Started Trying to Learn Hokkien
Decided it was probably time to start learning Hokkien from my parents or I will never be able to speak their native language.
For orthography, I will use a modified version of Tâi-lô, where my modifications are:
- ts → q
- iau → iao
- Tone marking system changed to be closer to 汉语拼音 in Mandarin Chinese. Specifically:
| Word | Tâi-lô | Modified |
|---|---|---|
| 詩 | si | sī |
| 死 | sí | sì |
| 四 | sì | sǐ |
| 薛 | sih | sìh |
| 時 | sî | sí |
| 是 | sī | sǐ |
| 蝕 | si̍h | síh |
Note that it seems that tones 3 and 6 have been merged together. Also note that the Mandarin Chinese rule of third tone sandhi rule seems to be followed here.
Also, it seems that for now I can’t really tell apart aspirated from their non-aspirated sounds. Either that or they have been merged already.
Below are some words that I know. Note that their Chinese translations might be not be they are “officially” written. For example, tsiǎ is suppose to be written as 食, but it is semantically closer to 吃 in Mandarin Chinese. I use Chinese instead of English translations because the Chinese translations will probably be more semantically similar.
| Chinese Translation | Hokkien Pronounciation |
|---|---|
| 会 | ě |
| 零 | kǒng |
| 一 | ìt |
| 二 | lǐ |
| 三 | sāⁿ |
| 四 | sǐ |
| 五 | gǒⁿ |
| 六 | làk |
| 七 | qìk |
| 八 | puèh |
| 九 | kuà |
| 十 | qàp |
| 吃 | jiǎ |
| 饱 | bà |
| 无 | bó |
| 饭 | pňg |
| 买 | buè |
| 卖 | buě |
| 是 | sǐ |
| 的 | ě |
| 话 | uě |
| 讲 | góng |
| 这 | qé |
| 屎 | saì |
| 什么 | sī mì |
| 妈 | má |
| 爸 | bá |
| 妻 | bò |
| 哥 | góh |
| 小弟 | sío dǐ |
| 小妹 | sío běr |
| 大姐 | duǎ jìh |
| 阿奶 | ā mà |
| 假強 | ké khiǎng |
| 猪 | tīr |
| 肉 | bàk |
| 我 | wà |
| 你 | lìr |
| 他/她 | ī |
| 机器 | gī kǐ |
| 鱼 | hér |
| 钓鱼 | diào hér |
| 色 | sìk |
| 青 | qīⁿ |
| 蓝 | lǎm |
| 黑 | oō |
| 白 | pě |
| 红 | ǎng |
| 黄 | ňg |
| 橙 | gǎm |
| 水 | zuì |
| 重 | dǎng |
| 电视机 | diǎn sǐ kī |
| 和 | gǎ |
| 铅笔 | qiām pìt |
| 腰 | iō |
| 椰浆饭 | iǎ jīu pňg |
| 牛 | gú |
| 巧克力 | gó gó |
| 银 | gún |
| 金 | gīm |
| 银行 | gīm háng |
| 紫 | gǐo |
| 灰 | hé hū |
| 踢球 | tàk gíu |
| 菜 | caǐ |
| 黑青 | oō qīⁿ |
Here are some example setences and their (semantic) Chinese translations:
- 吃饱吗, jiǎ bà běr, how are you
- 你吃了吗, lìr jiǎ běr, how are you
- 这是我的第一大的大姐, tsé sǐ wà ě dě ìt ě duǎ jìh, this is my oldest sister
- 小妹是猪, sío běr sǐ tīr, little sister is stupid
I also need to figure out the grammar one day…