I am fairly new to the fanqie system, so I have only got the ones added to the 說文解字, which give
故 古慕切 = Minnan kO3
復 房六切 = Minnan pak8 / piok8 / hiok8
Edit: I have now found fanqie readings at http://www.kangxizidian.com/
There is a scholarly article on this very question at http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/24624 ... 1215550729, which is in Chinese, so it's too much for me to read.
Transcribing videoclips
Re: Transcribing videoclips
No worry, I only said: "it is 'ky1' in Cuanciu based variants". Anyway, is 'ku1' really Ciangciu (Zhangzhou)? From what I know, 魚 is 'hi5' in Ciangciu variants, so shouldn't it be 'ki1' for Ciangciu? Penang's 'hu5' is not from Ciangciu but certain part of Xiamen/Tong-an. My friend whose family originated from Ciangciu area says 'hi5', not 'hu5'. Isn't this the case for Southern Taiwanese (Ciangciu based) also? Or does Ciangciu have two types i.e. '-i' & '-u'? Kindly correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.xng wrote:I was not discussing on the exact pronounciation of 車 in all minnan dialects but I was pointing out the different sounds of a character so for convenience sake, I just chose one dialect.niuc wrote: Btw, it is 'ky1' in Cuanciu based variants.
車 is Ku in zhangzhou (maybe xiamen too), Ky in quanzhou, Ki (maybe taiwanese)
Same as Lu (you) has its variants too.
Re: Transcribing videoclips
Drat, I forgot to bring the latest version of the new youtube video clip I'm transcribing. Will post it tomorrow.
Re: Transcribing videoclips
niuc wrote:No worry, I only said: "it is 'ky1' in Cuanciu based variants". Anyway, is 'ku1' really Ciangciu (Zhangzhou)? From what I know, 魚 is 'hi5' in Ciangciu variants, so shouldn't it be 'ki1' for Ciangciu? Penang's 'hu5' is not from Ciangciu but certain part of Xiamen/Tong-an. My friend whose family originated from Ciangciu area says 'hi5', not 'hu5'. Isn't this the case for Southern Taiwanese (Ciangciu based) also? Or does Ciangciu have two types i.e. '-i' & '-u'? Kindly correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.xng wrote:I was not discussing on the exact pronounciation of 車 in all minnan dialects but I was pointing out the different sounds of a character so for convenience sake, I just chose one dialect.niuc wrote: Btw, it is 'ky1' in Cuanciu based variants.
車 is Ku in zhangzhou (maybe xiamen too), Ky in quanzhou, Ki (maybe taiwanese)
Same as Lu (you) has its variants too.
I always thought that Penang is based on Zhangzhou. It seems that it is mixed amoy and zhangzhou.*(my mistake)
Zhangzhou is Hi/Ti/Ki, xiamen is Hu/Tu/Ku.
So I should use Xiamen from now on as it is the closest to a standard.
Here are the differences between Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou in a table:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoy_dialect#Accents
Re: Transcribing videoclips
As I have said previously, NO 'hok' character has a 'K' consonant.Andrew wrote:I am fairly new to the fanqie system, so I have only got the ones added to the 說文解字, which give
故 古慕切 = Minnan kO3
復 房六切 = Minnan pak8 / piok8 / hiok8
Edit: I have now found fanqie readings at http://www.kangxizidian.com/
There is a scholarly article on this very question at http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/24624 ... 1215550729, which is in Chinese, so it's too much for me to read.
Its colloquail reading usually has a 'P' consonant instead eg. 腹肚 Pak To.
So 復 is definitely NOT the original character for 'Kou7' ! The reason is it doesn't have a sound close enough to 'kou'.
Whereas 故 has a 'K' consonant and Ko and Kou7 are very close in sound.
Let me repeat: 故 has 2 meanings and slightly different sounds in Minnan
1. Ko (meaning old, ancient) 故事 (old story),故人(old friend) etc
2. Kou7 (meaning again) 故再 (again) etc
Let's hear what Mark Yong says from his dictionaries.
Re: Transcribing videoclips
Hi All,
Here's the next videoclip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUn6Zlo3LjU
My English translation is a lot more “literal”, in contrast to the (English) sub-titling of the clip, which is a lot more “idiomatic”.
