Cantonese Tones: Magic Formula

To cut a long story short, there are six tones in Cantonese. By chance, there's a magic formula to memorize all of them correctly. Say the following numbers one by one:

3 9 4 0 5 2 7 8 6
saam gau sei ling ng yi chat baat luk
三九四零五二七八六

or

3 9 4 0 5 2 1 8 6
saam gau sei ling ng yi yat baat luk
三九四零五二一八六

The first six numbers of either series give you the six tones in proper order. Some people say there are nine tones, but the extra three are essentially the same with three of the six tones. The only difference is that these "extra" three tones are only for words ending with p, t, or k. Don't worry, both magic formulae take care of this extra aspect in proper order too. Strange, isn't it? Fate works in mysterious ways.

So, remember the following:

394 052 786
394 052 186

I say to everybody: If you can say out all the numbers from 0 to 9 in Cantonese, congratulations! You already know the basics of mastering the six tones of Cantonese.