As an Overseas/Irish Born Chinese (IBC) and been in the tech industry and area for majority of my life, I'm not that versed in Chinese, specifically Cantonese technology terms/phrases/slang.
Note: The pronunciations below are all jyutping, and the Chinese characters are in Traditional Chinese.
The lists below are not in any particular order.
I've collated a few (some I knew already) from when I tweeted out about it:-
- 上網 (soeng5 mong5) - going online / visiting sites
- 軟件 (jyun5 gin6*2) - software
- 硬件 (ngaang6 gin6/6*2) - hardware
- 網頁 (mong5 jip6) - webpage
Ones I've been looking for in the past:-
- 網址 (mong5 zi2) - web address
- 瀏覽軟件 (lau4 laam5 jyun5 gin6*2) - web browser
- 萬維網 (maan6 wai4 mong5) - WWW
- 設計程式 (cit3 gai3 cing4 sik1) - programming
- 程序設計 (cing4 zeoi6 cit3 gai3) - programming
I was delighted to find the following:-
- 打卡 (daa2 kaat1) - grammin'
- 播客 (bo3 haak3) - podcast
- 網頁設計 (mong5 jip6 cit3 gai3) - web design
- 網頁設計師 (mong5 jip6 cit3 gai3 si1) - web designer
- 網絡日誌 (mong5 lok3 jat6 zi3) - blog
- 應用程式介面 (jing3 jung6 cing4 sik1 gaai3 min6) - application programming
- 角本 (gok3 bun2) - script
- 腳本語言 (goek3 bun2 jyu5 jin4) - scripting language
- 上載 (soeng6 zoi3) - to upload (computer)
- 上傳 (soeng5 cyun4) - to upload
- 下載 (haa6 zoi3) - download
- 測試 (cak1 si3) - trial, test, beta (software)
- 軟件開發 (jyun5 gin6*2 hoi1 faat3) - software Development
- 電腦業者 (din6 nou5 jip6 ze2) - software Developer
- 軟件開發人員 (jyun5 gin6*2 hoi1 faat3 jan4 jyun4) - software Developer
- 數據庫軟件 (sou3 geoi3 fu3 jyun5 gin6*2) - database software
- 本土化軟件 (bun2 tou2 faa3 jyun5 gin6*2) - localisation
- 客戶關係管理軟體 (haak3 wu6 gwaan1 hai6 gun2 lei5 jyun5 tai2) - CRM
- 軟件平台 (jyun5 gin6*2 ping4 toi4) - software Platform
- 軟件使用許可證 (jyun5 gin6*2 si2 jung6 heoi2 ho2 zing3) - software Licence
- 開源 (hoi1 jyun4) - opensource (software)
- 開源軟件 (hoi1 jyun4 jyun5 gin6*2) - OSS
- 自由軟件基金會 (zi6 jau4 jyun5 gin6*2 gei1 gam1 wui6*2) - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
- 記憶 (gei3 jik1) - memory (RAM)
- 帳戶 (zoeng3 wu6) - account
- 當機 (dong1 gei1) - computer crash
- 死機 (sei2 gei1) - computer crash
- 點觸板 (dim2 zuk1 baan2) - touchpad
- 用家體驗 (jung6 gaa1 tai2 jim6) - user experience
- 窒機 (zat6 gei1) - lag
- 截圖 (zit6 tou4) - screenshot
- 圖像用戶介面 (tou4 zoeng6 jung6 wu6 gaai3 min6*2) - GUI
- 用戶數據 (jung6 wu6 sou3 geoi3) - user data
- 用戶驗收測試 (jung6 wu6 jim6 sau1 cak1 si3) - user acceptance testing (UAT)
- 回歸測試 (wui4 gwai1 cak1 si3) - regression testing
- 短訊 (dyun2 seon3) - SMS text message
- 功能測試 (gung1 nang4 cak1 si3) - functional testing
- 網絡調查 (mong5 lok3 diu6 caa4) - web search
- 平面設計 (ping4 min6*2 cit3 gai3) - raphic design
- 平面設計師 (ping4 min6*2 cit3 gai3 si1) - graphic designer
- 圖像互換格式 (tou4 zoeng6 wu6 wun6 gaak3 sik1) - GIF
- 無線網絡 (mou4 sin3 mong5 lok3) - wifi
- 網友 (mong5 jau5) - online friend
- 網上瘋傳 (mong5 soeng6 fung1 cyun4) - going viral online
- 無線上網 (mou4 sin3 soeng5 mong5) - wireless going onto internet
- 網絡服務公司 (mong5 lok3 fuk6 mou6 gung1 si1) - ISP
- 分佈式拒絕服務 (fan1 bou3 sik1 keoi5 zyut6 fuk6 mou6) - DDOS
- 高技術 (gou1 gei6 seot6) - hi-tech
- 高科技 (gou1 fo1 gei6) - hi-tech
- 技術員 (gei6 seot6 jyun4) - techie
If you know of other techie terms or slang, let me know. And please provide the pronunciations if you can. Thanks in advance. 😊
Great to have translations for:-
- Tweet
- Facebooking
- Source control
- repo
- TDD
- BDD
- Virtual environment
- sandbox (programming)
- Virtual reality
- Augmented reality
- Touchscreen
- QR code
- scan (a code)
- retina display
- text editor (coding)
- data scientist
- data engineer
- visualisation/visualization (data)
- startup
- ecosystem
- indie developers (games)
- remote working
Top comments (11)
From the point of view of a Hongkonger:
For other words in your list, those are either too technical that no one I know would say them in Cantonese, or the Cantonese translation is not commonly used.