BTW, http://ssyih85.blog.friendster.com/2006/06/ makes a reference to this clip, and (from context), I gather that it comes from an actual film “小孩不笨”. From comments posted on youtube, the English title is something like "I Not Stupid" (and it's sequel, which is where this clip comes from "I Not Stupid 2"). If they're available on DVD, I’d be very happy to hear about it.
---
[In the living room]
1. MOTHER: [speaking sternly to a group of 2 children and 2 adults, who look ashamed.] Don’t do it again!.
[At the food stall]
2. MOTHER: tong-kim e gin-na - peng-iu kong chi(t)-ku ho ke pe-bu kong chi(t)-pah ku. lang na khui-chhui a, in toh kong si-mi “old-fashioned” la, {“ old vid???”} la. tong-kim koh u chi(t)-ku sin-e... si-mi si-mi si-mi, si-mi “lame” la! suo-yi a - he hai-zi gou-tong shi i men xue-wen {lai de???} a.
當今的 gin-na - 朋友講一句好過父母講一百句. 咱若開喙阿, [亻+因] toh 講什麽 “old-fashioned” 啦, {“ old vid”} 啦. 當今佫有一句新的... 什麽什麽什麽, 什麽 “lame” 啦! 所以阿 - 和孩子溝通是一門學問{來的???}啊.
Children nowadays - one word from their friends works better than a hundred words from their parents. If we open out mouths, they say like “old-fashioned”, {“old vid”}. Now there’s yet another new word... erm... “lame”! So, communicating with children {has become???} a sort of art.
3. FRIEND: ly cho an-ni sui {ai khy (to-)loh???}?
汝做安尼水{UNSURE}?
Why are you making yourself up so nicely {where are you going}?
4. MOTHER: gun kiaN lo. i-e lau-su ai {kin???} gua. yao gen wo shang-liang ta-de cai-hua.
阮囝囉. 伊的老師愛見我. 要跟我商量他的才華.
It’s my boy. His teacher wants to see me. He wants to discuss his special talent.
5. FRIEND: li-e kiaN u si-mi cai-hua?
汝的囝有什麽才華?
What special talent does he have?
6. MOTHER: pui la!
肥啦!
He’s fat!
7. FRIEND: pui si cai-hua?
肥是才華?
Being fat is a special talent?
8. MOTHER: a-yo! li-hai lo! i a - tim qian-qui, chuan-kok tim siang hng. i sue-sue han toh-si tiam-tiam tim gua-e mih-kiaN lo.
哎唷! 利害囉! 伊阿 - 揕鉛球全國揕上遠. 伊細細漢 toh 是踮踮揕我的物件囉.
Hey! It’s very special! He, you see - in throwing the short-put, he’s able to throw the furthest in the whole country. Even when he was very young, he used to always throw my things.
9. FRIEND: lau-teng tim loh lau-kha?
樓頂揕落樓骹?
He threw them from upstairs to downstairs?
10. MOTHER: m-si - si lau-kha tim khi lau-teng. xiang bu dao mE? tim mih-kiaN ye shi yi zhong cai-hua. e! li-e kiaN m-si chin gau sio-phah lo?
毋是 - 是樓骹揕去樓頂. 想不到 mE? 揕物件也是一種才華. e! 汝的囝毋是真[教+力]相拍囉?
No - from downstairs to upstairs. Can’t you imagine it? Throwing things is also a sort of special talent. Hey! Isn’t your son very good at fighting?
11. FRIEND: [nods]
12. MOTHER: a! sio-phah ma-si chi(t)-khuan cai-hua.
阿! 相拍嘛是一款才華.
Ha! Fighting is also a sort of special talent.
13. FRIEND: sio-phah pun si cai-hua?
相拍 pun 是才華?
Fighting is also a special talent?
14. MOTHER: hON! li ka-i hun-lian ch(i(t)-)e. bo tu-ho le, i tai-piau sin-ka-pho, phah ka(u) chuan se-kai khi.
hON! 汝共伊訓練一下. 無拄好 le, 伊代表新加坡, 拍到全世界去.
