Singapore Expats

Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Want to learn a new language? Find someone who can help here.
Post Reply
Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Thu, 26 May 2022 4:23 am

generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 11:33 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 1:08 am
generao wrote:
Tue, 24 May 2022 3:54 pm


Honestly I am more keen on the daily conversation, provided that I have sufficient time. But due to my ad hoc busy work, the latter is more realistic.
Who are you looking to communicate with? The older gen? Can’t think of any other group that wouldn’t speak English/at least another language at this point.
I think I am just generally interested in the culture and trying to preserve the tradition. In recent years, I can witness many dialects are dying including Cantonese. I am Hakka, but I don't speak the language because very few people spoke with me. Maybe these languages would eventually die out in the next few decades, which sounds quite sad to me as I feel this is always the beauty of the culture. This is also the part that I like Singapore since it mixes all different kinds of culture. Imagine one day that we only have one uniform culture, isn't it boring?
Such a lovely sentiment, and you’re exactly right! It is Singapore’s diversity that makes it so unique and colorful.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Thu, 26 May 2022 4:25 am

malcontent wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 8:49 pm
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 11:33 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 1:08 am


Who are you looking to communicate with? The older gen? Can’t think of any other group that wouldn’t speak English/at least another language at this point.
I think I am just generally interested in the culture and trying to preserve the tradition. In recent years, I can witness many dialects are dying including Cantonese. I am Hakka, but I don't speak the language because very few people spoke with me. Maybe these languages would eventually die out in the next few decades, which sounds quite sad to me as I feel this is always the beauty of the culture. This is also the part that I like Singapore since it mixes all different kinds of culture. Imagine one day that we only have one uniform culture, isn't it boring?
Yes, it’s like a tapestry of humanity, although like anything, there are positives and negatives to any culture.

But, this is why I think Singapore should learn to embrace more non-CMI races and cultures, especially from neighboring ASEAN. There are very few Thai and Vietnamese here — if nothing else, that reduces the quality and variety of food choices. Whenever I go to Malaysia I find much better Viet & Thai food.
I once heard something along the lines of “we are a mosaic of everyone we’ve ever met”. The same thing goes for cultures and big groups of people. It’s beautiful, really.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Thu, 26 May 2022 4:26 am

generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 10:30 pm
malcontent wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 8:49 pm
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 11:33 am


I think I am just generally interested in the culture and trying to preserve the tradition. In recent years, I can witness many dialects are dying including Cantonese. I am Hakka, but I don't speak the language because very few people spoke with me. Maybe these languages would eventually die out in the next few decades, which sounds quite sad to me as I feel this is always the beauty of the culture. This is also the part that I like Singapore since it mixes all different kinds of culture. Imagine one day that we only have one uniform culture, isn't it boring?
Yes, it’s like a tapestry of humanity, although like anything, there are positives and negatives to any culture.

But, this is why I think Singapore should learn to embrace more non-CMI races and cultures, especially from neighboring ASEAN. There are very few Thai and Vietnamese here — if nothing else, that reduces the quality and variety of food choices. Whenever I go to Malaysia I find much better Viet & Thai food.
Truth! I can still find some Thai food in Singapore, like Tom Yum is very common. But it is a bit surprising to see not much Vietnamese cuisines around. It seems I can find more Vietnamese food in Australia even (possibly due to their early refugees)!

As you said, every culture has its pros and cons, that is why I believe that every culture has its own value. More generally speaking, I think this not only applies to languages, but also to whenever we learn anything.
A little off topic but if you like viet food you should try 233 Banh Mi in Joo Chiat. The food is amazing! And very cheap.

generao
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed, 18 May 2022 1:50 pm

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by generao » Thu, 26 May 2022 11:21 am

Lisafuller wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 4:26 am
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 10:30 pm
malcontent wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 8:49 pm


Yes, it’s like a tapestry of humanity, although like anything, there are positives and negatives to any culture.

But, this is why I think Singapore should learn to embrace more non-CMI races and cultures, especially from neighboring ASEAN. There are very few Thai and Vietnamese here — if nothing else, that reduces the quality and variety of food choices. Whenever I go to Malaysia I find much better Viet & Thai food.
Truth! I can still find some Thai food in Singapore, like Tom Yum is very common. But it is a bit surprising to see not much Vietnamese cuisines around. It seems I can find more Vietnamese food in Australia even (possibly due to their early refugees)!