Also, while both "當機" and "死機" mean computer crash, Hongkongers tend to say that as "Hang機" (the machine is hanging there and doing nothing). To mention a screenshot, I woud say "Cap圖" ("Cap" for capture). For example, "Cap幅圖畀我睇下" (capture the screen for me to check).
By the way, I suggest cantoneseinput.com/ and jyutping.com/ if you would like to type in Cantonese. I use the former one daily as I don't know Cangjie or Quick. The former one doesn't use the Jyutping standard but the romanisation is more familiar to Hongkongers.
Hope this helps.
Thanks! And thank you for the useful references too!
I don't know how to type in Chinese (very basic kindergarden reading & writing😆), I look up the words, then themselves individually or as a phrase via cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/. To hear what it sounds like, I use SayJack (sayjack.com/cantonese/learn/). Google is not that great, they had someone internally doing Cantonese translations years ago, but was not officially released. I should write a post on my process, it takes me a few steps if I don't know the words themselves or what it sounds like. I can speak it and understand it no problem. But it's worth the trouble because I get to learn new words and reinforce my understanding of Traditional Chinese and Cantonese. 😊
Indie is 獨立製作, and developer is 開發者. I would rather call indie developers as 獨立製作人.
Hi whykay! I come from Hong Kong and Cantonese is my mother tongue. Glad you are picking up the language and I think I can help with some of them:
面書 (min6 syu1) - Facebook
虛擬實境 (heoi1 ji4 sat6 ging2) - Virtual reality
擴張實境 (kwong3 zoeng1 sat6 ging2) - Augmented reality
輕觸式熒幕 (hing1 zuk1 sik1 jing4 mok6) - Touchscreen
視覺化 (si6 gaau3 faa3) - visualisation
數據視覺化 (sou3 geoi3 si6 gaau3 faa3)- data visualization
遙距工作 (jiu4 keoi5 gung1 zok3) - remote working
創業 (cong1 cong3) - startup
掃描 (sou3 miu4) - scan
Some of them I really don't know because we would just mix English terms in our daily conversation. In fact, I also struggle when I am writing my blog in Chinese that if I should use English terms that many can read or use translated terms that people may find confusing.
You can visit this site to search for the character and listen to its pronunciation. DM me via twitter if you need further help! Good luck!
Amazing! Thank you so much! I speak Cantonese at when I visit family, but it's so hard to communicate what I do day-to-day and what excites me to my mom and other relatives who are not in tech industry. My Cantonese conversationally is grand, I haven't been laughed at in Hong Kong when I am out and about, but certainly terms for more topical conversations on tech is hard for me. So thank you for your help. I understand we all mingle English with our Cantonese conversations.
Tweet - 推特
Facebook - 脸书
Source control - 源代码管理
repo - 仓库
TDD - 测试驱动开发
BDD - 行为驱动开发
Virtual environment - 虚拟环境
sandbox (programming) - 沙盒
Virtual reality - 虚拟现实
Augmented reality - 增强现实
Touchscreen - 触摸屏
QR code - 二维码
scan (a code) - 扫描
retina display - 视网膜显示屏
text editor (coding) - 文本编辑器
data scientist - 数据科学家
data engineer - 数据工程师
visualisation/visualization (data) - 虚拟化
startup - 启动/创业公司
ecosystem - 生态系统
indie developers (games) - 独立开发者
remote working - 远程工作
Thank you so much. I'll have to get the pronunciations for them all as I am not great at reading and writing being born overseas and a self-learning the past few decades. I didn't go to Chinese school (didn't have any where I grew up). This is really helpful, so thank you! I will probably write another post... if there's enough, maybe a series. 🤔
Anyone help me? I don't know where to tag this article so I get more help finding Chinese (Cantonese) techie terminology. Already emailed the mods to see if they can advise. #TIA
Hey there,
Sorry about this!
I think this was most likely a mistake. I'll add this tag back to your post now and look into things... probably just a moment where someone didn't read thoroughly enough into the article. 🙂
I'll also email ya back — apologies for the delayed response! 🙃
No worries at all, thank you. I just had to amend the title and I seem to have gotten help from folks. This community roxx! Keep up with the good work. Being a mod is no easy job. 🤜🤛
Awesome list you have here.
Definitely great to have this on hand in a case you need it.