Yes! You should train him a bit. Perhaps he could represent Singapore, (and) fight his way to the top of the world.
15. FRIEND: hei-shou-dang a-si zhu-lian-bang?
黑手黨也是竹聯邦?
With the Mafia or the Triads?
16. MOTHER: hai-ya! an-chuaN li ch(it-)e lang an-ni khuan e? {chit ke chhue kang, chit ke chih chha-thau ka-le???}. li bue-hiau o-lo lang e mE? gua mng ly - ly {au-be???} chi(t)-pai o-lo le-e kiaN si ti-si haN?
hai-ya! 按怎汝這個人安尼款的? {something 柴頭傀儡???}. 汝[勿+會]曉呵咾人的 mE? 我問汝 - 汝{後尾}一擺呵咾汝的囝是{是/底}時?
Heavens! Why are you like this? {UNSURE, like a wooden dummy}. Don’t you know how to praise other people? I’m asking you - when is the last time you praised your son?
17. FRIEND: [raises two fingers]
18. MOTHER: nng ni cheng a?
兩年前阿?
Two years ago?
19. FRIEND: i nng he e {su-chun}.
伊兩歲的{時陣}.
When he was two years old.
20. MOTHER: a-yo, {chek??? a???/ia???} iau-siu. cho li-e kiaN a-si kau sue! ha! [speaks to Tan, who has just arrived] e, Tan, li cha-mi {UNCLEAR} e {te-O???} sng-kam {phueh???} chin ho lim a! koh {thiau-te???}, koh {thiau-te???}, thiau {kau/kha} ho-se, gua {ka i / ka li} gia lai bue. {{si}kut-lat{lang}???}.
哎唷, {缺???<X???>/也???}夭壽!做汝的囝也是夠衰! ha! [speaks to Tan, who has just arrived] e, 陳, 汝昨暝 {UNCLEAR} 的{茶烏}酸柑{泡???}真好啉阿! 佫 {調得???}, 佫 {調得???}, 調{夠/到/較}好勢,我{共伊/共汝}拿來賣. {是}出力{人}???}.
Oh dear, you’re awful. What an terrible fate to be your child! Ha! Hey, Tan, the {bubbly?} lemon tea which you {UNCLEAR} last night tasted really good! Keep improving it and I’ll put it on the menu. {UNCLEAR}.
21. TAN: ok, ok! [Tan leaves, laughing and happy, Friend lights up a cigarette]
22. FRIEND: i-e chui e lim me?
伊的水會啉 me?
Is his stuff drinkable?
23. MOTHER: li khuaN li. li-e lang toh-si an-ni khuan la! o-lo lang e si mE? li bo khuaN-ke a-mO - tioh m-tioh a - “excellent”, “great”, “well done”, “marvellous”.
汝看汝. 汝的人 toh 是安尼款拉! 呵咾人會死 mE? 汝無看過紅毛 - 著毋著阿 - “excellent”, “great”, “well done”, “marvellous”.
Look at you! That’s just the sort of person you are! Would it kill you to praise others? Haven’t you seen these Europeans - whether it’s right or wrong, they say “excellent”, “great”, “well done”, “marvellous”.
[Daughter arrives]
24. DAUGHTER Mummy!
25. MOTHER: ue! fang xue le?
喂! 放學了?
Hello! Are you back from school?
26. DAUGHTER wo maths test {UNCLEAR} liu-shi-wu {fen/kuai???}.
我 maths test {UNCLEAR} 六十五{分???}.
I got 65 for my maths test.
[Friend looks sceptical]
27. MOTHER: [Speaks to daughter] wa, Baby! hai hao dai ni qu bu-xi zhi hou, ni zi-ji ye cong-ming qi-lai le! jin-bu le, jin-bu le! I love you! qu chi-fan la, qu chi-fan la! [Speaks to friend again] e! li bat ka lin kiaN kong “I love you” bo? wa ka li kong, chi(t) san-e ji chin {kau-lat???} e a!
嘩, Baby! 還好帶你去補習之後, 你自己也聰明起來了. 進步了, 進步了. I love you! 去吃飯啦, 去吃飯啦! [Speaks to friend again] e! 汝捌共您囝講 “I love you” 無? 我共汝講, 這三個字真{夠力???}的阿!