As you said, every culture has its pros and cons, that is why I believe that every culture has its own value. More generally speaking, I think this not only applies to languages, but also to whenever we learn anything.
A little off topic but if you like viet food you should try 233 Banh Mi in Joo Chiat. The food is amazing! And very cheap.
Thanks for the recommendation! Will definitely go with my friends~

therat
Editor
Editor
Posts: 1011
Joined: Thu, 04 Sep 2008 2:23 pm
Answers: 2

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by therat » Thu, 26 May 2022 1:08 pm

generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 11:33 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 1:08 am
generao wrote:
Tue, 24 May 2022 3:54 pm


Honestly I am more keen on the daily conversation, provided that I have sufficient time. But due to my ad hoc busy work, the latter is more realistic.
Who are you looking to communicate with? The older gen? Can’t think of any other group that wouldn’t speak English/at least another language at this point.
I think I am just generally interested in the culture and trying to preserve the tradition. In recent years, I can witness many dialects are dying including Cantonese. I am Hakka, but I don't speak the language because very few people spoke with me. Maybe these languages would eventually die out in the next few decades, which sounds quite sad to me as I feel this is always the beauty of the culture. This is also the part that I like Singapore since it mixes all different kinds of culture. Imagine one day that we only have one uniform culture, isn't it boring?
I'm HokChew which from Fujian province. Same province as Hokkien.
My friend ask me.. should be quite close, right.
No.. not even close. I can understand Hokkien but I dont understand a single word of Hokchew.
When ppl ask me which dialect group I from,
I always start with I'm Hokchew who cannot speak or understand a single word.
This language has die out in my family. None of my cousin can speak nor listen.
Kind of sad

therat
Editor
Editor
Posts: 1011
Joined: Thu, 04 Sep 2008 2:23 pm
Answers: 2

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by therat » Thu, 26 May 2022 1:10 pm

generao wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 11:21 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 4:26 am
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 10:30 pm


Truth! I can still find some Thai food in Singapore, like Tom Yum is very common. But it is a bit surprising to see not much Vietnamese cuisines around. It seems I can find more Vietnamese food in Australia even (possibly due to their early refugees)!

As you said, every culture has its pros and cons, that is why I believe that every culture has its own value. More generally speaking, I think this not only applies to languages, but also to whenever we learn anything.
A little off topic but if you like viet food you should try 233 Banh Mi in Joo Chiat. The food is amazing! And very cheap.
Thanks for the recommendation! Will definitely go with my friends~
Joo Chiat has quite a number of Vietnamese shop. It look like small Vietnamese area

generao
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed, 18 May 2022 1:50 pm

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by generao » Thu, 26 May 2022 5:26 pm

therat wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 1:08 pm
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 11:33 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 1:08 am


Who are you looking to communicate with? The older gen? Can’t think of any other group that wouldn’t speak English/at least another language at this point.
I think I am just generally interested in the culture and trying to preserve the tradition. In recent years, I can witness many dialects are dying including Cantonese. I am Hakka, but I don't speak the language because very few people spoke with me. Maybe these languages would eventually die out in the next few decades, which sounds quite sad to me as I feel this is always the beauty of the culture. This is also the part that I like Singapore since it mixes all different kinds of culture. Imagine one day that we only have one uniform culture, isn't it boring?
I'm HokChew which from Fujian province. Same province as Hokkien.
My friend ask me.. should be quite close, right.
No.. not even close. I can understand Hokkien but I dont understand a single word of Hokchew.
When ppl ask me which dialect group I from,
I always start with I'm Hokchew who cannot speak or understand a single word.
This language has die out in my family. None of my cousin can speak nor listen.
Kind of sad
I heard that there are many different dialects (or maybe the same dialect in different tones) spoken within Fujian province, and the same thing happens in Guangdong province, at least in the past few decades. This typically happens in South China as the area has many mountains and the traffic was not so developed back then. They also have dictionaries in Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka etc. when I was a kid. But the new generation probably don't care about this at all. Like I spoke with some youths from Xiamen and they can only speak Mandarin and possibly cannot understand Hokkien much. In Guangzhou, I heard that the students are not even allowed to speak Cantonese in school..

Anyway, I would like to say that I just want to learn Hokkien for my personal interest.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Fri, 27 May 2022 1:00 am

generao wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 11:21 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 4:26 am
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 10:30 pm


Truth! I can still find some Thai food in Singapore, like Tom Yum is very common. But it is a bit surprising to see not much Vietnamese cuisines around. It seems I can find more Vietnamese food in Australia even (possibly due to their early refugees)!

