Introducing yourself in Penang Hokkien

Penang Free School, where Sham studies (21 October, 2016)

In this lesson, we meet Hishamuddin, who is also known as Sham among his friends. He is 17 years old and goes to Penang Free School, one of the major secondary schools in Penang. In Sham's class are many Chinese students. At school they speak English, but after school they switch to Penang Hokkien. Sham wants to be able to understand his classmates when they speak Penang Hokkien, so he asked his best friend Jimmy to teach him Penang Hokkien. As Sham embarks on his journey to learn Penang Hokkien, we learn along.

The following article is written in Penang Hokkien using Taiji Romanisation. Each sentence is following by an audio track. Point your cursor to the audio icon to see the translation, and click on the icon to hear the sentence read in Penang Hokkien. The article is followed by the vocabulary list, showing you the words used in the sentence, with explanation where necessary.

Reading 1

Now the protagonist of our lessons will tell us about himself.

Wah1 mia3 Hishammuddin. My name is Hishammudin.

Lu1 e33 kio33 wah4 co1 Sham4. You can call me as Sham.

Wah1 thark3 teong3ok1. I go to secondary school.

Wah1-eh3 ok3tng2 mia3 Penang Free School. The name of my school is Penang Free School.

Ti1 wah1-eh3 pan1 uh33 cin3 ce33 Tng3lang3 knia4. There're many Chinese kids in my class.

Ti1 pan1 ie1lang2 kong1 Ang3mor3 wa33. In class they speak English.

Pang1 ok1 liau4, ie1lang2 kong1 Hok1kien1 wa33. After school, they speak Hokkien.

Wah1 be33hiau4 Hok1kien1 wa33. I don't know Hokkien.

Wah1 be33hiau1 thnia1 ie1lang2 kong4 ha1mik1. I don't understand what they say.

Wah1 uh33 cit3-khien1 ho1 peng3iu4. I have a good friend.

Ie1 mia3 Jimmy. His name is Jimmy.

Jimmy si33 Tng3lang3 knia4 lai2. Jimmy is a Chinese kid.

Ie1 siang33 pan1 ka1 wah4. He is in the same class as me.

Ie1 e33hiau1 kong4 Hok1kien1 wa33. He can speak Hokkien.

Wah1 kio33 Jimmy ka3 wah4 Hok1kien1 wa33. I asked Jimmy to teach me Hokkien.

Thau3-thau2 ie1 kong4 ie1 be33hiau1 ka3. At first he said he doesn't know how to teach.

Wah4 cin3 ai1 ok1. I really want to learn.

Au1boey4 Jimmy kong4 ie1 cun33leong33 ka1 wah4. At last Jimmy said he'll try his best to teach me.

Wah1 cin3 hnua3hee4 uh33 lang3 ka3 wah4 Hok1kien1 wa33. I'm so happy there's somebody to teach me Hokkien.

Ti1 Penang, na33si33 be33hiau4 Hok1kien1 wa33, tua33 si3pun4. In Penang, if you don't know Hokkien, it's a big loss.

Reading 2

Now let's ask Sham to tell us a little bit about himself.

Question: Lu4 mia3 ha1mik1? What's your name?

Answer: Wah1 mia3 Sham4. My name is Sham.

Question: Lu4 kui1 hoay3? How old are you?

Answer: Wah4 cap3-lark3 hoay3. I'm sixteen years old.

Question: Lu1 thark3 ta1lok1? Where do you study?

Answer: Wah1 thark3 Penang Free School. I study at Penang Free School.

Question: Lu1 tua3 ta1lok1? Where do you live?

Answer: Wah1 tua3 Glu3gork3. I live in Gelugor.

Question: Lu1-eh3 Pa3 Pa1 co3 ha1mik1 kang1? What's your father's occupation?

Answer: Wah1-eh3 Pa3 Pa1 co1 sio1ok1-eh3 hau33tniau4. My father is a primary school headmaster.

Question: Lu1-eh3 Ma3 Ma1 co3 ha1mik1 kang1? What's your mother's occupation?

Answer: Wah1-eh3 Ma3 Ma1 co1kang1 ti1 cheng1hu1 por33mui2. My mother works in a government department.

Vocabulary: Reading 1

Now let's get to know the words that Sham used in the sentences above.

