Tutorials & Resources Guide to r̶e̶a̶d̶ Raws for Mandarin illiterate Cantonese Speakers [You will be Amazed]

You will be amazed at how simple the solution is!
Guide to r̶e̶a̶d̶ Raws for Mandarin illiterate Cantonese Speakers
[You will be Amazed]
You will be amazed at how easy and efficient it is!​

So here's the situation. ( for those who can understand Cantonese )

You are here on novelupdates. You have found a ton of cool novels that you have caught up with and there is nothing new on your reading list.

Updates are a bit too slow for your liking, only 1-3 chapters a week, and you want moar!!!

The novel you are looking for happens to be written in Mandarin and you can't read write or speak it!

So you try to MTLing [Machine Translate] it but the results are do dismal that you'd rather have Lord Fifth peck out your eyes.

You have two options.

1. You can start reading Japanese novels here on NU.

2. You can start reading Korean novels here on NU.

*Props to Rainbowturtle for the excellent translations of LMS/Ark by the way.

After both options are exhausted, you are now back to square one.

However, if you happen to be a somewhat fluent Cantonese speaker, you are in luck!

Mandarin and Cantonese are both based on the same written language! You can listen to the novel without having to know how to read the written characters!

The journey for me was full of tribulations. I first tried MTL and it failed miserably no matter which translation service I used. Disheartened, I then tried finding a Text to Speech program or app for Mandarin to Cantonese. All I got were Mandarin to Mandarin and Cantonese to Cantonese.

This was due to the fact that every Canto speaker in China has to go to school to learn Mandarin, why would they need to make this program/translator? It's not like the Mandarin speakers in China needed to go to school to learn to speak Cantonese.

I finally came across Ekho which was a free software that was developed by English/Mandarin speaking enthusiast who wanted to learn to speak Cantonese!

It did it's job but the toning/pacing and voices made it feel like I was getting brainwashed by Lord Meat Jelly. Not to mention all the copy and pasting required for each chapter whilst sitting in front of my Windows computer!

No, I needed something more mobile and efficient!

There was only one thing to do.

Thus I said to Siri, "Siri, find me a Mandarin to Cantonese Text to Speech App."

Siri: "...I do not get that."

"I need a Mandarin to Cantonese Speaker."

Siri:"Do you want me to speak Cantonse?"

"No. I wan- what?"

Then the revelation came, "Mother Fv-ker! My Mandarin Text to Canto Speech was right under my nose. literally in my hands the entire time!"

Siri has been programmed with all of the major languages in the world including Cantonese which Hong Kong people normally speaks! This means that Apple has Text To Speech for the sight impaired Cantonese Speakers!

Wasting no time, I went to the language settings and activated my phones built in speech function and changed to Cantonese.

The next bit was history. I was brought to tears after listening to to a new chapter of Stellar Transformation before it was translated!

Alright, enough of my sob story. I'm sure a few of you have discovered this trick too. I found this out last year but never really felt like it would help much.

I don't think there are a lot of Cantonese speakers amongst our reader demographics but maybe there are and they haven't discovered this yet.

Here comes the technical bits.

As I am a iPhone user, I can only give guidance with iOS users. If somebody who is an Andriod User figures out how to work this on their device, please let me know so I can post here for Android users, full credits will given.
​

How do I Setup Text to Speech Cantonese?​

Basically you go to Settings>General>Accessibility>Speech.



Turn on Speech Selection and Speak Screen



Go into Voices and select Chinese



You will be give three options.

Chinese (China) <- This means Mainland China Mandarin which is a no go.

Chinese (Hong Kong) <- This is what we want. YES!

Chinese Taiwan <-Basically Mainland Mandarin as well but as a separate country, Apple decides to be politically correct.

In this case we'll be selecting HK Sin-ji default. The enhanced version sounds weird and mostly no different. Ignore it.

The last part would be to adjust the speech rate by pressing either the rabbit or Tortoise but that could be done during the actual Chapter TTS.

Soon you'll be hearing Sin-ji's voice day and night, even in your dreams.
​

Where do I go to find raw novel websites?​

Ok, at this point your set up is all complete, all you need to do is find a reliable raw novel site and you're set.

