民、第二代 及第三代家庭進行訪問及交談，我們採集了現在越來越少人記得及運用的水上話。「水上人」意指居住在水上的人；而「街上人」則意指離開漁船移居到陸地上生活的漁民。

水話是一種粵語方言，與粤語的標準口音廣東話基本相通。漁民在船上生活和作業，產生的水話中有些特定好字或詞是跟廣東話完全不一樣的。 

這個啟發性的活動亦令我們發現了原來香港的英文名稱 Hong Kong 正正就是水話(蜑家話)發音的音譯。 水上人一直以來用「糠港」 稱呼這塊土地，他們到現在亦不察覺讀音其實和香港人廣東話不一樣。 

 Going from being an office lady in Central to being a junk boat captain, Sarah Yip defines working at sea as one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs ever. Photo courtesy of Sarah Yip

 Mrs. Leung has been a sampan driver in Cheung Chau waters for the past 30 years. She has recently been raising a black kitten to help her chase rats away. Photo courtesy of Sarah Yip

Workshop Profile.jpg

A chance encounter teaching Cantonese to a friend in 2015 set off a chain of eureka moments that sparked artist, natural linguist, educator, and expressive arts therapist Tiff Chan’s multidisciplinary creativity to give birth to Chantoneasy®, a highly intuitive method that revolutionizes how easily tonal languages can be spoken even before actually learning them, by visually and physically associating all words with musical notes.

Language teaching and transcribing, works symbiotically with her facilitation in Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy, as a way to build trust, connection and transcend perceptions of difference. Tiff’s alter ego “ArtyCatalyste” reflects her passion for enabling others to experience the therapeutic capacity of all art forms, whether wordplay/poetry/writing, visual arts, movement/dance, drama or music, for well-being, self understanding, healing, and strength-building in resiliency.

“While all the other subjects basically just required me to repeat what the predecessors had said, I was drawn to the arts from an early age, by the infinite possibilities they offer to allow me to think and share my feelings as a human being.”

Tiff Chan 陳曉蕾/ ArtyCatalyste 從事藝術、語言研究、教學工作及創立 Chantoneasy。教授語言及語音記錄有助她利用多元表達藝術治療去助人建立信任和聯系,凌駕彼此直覺上的分歧。她最喜歡協助他人體驗各種藝術媒體的治療作用、 不論是字辭/詩詞/文章,視覺藝術、動作/舞蹈,話劇或音樂,均可令人愉悅,促進自我反省、康復及抗逆能力。她展開她的藝術生涯時是利用身體作基本媒體去做表演藝術、素描及錄像。

「藝術使我從少便著迷的地方是它能給我無限空間去思考和分享我作為一個人的感受，其他科目基本上祗需我重覆前人所説的。」

在 2015 年一個教朋友說廣東話的偶然機會,引發起Chantoneasy 「唱多易」的誕生。她把她在藝術,舞蹈和話劇的創意都放進這革命性的語音記錄系統,務求讓使用者甚至在未認識一種語言前都可把它不同的音調準確地記錄和覆述。

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