Wow! Baby! Since you started tuition, you’ve become even smarter. Lots of progress, lots of progress! I love you! Go and have your lunch, go and have your lunch! Hey, have you ever said to your son “I love you”? I’m telling you, these three words are very powerful.
[Friend coughs and draws on cigarette. Mother attempts to darken her eyebrow using an eyebrow pencil. Friend hands her a very small saucer. Mother looks delighted.]
28. MOTHER: an-ni kan-khO e mih-kiaN pun hO li siuN tioh! chi(t-l)e corner - chin phaiN ue! [Covers her eye with saucer, and uses edge to draw with her eyebrow pencil.] a-yo, koh tu-tu ho!
安尼艱苦的物件 pun 與汝想著!這個 corner - 真否畫! [Covers her eye with saucer, and uses edge to draw with her eyebrow pencil.] 哎唷 - 佫拄拄好!
You think of solutions to such difficult problems! This corner is so hard to draw! Wow, it’s just right!
---
Notes:
1. Douglas is the “Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Amoy of Amoy”; Barclay is the supplement to Douglas; MFCX stands for “閩南方言常用小詞典 Minnan Fangyan Xiao Cidian”; EP stands for the “Etymology Page” (http://www.chineseetymology.org).
2. I got the character 囉 for the exclamatory particle “lo” from http://ssyih85.blog.friendster.com/2006/06/.
3. For “tim3” (= “to throw”), Barclay gives 擲 (EP: tek8), MFCX gives 揕 (EP: chim1 sim3). I suppose one is for the meaning, and the other for the sound. Any opinion on what to use?
4. For “tiam7-tiam7” (= “to keep constantly doing something”), Barclay gives 站 (EP: cham7 tiam3), MFCX gives 踮 (EP: no pronunciation).
---
Particularly difficult parts
Passage 2: “old vid”, maybe “ovid”?
No idea what this could be. I’m probably hearing it incorrectly. A Singapore slang term?
Passage 2: 和孩子溝通是一門學問{來的}啊.
Is the woman actually saying “來的”, and if so, what does it mean?
Passage 3: no idea what is being said after 汝做安尼水(=sui = “beautiful”).
Passage 4: 伊的老師愛見我
EP gives the pronunciations of 見 as “kiN” and “kian”, but the woman seems to be saying “kin”, with a full “-n”. Is this also a known pronunciation?
Passage 16: chit ke chhue kang, chit ke chih chha-thau ka-le
The subtitles give (in Mandarin) “你的人真是呆板, 木頭傀儡”, but I’m not sure how to relate the 呆板 to chit ke chhue kang, and what the “chih” means. I have no idea what this means. I suppose “chha-thau” is simply 柴頭. “ka-le” would appear to be 傀儡, but EP gives 傀 = “ka1 kui2 khui2” (so “ka1” is an acceptable pronunciation), but 儡 = “lui2”, not “le2”. Even if it is, I have no idea what the whole sentence means.
Also, any idea how to write the first character of “ti-si” (= “when”)? Douglas seems to imply that it is a colloquial reading of 是, so “ti-si” would be 是時. But the MFCX indicates that it is 底時. Any opinions on this?
Passage 20:
20a. chek-a??? iau-siu = <缺?><X?>夭壽
The Mandarin subtitle has: “缺得<X>夭壽”.
20b. The whole thing she says to Tan is unclear to me. The Mandarin subtitle gives: “你昨天調泡的<酸?>柑涼茶很好嗎”. Much of my translation is based on the English subtitles. “thiau-te” seems to mean “to improve”, but I can’t find it anywhere as a Hokkien compound. Could it be borrowed from (pinyin) “tiao2-dei3” 調得? (My dictionary only gives this as pronounced “tiao2-de0” in Mandarin.)
The last sentence she says to Tan is given in the Mandarin subtitles as: “努力工作<阿>” and in English as “Work harder!”, but I can’t relate this to anything which is said in Hokkien. What is said is said very quickly. It sounds to me like “skoonalang”(!), but could be something like {是}出力{人}.