You are welcomed to copy and paste the Chinese Novel Name Info under the NU Profile and using google but some of the mirror sites are shady and have shietload of ads.

Here are a few common ones that I use. Best ones from top to bottom.

[May require VIP]
17k.com
Qidian.com
But these two site have very good trending charts for monthly/all time novels recommendations.
Great for finding new stories.

[No VIP]
Piaotian.net <-- Highly recommended for it's simple layout/minor ads/ and no VIP required aka mirror site.
biquge.com.tw <-- Site I use for reading Cultivation Chat Group. Recommended for quick updates.
t.hjwzw.com <-- Very good site but some chapters can be out of order or missing, Chapter Index Wonky.
book100.com <-- Used to be bestory.com but legal issues made them change their name. Back up website

*Do not be surprised if you hear weird watermarks being added to the bottom or middle of the chapter. This happens when you use mirror sites that rip the original from 17k/Qidian.
​

Help, how do I activate Text to Speech?​

As an IPhone user, one of the best thing is Reader's View.

After having located the chapter you would like to read, you will notice that the website will have advertisements or links on the top leading to the next chapter or directory.

You do NOT want to swipe two fingers down from the top of the screen to activate Speak Screen and hear them read out "home" "adventure" Sci-fi" (Smooth Milk Body Lotion Advert) "previous Chapter"... etc.

Example:



This is where Reader's View comes into use.

On the URL, Top Left you will see four lines, Top right will be AA. Hit the top left 4 lines.

Viola!



BEHOLD A CLEAN WALL OF TEXT WITH NO ADS OR LINK!

Now all you need to do is to swipe down with two fingers gently to activate your TTS. You're pretty much set!

Problems you might run into

Help! My TTS was working fine but started switching languages and speaking gibberish! It also stops speaking early! WHY DURIAN-LOASHI?

*Please take note that the version of the raw you are reading may sometimes include gibberish symbols and text or change to Japanese randomly. This is due to the fact that the Auto Chapter/Text extractor programs the mirror sites uses are automated and tries to destroy any watermark from the original while adding it's own.
Or the author could be a right arse and try to use symbols to make expressions and silly faces.

（ミ￣ー￣ミ）

The solution to this is either switching to a different mirror site like Piaotian which might have a clean copy of that chapter or by highlighting the text with your fingers after omitting the gibberish parts and activating the speak option which is located right next to copy/paste option.

The downside to this is that you cannot lock your screen to save energy or minimize the app. That sucks if you're travelling or need to browse another website. Also it is very messy with the selective highlighting. Speak Screen on the other hand lets you lock your screen and even close safari if you like.

Help! My TTS is set to Chinese HK but it is speaking Japanese! WHY DURIAN-LAOSHI??

Fear not my young durians, this is due to your TTS confusing the title of your novel as Japanese, thus changing the settings temporarily to Japanese. Japan had borrowed quite a few characters from Mandarin and is actively used in their language as well.

Solution: Take a durian and bash your phone with it. If you do not know what a durian is, please refer to my Avatar picture.

No, actually please do not do that. The solution is much easier and less costly; just scroll down until the title and chapter of your novel is out of your screens range before swiping two fingers down to activate Speak Screen.

Help! I set up everything you said above but I can't understand what they are saying! I can only understand 60% of it maybe! WHY DURIAN-LAOSHI? YOU LIE TO ME, I KILL YOU WITH DURIAN!

Solution: "......" Well this method works to varying degrees for everybody. Personally, I'm an American Born Chinese whose grew up watching TVB shows, most of my Canto Skills are learned from watching their dramas. If you have time, you should watch a few subbed series to get your skills up to par. Recommendations include:

TVB Dramas to watch

Journey to the West <-- lots of Yao/Mo/Bhuddist/Dao references as well as legends and background info. Watch the 90's version. All the other are shiet.

Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre(2006) <- Lots of Chi/Yaun Energy/Cultivation/Meridans/Jianghu.

If you don't feel like watching TVB you can try using Novelupdates.

