Let's fight to get Hokkien to be on Malaysian Media

[Andrew Yong]

I have to say, having watched a Taiwanese comedy on AEC on Astro, that I hardly understood most of it. For me the biggest problem was not the pronunciation, but the speed and the difference in tone patterns. I had to keep an eye on the subtitles, but I can't read that fast either.

If your average Penangite has as much trouble as I had understanding Taiwanese Hokkien, I don't think there's much chance of getting much support here.


andrew

[Sim]

Hmmm,

Perhaps that's one of the reasons Hokkien loses out to Cantonese, even though they may be numerically a larger minority: there is a huge variation on the different variants of Hokkien, and Amoy, having been isolated for so long from the rest of the Hokkien speaking world, can no longer be considered the standard.

In the case of Cantonese, I get the impression that Hong Kong Cantonese is pretty much understood by Cantonese speakers all over the world.

Does Taiwanese Hokkien differ much from Amoy Hokkien?

N.B. I'm just speaking very spontaneously - I have no first hand experience of either the Hokkien or the Cantonese situation, nor have I even read any books or articles on this subject.

Sim.

[A-Hiong]

Taiwanese Hokkien and Amoy Hokkien should be mutually intelligible. Yes there are differences but not so much that it would be an entirely whole different language. Maybe it gets some time to get used to but from my understanding people from Amoy and Taiwan should have pretty similiar accents being that most Taiwanese are originally from there anyhow. Only difference maybe some slang and some other words that was picked up from colonial times by Japan. And some influence from aboriginals there too! As well as the Hakka people...but its not that huge.

[yisheng]

Actually, Cantonese spoken here in Malaysia differs from that spoken in Hong Kong. However, this doesn't stop Cantonese serials being popular here. The point is that if one is exposed to the different varieties of Hokkien long enough, one can understand them although one may not be able to speak it. Just like what I experienced when I moved from Penang to Johor Bahru.

yisheng

[tqt]

why do the chinese have to live in Malaysia to endure the oppession? The Chinese have a great country with huge land mass named China where chinese belong to. Malaysia belong to Malaysian people, not chinese.

[A-Hiong]

Why do Chinese pepole stay anywhere else??? Most of these Malaysian Chinese have been there for so many generations why go back when its your home? If they move back to China some will feel like its not their home, its not the place where they grew up. Malaysian government isn't that bad...compared to other governments out there they treat the Chinese people there fairly well. Maybe not as like they would like to be treated but fairly well. Better than say Indonesia where Chinese people are in definite danger all the time.

[xng]

Found this very old topic.

Happy to say that now in Malaysia, we have 3 significant hokkien channels

1. NTV7

2. 8TV

3. Hua Hee Tai on astro


I hope that there would be a standard hokkien as what has been done to cantonese.

[yeobh2]

I'm very 'hua hee' that my various complaints in the press & directly to the TV stations in the past, have in someway contributed to more Hokkien programmes being now shown over the Malaysian TV stations i.e. NTV7, 8TV & Astro Hua Hee Dai (Channel 333). What is however sorely missing are the Hokkien movies as there are hardly being produced for the theatres either by the Taiwanese or Singaporean movie producers, so therefore we can't expect them to be screened over the TV stations unlike the many Cantonese/Mandarin movies. I'm also very pleased to see that the Astro Hokkien channel 333 is currently producing more local Hokkien programmes especially those showcasing the Hokkien culture for the enjoyment of the Hokkien world at least in Malaysia. However, I'm disappointed that the Malaysian Government TV stations are still not showing any Hokkien programmes. Anyway, I'm not pursuing this matter as I feel the current Hokkien programmes showing over the Malaysian private TV stations are more than sufficient to occupy our time.