Passage 26: I’m pretty sure that the daughter says “maths test” in English, even when speaking Mandarin. However, the verb she uses for “getting” a mark of 65 is unclear to me. Also, the sub-titles give that she says “fen1”, but I seem to hear “kuai4”.
Passage 27: I hear “kau lat”, and the subtitle renders this 夠力. Context would suggest that this means “powerful”, “effective”, but I haven’t been able to find out what it means precisely.
Final question (not language related): for a very long time, I thought that the woman was telling off 4 kids at the very opening scene. At a certain point, I suddenly realised that the group of 4 was actually 2 adults (sitting down) and 2 children (standing). Furthermore, the man who is sitting down looks like he might be the same man who the woman speaks to for the rest of the clip (he even seems to be wearing the same purple t-shirt). Am I confused or correct?
Here's the next videoclip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUn6Zlo3LjU
My English translation is a lot more “literal”, in contrast to the (English) sub-titling of the clip, which is a lot more “idiomatic”.
BTW, http://ssyih85.blog.friendster.com/2006/06/ makes a reference to this clip, and (from context), I gather that it comes from an actual film “小孩不笨”. From comments posted on youtube, the English title is something like "I Not Stupid" (and it's sequel, which is where this clip comes from "I Not Stupid 2"). If they're available on DVD, I’d be very happy to hear about it.
---
[In the living room]
1. MOTHER: [speaking sternly to a group of 2 children and 2 adults, who look ashamed.] Don’t do it again!.
[At the food stall]
2. MOTHER: tong-kim e gin-na - peng-iu kong chi(t)-ku ho ke pe-bu kong chi(t)-pah ku. lang na khui-chhui a, in toh kong si-mi “old-fashioned” la, {“ old vid???”} la. tong-kim koh u chi(t)-ku sin-e... si-mi si-mi si-mi, si-mi “lame” la! suo-yi a - he hai-zi gou-tong shi i men xue-wen {lai de???} a.
當今的 gin-na - 朋友講一句好過父母講一百句. 咱若開喙阿, [亻+因] toh 講什麽 “old-fashioned” 啦, {“ old vid”} 啦. 當今佫有一句新的... 什麽什麽什麽, 什麽 “lame” 啦! 所以阿 - 和孩子溝通是一門學問{來的???}啊.
Children nowadays - one word from their friends works better than a hundred words from their parents. If we open out mouths, they say like “old-fashioned”, {“old vid”}. Now there’s yet another new word... erm... “lame”! So, communicating with children {has become???} a sort of art.
3. FRIEND: ly cho an-ni sui {ai khy (to-)loh???}?
汝做安尼水{UNSURE}?
Why are you making yourself up so nicely {where are you going}?
4. MOTHER: gun kiaN lo. i-e lau-su ai {kin???} gua. yao gen wo shang-liang ta-de cai-hua.
阮囝囉. 伊的老師愛見我. 要跟我商量他的才華.
It’s my boy. His teacher wants to see me. He wants to discuss his special talent.
5. FRIEND: li-e kiaN u si-mi cai-hua?
汝的囝有什麽才華?
What special talent does he have?
6. MOTHER: pui la!
肥啦!
He’s fat!
7. FRIEND: pui si cai-hua?
肥是才華?
Being fat is a special talent?
8. MOTHER: a-yo! li-hai lo! i a - tim qian-qui, chuan-kok tim siang hng. i sue-sue han toh-si tiam-tiam tim gua-e mih-kiaN lo.
哎唷! 利害囉! 伊阿 - 揕鉛球全國揕上遠. 伊細細漢 toh 是踮踮揕我的物件囉.
Hey! It’s very special! He, you see - in throwing the short-put, he’s able to throw the furthest in the whole country. Even when he was very young, he used to always throw my things.
9. FRIEND: lau-teng tim loh lau-kha?
樓頂揕落樓骹?
He threw them from upstairs to downstairs?
10. MOTHER: m-si - si lau-kha tim khi lau-teng. xiang bu dao mE? tim mih-kiaN ye shi yi zhong cai-hua. e! li-e kiaN m-si chin gau sio-phah lo?
毋是 - 是樓骹揕去樓頂. 想不到 mE? 揕物件也是一種才華. e! 汝的囝毋是真[教+力]相拍囉?