Yes. Why not put this site to good use. THe reason why at first you will be unfamiliar with most of the Cantonese you are hearing is because they are words and terms that you don't normally hear about in everyday talk.

Honestly, when will you hear about "Houtian" "Xiantian" "Soverign" Etc.

Plus different novels have different rankings and terminology.

I would recommend reading the English translations that the translators worked hard to publish and listening to the Canto TTS at the same time. Do this for roughly 15-50 chapters and soon you will have no trouble at all.

If chapters haven't come out yet, just download Bing App. This will install an extra Translation Option next to where you could share and email/save to dropbox in Safari.

Enjoy!

P.S. :Also eat some Durian if you haven't tried it before. I love it but you might too.

Drop by the polls and let me know which situation applies to you.

http://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/poll-how-many-cantonese-speakers-are-here.14002/

Drop a like or comment below, also if you have any questions or batter/alternate method, please let me know so I can update for android users.

I hope this guide can help at least one person. You can also try this if you find Viet Raws of the novel and you are Vietnamese speaker!​

 

I can't even cantonese or mandarin and i still read the whole damn thing. Omg so amusing hahahaha.

 

Thanks. I actually spent over an hour completing this. Decided if I'm going to have a wall of text, might as well make it amusing.

 

I don't speak Cantonese...
I only understand Hakka dialect.... And I doubt there is text to speech program for Hakka (and no the Hakka I understand is not Taiwanese Hakka, but the South-East Asian one)

 

it can help, maybe in future like I can't read JP but understand(somehow) if they talk~

 

Ha, good to know. I don't speak Cantonese though.

 

True, Most of the time, It is easier to learn to listen and speak the language rather than reading/writing it.

 

I tried my best to find some but mostly database for individual words. I have yet to come across something that will read out long walls of text in Teochew Dialect,

I'm sure that it is out there somewhere. I looked for 30 minutes but no dice :x

 

I just saw your post.

I was about to introduce http://www.eguidedog.net/ekho.php which has the taiwanese Hakka but I realized it was different.

• Huizhou (Hakka) dialect (惠州客家話)
• Meizhou dialect (梅州客家話)
• Wuhua dialect (五華客家話)
• Xingning dialect (興寧客家話)
• Pingyuan dialect (平遠客家話)
• Jiaoling dialect (蕉嶺客家話)
• Dabu dialect (大埔客家話)
• Fengshun dialect (豐順客家話)
• Longyan dialect (龍岩客家話)
• Lufeng (Hakka) dialect (陸豐客家話)

Not sure which one applies to you...

It's tough I know.

 

Ah... It's Lufeng Dialect...
Even searching Standard (Meixian) Hakka is difficult...

 

Welp, i'm exactly in the situation where the release are too slow fo my taste and i would love to try and start slowly but surely to learn mandarin. Even though i have 0 knowledge i would love to try and slowly learn.
Do you by any mean has advice or a site where i could start to practice until i will be able to reach Deathblade level ? Ofc Deathblade level will be obtained only after years and years of practice but i just fell in love with this type of chinese litterature ^^

 

Ah a Teochew speaker?
The only Teochew words that I know: "Ciak Pa Boei"?
Because people always see my face and thought that I was a Teochew speaker, then they greet me in that phrase...
My imouto and mother can fluently Teochew though.....

 

I read mtl.
The first 100-200 chapters of the first titlemay be a bit hard.
But the more you practice, the higher cultivation level you'll be.

I finished CD since it was translated at vol.11. The ST, USAW, ATG, TDG, DD, BTTH ...

Just respect GG sensei as another (poor) translator with a bit unique & outlandish style .. boom! you cross to jindan level of reading ability.

 

Thx for the effort!

 

This is brilliant, I'm an illiterate cantonese speaker so this will probably help me out a lot!

 

Glad this could be of help. For the best results use a translator for the first few chapters until you build an internal glossary of the different cultivation levels and etc.

If not, start by listening to a famous novel like pan long or stelae transformation to brush up on your terminology

 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))
多谢大神，万岁，万岁，万万岁！！！

 

Glad to have helped. Let me know if you run into any problems. Also which novel raw are you going to TTS?