Like, “Have a nice day” and “That outfit looks nice on you”, etc.?
Yikes. My first thought was what did you have to endure to learn all of this?
try face to face chat with hookers and wiseguys in a triad owned pub!
not lying!
The title of this thread needs to be changed. I almost didn’t bothered to read it but there’s some good stuff here.
Thanks Ran, although I do need those tones. I’d hate to be misunderstood.
thing is, what taiwanese i can say i learned by ear, and the tones in taiwanese are really hard. they have like 9 tones!!! if i break them up, i’ll get them wrong. when i’m i’m pissed and say them all together, i say them right! it’s wierd!(’:lol:’)
Let’s just clean up the romanization a little bit…
[quote=“rantheman”]don’t say “mu gou”. that just means tramp.
the proper saying is:
jian1 nv3 姦女= means exactly bitch, in the bitchy way!usually shortened to just “jian1!”
biao zi= means slut
other useful curse words for your perusal:
ji1 ba1 雞巴 = literal meaning is pussy but the usage is “dick”. example: he’s such a dick!/nei4 ge5 ren2 hen3 ji1ba*
bi4 zui3 ma1 de* 閉嘴媽的= shut the fuck up!
gan4 ni3 ma1 de* 幹你媽的= fuck your mother!
gan4 ta1 ma1 de* 幹他媽的= fuck, God damn it!
gou3 pi4 狗屁= literally “dog fart” but the meaning is “bullshit!”
gou3 pi4 ta1 ma1 de* 狗屁他媽的 = bull f***ing shit!
[/quote]
Can you send a sound file? I’ll see meanwhile if I can dig out my Taiwanese-English dictionary, although since it’s published by Maryknoll, it may, um, lack certain nuances that we’re looking for. 
I should be able to identify the tones if I have a recording of the words, though. (Not necessarily in rapid speech, but if I can play it over and over [and over and over])…
oh by the way, thanks for putting in the chinese and the tones. but ji ba is the exception. taiwanese pronounce it ji “bai” not “ba”. i think it’s taiwan/mandarin!
Cussing like a native. Don’t really find anything strange about that, it’s a fun and interesting way to learn the language. Maybe not a safe way, but hey, you gotta learn somehow.
What I do find strange is that some posters that make the most noise about the lack of class of our hosts and how poorly they behave are demonstrating a certain abiltiy to behave in the same manner in the same language.
Swearing, excessive swearing, or certain words, to a point, display a lack of class. If it were me, I’d feel that it would be a little like the pot calling the kettle black.
But hey, heck, go ahead, let’s talk about the lack of class that our local hosts have. We wouldn’t do anything like that. :s
Sorry, had to be said. 
Nail. Head.
And taike CAN be offensive, depending on the person. If they’re being deliberately, overtly, hipster-TK then they’ll probably take it as a compliment. Otherwise not. Taimei I think is generally a bad thing.
Hmm…that’s interesting! Some students of mine about 10 years ago told me the joke:
What do you call the road from Taipei to Xindian? [Taixin Rd.]
What do you call the road from Jilong to Bali? …[wait for it…they always get it after a second]
so at least back then it would have been pronounced “ba”, but nothing to say it wouldn’t have changed since then.
March 8 is International Women’s Day.
I wouldn’t really consider this to be cussing, just light hearted teasing. My kindie kids say it.
Has this subject been broached here before? Is there a canonical list out there? Is it true that Taiwanese obscenties sound far more vulgar than Mandarin ones in Taiwan? If the mods aren’t opposed, know any good ones?
Ask your students.
I have. They giggle and prefer to curse in English.
I know maybe five good ones, but I’m sure there are a lot more out there. Any takers?
Did you search? There was a thread (quite extensive) on this a few months back.
My searches only turned up isolated posts in other forums, but nothing particularly relevant and nothing resembling a full thread. Maybe I wasn’t using the right search terms. 
Does anyone have a link? I’d love to take a look.
I suspect the ideal search terms for that thread would also render it unnecessary that you find the thread. 
Gosh, it was longer ago than I remembered, but I think this was the thread:
[url]How to translate 'Fuck you!' into Chinese?
Anyway, it might give you some new ones. (Maybe. 
)
This is another one. Rambles a bit, but several of the posts within it contain related info.
[quote=“seeker4”]This is another one. Rambles a bit, but several of the posts within it contain related info.
That was rantheman’s greatest thead! :bravo:
I miss ran. Merry Christmas brother. 