No - from downstairs to upstairs. Can’t you imagine it? Throwing things is also a sort of special talent. Hey! Isn’t your son very good at fighting?
11. FRIEND: [nods]
12. MOTHER: a! sio-phah ma-si chi(t)-khuan cai-hua.
阿! 相拍嘛是一款才華.
Ha! Fighting is also a sort of special talent.
13. FRIEND: sio-phah pun si cai-hua?
相拍 pun 是才華?
Fighting is also a special talent?
14. MOTHER: hON! li ka-i hun-lian ch(i(t)-)e. bo tu-ho le, i tai-piau sin-ka-pho, phah ka(u) chuan se-kai khi.
hON! 汝共伊訓練一下. 無拄好 le, 伊代表新加坡, 拍到全世界去.
Yes! You should train him a bit. Perhaps he could represent Singapore, (and) fight his way to the top of the world.
15. FRIEND: hei-shou-dang a-si zhu-lian-bang?
黑手黨也是竹聯邦?
With the Mafia or the Triads?
16. MOTHER: hai-ya! an-chuaN li ch(it-)e lang an-ni khuan e? {chit ke chhue kang, chit ke chih chha-thau ka-le???}. li bue-hiau o-lo lang e mE? gua mng ly - ly {au-be???} chi(t)-pai o-lo le-e kiaN si ti-si haN?
hai-ya! 按怎汝這個人安尼款的? {something 柴頭傀儡???}. 汝[勿+會]曉呵咾人的 mE? 我問汝 - 汝{後尾}一擺呵咾汝的囝是{是/底}時?
Heavens! Why are you like this? {UNSURE, like a wooden dummy}. Don’t you know how to praise other people? I’m asking you - when is the last time you praised your son?
17. FRIEND: [raises two fingers]
18. MOTHER: nng ni cheng a?
兩年前阿?
Two years ago?
19. FRIEND: i nng he e {su-chun}.
伊兩歲的{時陣}.
When he was two years old.
20. MOTHER: a-yo, {chek??? a???/ia???} iau-siu. cho li-e kiaN a-si kau sue! ha! [speaks to Tan, who has just arrived] e, Tan, li cha-mi {UNCLEAR} e {te-O???} sng-kam {phueh???} chin ho lim a! koh {thiau-te???}, koh {thiau-te???}, thiau {kau/kha} ho-se, gua {ka i / ka li} gia lai bue. {{si}kut-lat{lang}???}.
哎唷, {缺???<X???>/也???}夭壽!做汝的囝也是夠衰! ha! [speaks to Tan, who has just arrived] e, 陳, 汝昨暝 {UNCLEAR} 的{茶烏}酸柑{泡???}真好啉阿! 佫 {調得???}, 佫 {調得???}, 調{夠/到/較}好勢,我{共伊/共汝}拿來賣. {是}出力{人}???}.
Oh dear, you’re awful. What an terrible fate to be your child! Ha! Hey, Tan, the {bubbly?} lemon tea which you {UNCLEAR} last night tasted really good! Keep improving it and I’ll put it on the menu. {UNCLEAR}.
21. TAN: ok, ok! [Tan leaves, laughing and happy, Friend lights up a cigarette]
22. FRIEND: i-e chui e lim me?
伊的水會啉 me?
Is his stuff drinkable?
23. MOTHER: li khuaN li. li-e lang toh-si an-ni khuan la! o-lo lang e si mE? li bo khuaN-ke a-mO - tioh m-tioh a - “excellent”, “great”, “well done”, “marvellous”.
汝看汝. 汝的人 toh 是安尼款拉! 呵咾人會死 mE? 汝無看過紅毛 - 著毋著阿 - “excellent”, “great”, “well done”, “marvellous”.
Look at you! That’s just the sort of person you are! Would it kill you to praise others? Haven’t you seen these Europeans - whether it’s right or wrong, they say “excellent”, “great”, “well done”, “marvellous”.
[Daughter arrives]
24. DAUGHTER Mummy!
25. MOTHER: ue! fang xue le?
喂! 放學了?
Hello! Are you back from school?
