Hi
I wanted to ask, how easy is it to understand other people who speak a different varient of Hokkien (not including borrowed words from other languages) ?
Do they use different sayings, pronounciations or words and is it easy to adjust to theirs and do you even after finding the differences use their way when speaking with them?
~Jilang
Understanding other Hokkien
From my experience, once I catch the "keys" [such as -y in my variant becomes -i/-u in others, etc], usually it's quite easy for me to understand other variants of Hokkien. To certain degree this applies also to understand Teochew and [less] Cantonese. And I'd say that familiarity with written Chinese, Hokkien's colloquial-literary phenomenon and also Mandarin will help a lot in this case.
In Singapore, usually I speak to them in my variant and they to me in theirs; mostly we can understand each other just fine. This is especially true for close related variants. In Indonesia, people from my hometown (Bagansiapiapi) usually can understand Medan [which is very similar to Penang] people more easily than vice versa. In cases when they couldn't understand mine, I'd try to use theirs [if I could].
In Singapore, usually I speak to them in my variant and they to me in theirs; mostly we can understand each other just fine. This is especially true for close related variants. In Indonesia, people from my hometown (Bagansiapiapi) usually can understand Medan [which is very similar to Penang] people more easily than vice versa. In cases when they couldn't understand mine, I'd try to use theirs [if I could].
I find it hard to understand Hokkien outside of the one I speak. When I listen to Tawainese media or the Hokkien news who's link I found on this forum http://big5.chinabroadcast.cn/gate/big5 ... minnan.htm I can't make any sense of it except for a word or two which isn't enough to understand it, have you listened to any Tawainese and can you understand it?
And also, I find that some Hokkien words do sound (vaguely) the same as Cantonese but I can't really use my Hokkien to understand Cantonese and there's also some slight grammer differences.
And also, I find that some Hokkien words do sound (vaguely) the same as Cantonese but I can't really use my Hokkien to understand Cantonese and there's also some slight grammer differences.
My variant is somewhere between Cuanciu and E-mng variants, so generally I can understand E-mng Hokkien used in the radio [http://big5.chinabroadcast.cn/gate/big5 ... minnan.htm] although I may miss some words.
In Jakarta people from my hometown usually watch Taiwanese TV programs as we can easily understand Taiwanese. In fact it's easier to understand Taiwanese because they usually speak slower compared to E-mng presenters (those in radio/tv).
In Jakarta people from my hometown usually watch Taiwanese TV programs as we can easily understand Taiwanese. In fact it's easier to understand Taiwanese because they usually speak slower compared to E-mng presenters (those in radio/tv).
If I remember correctly, there was a posting listing radio broadcasting in other Hokkien variants.... but I can't find it now.
Regarding Taiwanese, it's both i.e. similarity & also familiarity (watch a lot). Overall Taiwanese variants are mixture between Cuanciu and Ciangciu, so more or less are similar to E-mng variants. There were few times when I heard Taiwanese [in TV programs] using -y [such as hy5 fish] like my variant but usually -i/-u [hi5/hu5].
May be it's more difficult for me to understand "purer" Cuanciu or Ciangciu variants [mainly due to different pitch of tones], but frequent encounter should help.
Regarding Taiwanese, it's both i.e. similarity & also familiarity (watch a lot). Overall Taiwanese variants are mixture between Cuanciu and Ciangciu, so more or less are similar to E-mng variants. There were few times when I heard Taiwanese [in TV programs] using -y [such as hy5 fish] like my variant but usually -i/-u [hi5/hu5].
May be it's more difficult for me to understand "purer" Cuanciu or Ciangciu variants [mainly due to different pitch of tones], but frequent encounter should help.
Those links can't work by now.I can't listen to cuanciu radio since six months ago.cuanciu radio pronunce 可能 as ko nng55(mine should nerng) will be a big trouble for everyone.
Last edited by ong on Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.