# Shanghainese: Will you marry me?



## Xophmeister

Hello 

Very quick question... How does one say, "Will you marry me?" -- or its equivalent -- in Shanghainese?

Many many thanks 
C

P.S. I'm happy with IPA transcriptions! This is something I want to get absolutely right, after all


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## linglin66

When you propose to a girl, you can say 你愿意嫁给我吗？


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## Xophmeister

Thank you 

I should have mentioned that I can't read Chinese characters (yet!)... I Google'd for a transliteration and came back with:
nĭ yuàn yì jià gĕi wŏ ma​in Pinyin... A bit more work gives me IPA transcriptions:
Mandarin
[ni²¹⁴ yɛn⁵¹ i⁵¹ tɕia⁵¹ kei²¹⁴ uo²¹⁴ ma²¹⁴]

Shanghainese
[ɲi²³ 愿i³⁴ kɑ³⁴ ʨyəˀ⁵⁵ ŋu²³ mɑ]​Does this sound correct? Also, what is the Shanghainese pronunciation of 愿?


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## YangMuye

Umm, it's correct, but does not sounds natural.
[ni²¹ yɛn⁵³ i² tɕia⁵¹ kei² uo²¹ ma⁵] might be a batter approach.
[tɕ] and [k] is not unaspirated. [ɛ] is a little round.

And it's not Shanghainese.


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## eclectic

Xophmeister said:


> Thank you
> 
> I should have mentioned that I can't read Chinese characters (yet!)... I Google'd for a transliteration and came back with:nĭ yuàn yì jià gĕi wŏ ma​in Pinyin... A bit more work gives me IPA transcriptions:Mandarin
> [ni²¹⁴ yɛn⁵¹ i⁵¹ tɕia⁵¹ kei²¹⁴ uo²¹⁴ ma²¹⁴]
> 
> Shanghainese
> [ɲi²³ 愿i³⁴ kɑ³⁴ ʨyəˀ⁵⁵ ŋu²³ mɑ]​Does this sound correct? Also, what is the Shanghainese pronunciation of 愿?



Native Goetian (including Shanghainese) speakers will not say "你原意嫁給我嗎". That's a Mandarin Chinese express. 

In Shanghainese, it should be "儂高興嫁畀我否?"
IPA: /noɲ kɔ ʃiɲ ka pə? ŋu va?/


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## YangMuye

> In Shanghainese, it should be "儂高興嫁畀我否?"
> IPA: /noɲ kɔ ʃiɲ ka pə? ŋu va?/


Here is the IPA image


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## indigoduck

eclectic said:


> Native Goetian (including Shanghainese) speakers will not say "你原意嫁給我嗎". That's a Mandarin Chinese express.
> 
> In Shanghainese, it should be "儂高興嫁畀我否?"
> IPA: /noɲ kɔ ʃiɲ ka pə? ŋu va?/


 
Can we also say: "儂*作興*嫁畀我否?"


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## eclectic

YangMuye said:


> Here is the IPA image



Just one correction, "ʃ" instead of "ɕ". The Shanghainese initial "sh" is more like English "sh".  "ɕ" is a Mandarin consonant. If you wanna more information, I can offer the Shanghainese Phonetic Notation.


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## eclectic

indigoduck said:


> Can we also say: "儂*作興*嫁畀我否?"



No. 作興 represents "maybe", "probably" or not amiable.


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## xiaolijie

Xophmeister said:


> P.S. I'm happy with IPA transcriptions! This is something I want to get absolutely right, after all


Absolutely, but it looks quite a risky proposal. I do hope that the essence is not lost in translation


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## Xophmeister

This is perfect  Thank you so much, everyone!


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## hkenneth

eclectic said:


> No. 作興 represents "maybe", "probably" or not amiable.



This sounds obsolete IMHO.


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## eclectic

hkenneth said:


> This sounds obsolete IMHO.



But a real Goetian term.


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## Xophmeister

Sorry to bump this, as it's rather irrelevant to the forums, but... I just arrived home, from a three month stay in Shanghai, yesterday. All I wanted to say was: Mission Accomplished 

Thanks for your help, everyone


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## xiaolijie

Xophmeister said:


> All I wanted to say was: Mission Accomplished
> Thanks for your help, everyone


That is very unfair. I've spent years learning Chinese and am still looking! 

(Congratulations, nevertheless! )


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## indigoduck

xiaolijie said:


> That is very unfair. I've spent years learning Chinese and am still looking!
> 
> (Congratulations, nevertheless! )


 
But he spent 3 mths in Shanghai.  That's quite a feat.


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