Mandarin Segmenting Lesson
Many people who are not Native Mandarin speakers would have difficulty determining what sounds are emotions and what sounds are words. Actually many of the sounds in Chinese have similar meaning to those in English. I will try to compile a comprehensive table for you to follow with regular updates based on new discoveries. That way you would have something to follow along and have an edge when working with Mandarin.
Pronunciation of Sound | Meaning of Sound | Emotion or Word | Segment? Yes/No |
Umm... | Thinking... | Emotion | No |
Eh..... | Contemplating... | Emotion | No |
Eh...O | Contemplating | Emotion | No |
Ah.... | Enlightenment or Shock etc... depending on situation | Emotion | No |
Oh... | Oh I See | Emotion | No |
Hao... (好) | YES OR OKAY, GOOD | WORD | YES |
Aiyo.... or Aiyor... | Similar to Aigoo, yikes | Emotion | No |
Ai-yea | Similar to Aigoo, yikes | Emotion | No |
Wa-Sai... (哇塞) | Wow, treat it similarly as Aigoo. An exclamation used to express a feeling of Amazement. | Emotion | No |
Um! | Yes! typically accompanied with nodding of one’s head | Emotion | No |
Wha-Cow! | Holy Cow, Yikes | Emotion | No |
Uh-Oh... | Something bad is going to happen or happened... | Emotion | No |
Ni (你) | YOU | WORD | YES |
Awe... | Empathy | Emotion | No |
Aiya... | Yikes, similar to Aigoo | Emotion | No |
Ai! | Responding to someone, like “yes” | Emotion | No |
Ai... | Sigh | Emotion | No |
Huh? | What? OR Correct? | Emotion | No |
Hor... | Sarcastic response, like Ha-ha... | Emotion | No |
Hmmm... or Hmmm? | What? | Emotion | No |
Ha! | Means something like Ta-da | Emotion | No |
Ah-ha! | Discovery! | Emotion | No |
Ah-hahaha... | Lazy response... occurs when you are hesitant and laugh because you feel a little embarrassed | Emotion | No |
Eh! (“A” sound) | Just a heads up | Emotion | No |
Heh! Just like Ha! | Just a sarcastic response when someone underestimates your abilities | Emotion | No |
Aw! | Okay, got it. | Emotion | No |
Bu (不) | NO | WORD | YES |
Shi (是) | YES | WORD | YES |
Dui (對) | CORRECT | WORD | YES |
Nai-Ge (那個) | THAT or THAT ONE | WORD | YES |
Jai-Ge (這個) | THIS or THIS ONE | WORD | YES |
Wha! | Shocked OR surprised | Emotion | No |
Wha... | In Awe | Emotion | No |
Whoa... | In Awe, like wow... | Emotion | No |
Ow... | Here you go... | Emotion | No |
Urgh... | means something like ouch when someone is in pain | Emotion | No |
Gee | may be a sound or “get up” or “up” in Hokkien | Emotion | YES (just in case) |
Er... | means something like “Yeesh”... | Emotion | No |
Or... | Yes! typically accompanied with nodding of one’s head | Emotion | No |
Che... | Means something like Ha! or So... | Emotion | No |
Whai (喂!) | Means something like Yoboseyo/ Hello/ Hey! Often heard when someone answers the phone | Word | YES |
As always, we do NOT cut for single emotions. However, if an emotion is immediately followed by a dialogue, it would be nice to cut it too to increase the length and screen-presence of the segment, making it better for our audiences’ viewing experience.