wah4 I, me
The citation form is wah4. When used in a sentence, it is often in the sandhi form wah1 if it appears as the subject (at the beginning of sentences). However, you will often hear it pronounced as wah4, even in the beginning of sentences, for emphasis. When it appears as wah4 at the beginning of sentences, we say that it is in the "emphatic form" (otherwise, it's in the regular form). As object in a sentence, it is always wah4.
mia2 name
lu4 you
As with wah4, the word lu4 changes to lu1 when used as subject of sentences, but for emphatic reasons, you may keep it to lu4. As such, you will often see it appear as lu1 and lu4 at the beginning of sentences, but always lu4 at the end of sentences.
e33 can
kio33 call
co3 do; as
The word co3 can be used as a verb to mean "to do (something)" or as an adverb to mean "as". It sandhis to co1 if there's an object behind it.
thark1 read, study
The word thark1 means "to read", but is also used to mean "to study". When there's an object behind it, it sandhis to thark3 .
teong3ok1 secondary school
The word teong3ok1 is formed from two morphemes, teong1 meaning "middle" and ok1 meaning school. Teong1 sandhis to teong3 when placed in front of the morpheme ok1.
wah1-eh2 my, mine
The word wah1-eh2 acts as a possessive pronoun (mine), or as a possessive adjective (my) if there is a noun following it. It sandhis to wah1-eh3 when placed in front of a noun.
ok3tng2 school
ti1 at, in
pan1 class, classroom
uh33 there is; to have (something)
cin1 very, true, truly
It sandhis to cin3 in front of objects.
ce33 many
Tng3lang2 Chinese
knia4 kid, child, son
ie1lang2 they
Unlike wah4 and lu4, ie1lang2 never sandhis, even when it is the first word in a sentence.
kong4 speak
The word kong4 sandhis to kong1 in front of object. However, for emphasis, you may also pronounce it as kong4 in front of object. If it is the final word in the sentence, it will always be kong4.
Ang3mor2 English
The word Ang3mor2 literally means read hair, and refers to Westerners, particularly the English/British.
wa33 language
pang3 release
ok1 school, learn
The word ok1 is short for ok3tng2. It can also be used as a verb meaning "to learn".
liau4 already
pang1 ok1 liau4 after school, after school (is dismissed)
be33hiau4 don't know
The word be33hiau4 comprises two morphemes, be33 (cannot) and hiau4. The morpheme hiau4 cannot stand alone; it needs to link to either be33 to make be33hiau4 (doesn't know) or with e33 to make e33hiau4 (to know)
thnia1 listen, understand
The word thnia1 literally means "to listen", but when placed as "be33hiau1 thnia1", it means "do not understand".
ha1mik1 what
cit3 khien4 a person
"Cit3 khien4" comprises the word "cit1" meaning "one" and "khien4" being a classifier for person. It is linked together and sandhied to cit3-khien1 when placed in front of noun.
ho4 good
It sandhis to ho1 in front of a noun.
peng3iu4 friend
ie1 he
In Taiji Romanisation, "he" is written ie1, "she" is ee1, and "it" is i1. All three ie1, ee1 and i1 are pronounced the same way. They never sandhi, even if placed as subject at the beginning of sentences.
si33 is
The word si33 can mean "is" as well as "are", as there is no singular or plural in Penang Hokkien. It can also mean "was" and "were", since there's no tenses either. And finally, si33 also mean "yes". That's what you say, when you need to answer a question with yes.
lai2 emphatic particle; come
The word "lai2" literally means "to come", but is often used at the end of sentences as an emphatic particle, to stress a point.
siang33 same
ka1 with
ka3 teach
thau3-thau2 at first, in the beginning
The word thau3-thau2 is an example of a reduplication (word said twice). It comprises the morpheme thau2 which on its own means "head". Repeated, it becomes "in the beginning" or "at first". Note that when you reduplicate, you need to sandhi the front morpheme.
ai3 like, want, desire
The Hokkien word ai3 uses the same Chinese character (愛) as the Mandarin word for love. This is an example where the same character carries a slightly different meaning in two different Chinese languages.
au1boey4 in the end, at last
cun33leong33 endeavour, to try one's best
hnua3hee4 happy
na33si33 if
tua33 big
si3pun4 loss

Vocabulary: Reading 2

kui1 hoay3 how old
These two morphemes always appear together if you want to ask someone's age. The phrase literally means "how much age". The morpheme kui4 means "how many" or "how much". It cannot stand alone, and has to with another morpheme to form a phrase.
cap3-lark1 sixteen
The word cap3-lark1 comprises "cap1" (ten) and "lark1" (six). It sandhis when it takes an object. We will learn more about numbers in future lessons.
ta1lok1 where
tua3 live, stay, reside
Note that "tua3" means to live somewhere, whereas "tua33" means big.
kang1 work, job, occupation
Pa3 Pa1 father
sio1ok1 primary school
hau33tniau4 headmaster
Ma3 Ma1 mother
co1kang1 work
The word kang1 means "work" (noun) whereas the word co1kang1 means "to work" "to do work" (verb).
ceng1hu4 government
por33mui2 department

Exercise 1

Write out the following sentences in English.

Wah1 mia3 Mark.
Wah1 Tng3lang3 knia4 lai2.
Wah1 thark3 Saint Xavier's Institution.
Ie1 si33 wah1-eh3 peng3iu4.
Wah1 be33hiau1 Hok1kien1 wa33.
Wah1 ai1 ok3 Hokkien1 wa33.
Jimmy si33 wah1-eh3 peng3iu4.
Sham cin3 hnua3hee4 uh33 lang3 ka3 ie1 Hok1kien1 wa33.
Sham cun33leong33 ok3 Hok1kien1 wa33.
Sham tua1 Glu3gork3.

Exercise 2

Now Jimmy tells us a little bit about himself. He is speaking in Penang Hokkien. The English translation of what he said is shown below. Your task is to write out what he says in Penang Hokkien using Taiji Romanisation. Where new words appear, they are provided to you.

My name is Jimmy.
I am sixteen years old.
My primary school is Francis Light School.
My secondary school is Penang Free School.
I live in Green Lane (Chnae3 Chau1 Hang33).
Sham is my good friend.
He wants to learn Hokkien.
I try my best to teach him Hokkien.

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