26. DAUGHTER wo maths test {UNCLEAR} liu-shi-wu {fen/kuai???}.
我 maths test {UNCLEAR} 六十五{分???}.
I got 65 for my maths test.
[Friend looks sceptical]
27. MOTHER: [Speaks to daughter] wa, Baby! hai hao dai ni qu bu-xi zhi hou, ni zi-ji ye cong-ming qi-lai le! jin-bu le, jin-bu le! I love you! qu chi-fan la, qu chi-fan la! [Speaks to friend again] e! li bat ka lin kiaN kong “I love you” bo? wa ka li kong, chi(t) san-e ji chin {kau-lat???} e a!
嘩, Baby! 還好帶你去補習之後, 你自己也聰明起來了. 進步了, 進步了. I love you! 去吃飯啦, 去吃飯啦! [Speaks to friend again] e! 汝捌共您囝講 “I love you” 無? 我共汝講, 這三個字真{夠力???}的阿!
Wow! Baby! Since you started tuition, you’ve become even smarter. Lots of progress, lots of progress! I love you! Go and have your lunch, go and have your lunch! Hey, have you ever said to your son “I love you”? I’m telling you, these three words are very powerful.
[Friend coughs and draws on cigarette. Mother attempts to darken her eyebrow using an eyebrow pencil. Friend hands her a very small saucer. Mother looks delighted.]
28. MOTHER: an-ni kan-khO e mih-kiaN pun hO li siuN tioh! chi(t-l)e corner - chin phaiN ue! [Covers her eye with saucer, and uses edge to draw with her eyebrow pencil.] a-yo, koh tu-tu ho!
安尼艱苦的物件 pun 與汝想著!這個 corner - 真否畫! [Covers her eye with saucer, and uses edge to draw with her eyebrow pencil.] 哎唷 - 佫拄拄好!
You think of solutions to such difficult problems! This corner is so hard to draw! Wow, it’s just right!
---
Notes:
1. Douglas is the “Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Amoy of Amoy”; Barclay is the supplement to Douglas; MFCX stands for “閩南方言常用小詞典 Minnan Fangyan Xiao Cidian”; EP stands for the “Etymology Page” (http://www.chineseetymology.org).
2. I got the character 囉 for the exclamatory particle “lo” from http://ssyih85.blog.friendster.com/2006/06/.
3. For “tim3” (= “to throw”), Barclay gives 擲 (EP: tek8), MFCX gives 揕 (EP: chim1 sim3). I suppose one is for the meaning, and the other for the sound. Any opinion on what to use?
4. For “tiam7-tiam7” (= “to keep constantly doing something”), Barclay gives 站 (EP: cham7 tiam3), MFCX gives 踮 (EP: no pronunciation).
---
Particularly difficult parts
Passage 2: “old vid”, maybe “ovid”?
No idea what this could be. I’m probably hearing it incorrectly. A Singapore slang term?
Passage 2: 和孩子溝通是一門學問{來的}啊.
Is the woman actually saying “來的”, and if so, what does it mean?
Passage 3: no idea what is being said after 汝做安尼水(=sui = “beautiful”).
Passage 4: 伊的老師愛見我
EP gives the pronunciations of 見 as “kiN” and “kian”, but the woman seems to be saying “kin”, with a full “-n”. Is this also a known pronunciation?
Passage 16: chit ke chhue kang, chit ke chih chha-thau ka-le
The subtitles give (in Mandarin) “你的人真是呆板, 木頭傀儡”, but I’m not sure how to relate the 呆板 to chit ke chhue kang, and what the “chih” means. I have no idea what this means. I suppose “chha-thau” is simply 柴頭. “ka-le” would appear to be 傀儡, but EP gives 傀 = “ka1 kui2 khui2” (so “ka1” is an acceptable pronunciation), but 儡 = “lui2”, not “le2”. Even if it is, I have no idea what the whole sentence means.
Also, any idea how to write the first character of “ti-si” (= “when”)? Douglas seems to imply that it is a colloquial reading of 是, so “ti-si” would be 是時. But the MFCX indicates that it is 底時. Any opinions on this?
Passage 20:
20a. chek-a??? iau-siu = <缺?><X?>夭壽
The Mandarin subtitle has: “缺得<X>夭壽”.
20b. The whole thing she says to Tan is unclear to me. The Mandarin subtitle gives: “你昨天調泡的<酸?>柑涼茶很好嗎”. Much of my translation is based on the English subtitles. “thiau-te” seems to mean “to improve”, but I can’t find it anywhere as a Hokkien compound. Could it be borrowed from (pinyin) “tiao2-dei3” 調得? (My dictionary only gives this as pronounced “tiao2-de0” in Mandarin.)
The last sentence she says to Tan is given in the Mandarin subtitles as: “努力工作<阿>” and in English as “Work harder!”, but I can’t relate this to anything which is said in Hokkien. What is said is said very quickly. It sounds to me like “skoonalang”(!), but could be something like {是}出力{人}.
Passage 26: I’m pretty sure that the daughter says “maths test” in English, even when speaking Mandarin. However, the verb she uses for “getting” a mark of 65 is unclear to me. Also, the sub-titles give that she says “fen1”, but I seem to hear “kuai4”.
Passage 27: I hear “kau lat”, and the subtitle renders this 夠力. Context would suggest that this means “powerful”, “effective”, but I haven’t been able to find out what it means precisely.
Final question (not language related): for a very long time, I thought that the woman was telling off 4 kids at the very opening scene. At a certain point, I suddenly realised that the group of 4 was actually 2 adults (sitting down) and 2 children (standing). Furthermore, the man who is sitting down looks like he might be the same man who the woman speaks to for the rest of the clip (he even seems to be wearing the same purple t-shirt). Am I confused or correct?
Re: Transcribing videoclips
PS. The link seems to not be working at the moment. Hopefully it will come back up.
Re: Transcribing videoclips
At last!
I've been trying to find this clip for months, since I first saw it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-YAMgoE ... re=related
I think I mentioned it once, when the subject was the survival of Hokkien. As I said then, it's clear that these kids all understand the lady perfectly, but for 3/4 of the clip, they resolutely answer only in Mandarin.
There is however one encouraging aspect. Despite the fact that these kids are so young, they seem to understand the lady interviewer perfectly. for the entire duration of the clip. In the last 1/4 of the clip, when they repeat the words of the poem after her, they repeat without any hesitation - i.e. they are not learning the language - they know the words perfectly - they are only learning the "poem" itself. Also, one can see that at the very end, the two girls can give every other line of the poem, again with no hesitation.
One final comment is that I find the accent very unfamiliar and hard to understand. If this lady were to talk about anything other than such a restricted subject, I fear that I wouldn't even be able to guess what the subject was, much less understand the detailed content.
So this is the much talked about Quanzhou Hokkien.
I've been trying to find this clip for months, since I first saw it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-YAMgoE ... re=related
I think I mentioned it once, when the subject was the survival of Hokkien. As I said then, it's clear that these kids all understand the lady perfectly, but for 3/4 of the clip, they resolutely answer only in Mandarin.
There is however one encouraging aspect. Despite the fact that these kids are so young, they seem to understand the lady interviewer perfectly. for the entire duration of the clip. In the last 1/4 of the clip, when they repeat the words of the poem after her, they repeat without any hesitation - i.e. they are not learning the language - they know the words perfectly - they are only learning the "poem" itself. Also, one can see that at the very end, the two girls can give every other line of the poem, again with no hesitation.
One final comment is that I find the accent very unfamiliar and hard to understand. If this lady were to talk about anything other than such a restricted subject, I fear that I wouldn't even be able to guess what the subject was, much less understand the detailed content.
So this is the much talked about Quanzhou Hokkien.
Re: Transcribing videoclips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BuzJJMO ... re=related
THIS is an example of something which sounds like Hokkien, but which might as well be Tamil
THIS is an example of something which sounds like Hokkien, but which might as well be Tamil
Re: Transcribing videoclips
Oops! I just had another look, and what the subtitles actually say in Mandarin is actually: "這三個字是很夠動的"Passage 27: I hear “kau lat”, and the subtitle renders this 夠力. Context would suggest that this means “powerful”, “effective”, but I haven’t been able to find out what it means precisely.