As you said, every culture has its pros and cons, that is why I believe that every culture has its own value. More generally speaking, I think this not only applies to languages, but also to whenever we learn anything.
A little off topic but if you like viet food you should try 233 Banh Mi in Joo Chiat. The food is amazing! And very cheap.
Thanks for the recommendation! Will definitely go with my friends~
Let me know what you think, I find it a lot better than the chain Vietnamese restaurants we have here like Nam Nam noodle bar.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Fri, 27 May 2022 1:01 am

therat wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 1:08 pm
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 11:33 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 1:08 am


Who are you looking to communicate with? The older gen? Can’t think of any other group that wouldn’t speak English/at least another language at this point.
I think I am just generally interested in the culture and trying to preserve the tradition. In recent years, I can witness many dialects are dying including Cantonese. I am Hakka, but I don't speak the language because very few people spoke with me. Maybe these languages would eventually die out in the next few decades, which sounds quite sad to me as I feel this is always the beauty of the culture. This is also the part that I like Singapore since it mixes all different kinds of culture. Imagine one day that we only have one uniform culture, isn't it boring?
I'm HokChew which from Fujian province. Same province as Hokkien.
My friend ask me.. should be quite close, right.
No.. not even close. I can understand Hokkien but I dont understand a single word of Hokchew.
When ppl ask me which dialect group I from,
I always start with I'm Hokchew who cannot speak or understand a single word.
This language has die out in my family. None of my cousin can speak nor listen.
Kind of sad
Actually, this is something that is happening among a lot of third generation dialect speakers. The language has slowly died out in favor of the more common mother tongues and English.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Fri, 27 May 2022 1:02 am

therat wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 1:10 pm
generao wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 11:21 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 4:26 am


A little off topic but if you like viet food you should try 233 Banh Mi in Joo Chiat. The food is amazing! And very cheap.
Thanks for the recommendation! Will definitely go with my friends~
Joo Chiat has quite a number of Vietnamese shop. It look like small Vietnamese area
Not just Vietnamese shops, Joo Chiat actually has plenty of hole in the wall spots with cuisines from all over the world. Pretty quaint area.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Fri, 27 May 2022 1:03 am

generao wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 5:26 pm
therat wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 1:08 pm
generao wrote:
Wed, 25 May 2022 11:33 am


I think I am just generally interested in the culture and trying to preserve the tradition. In recent years, I can witness many dialects are dying including Cantonese. I am Hakka, but I don't speak the language because very few people spoke with me. Maybe these languages would eventually die out in the next few decades, which sounds quite sad to me as I feel this is always the beauty of the culture. This is also the part that I like Singapore since it mixes all different kinds of culture. Imagine one day that we only have one uniform culture, isn't it boring?
I'm HokChew which from Fujian province. Same province as Hokkien.
My friend ask me.. should be quite close, right.
No.. not even close. I can understand Hokkien but I dont understand a single word of Hokchew.
When ppl ask me which dialect group I from,
I always start with I'm Hokchew who cannot speak or understand a single word.
This language has die out in my family. None of my cousin can speak nor listen.
Kind of sad
I heard that there are many different dialects (or maybe the same dialect in different tones) spoken within Fujian province, and the same thing happens in Guangdong province, at least in the past few decades. This typically happens in South China as the area has many mountains and the traffic was not so developed back then. They also have dictionaries in Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka etc. when I was a kid. But the new generation probably don't care about this at all. Like I spoke with some youths from Xiamen and they can only speak Mandarin and possibly cannot understand Hokkien much. In Guangzhou, I heard that the students are not even allowed to speak Cantonese in school..

Anyway, I would like to say that I just want to learn Hokkien for my personal interest.
Dictionaries! I never even knew that was a thing, how would that work? Especially for certain dialects that don’t work phonetically.

generao
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed, 18 May 2022 1:50 pm

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by generao » Fri, 27 May 2022 10:42 am

Lisafuller wrote:
Fri, 27 May 2022 1:03 am
generao wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 5:26 pm
therat wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 1:08 pm


I'm HokChew which from Fujian province. Same province as Hokkien.
My friend ask me.. should be quite close, right.
No.. not even close. I can understand Hokkien but I dont understand a single word of Hokchew.
When ppl ask me which dialect group I from,
I always start with I'm Hokchew who cannot speak or understand a single word.
This language has die out in my family. None of my cousin can speak nor listen.
Kind of sad
I heard that there are many different dialects (or maybe the same dialect in different tones) spoken within Fujian province, and the same thing happens in Guangdong province, at least in the past few decades. This typically happens in South China as the area has many mountains and the traffic was not so developed back then. They also have dictionaries in Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka etc. when I was a kid. But the new generation probably don't care about this at all. Like I spoke with some youths from Xiamen and they can only speak Mandarin and possibly cannot understand Hokkien much. In Guangzhou, I heard that the students are not even allowed to speak Cantonese in school..

Anyway, I would like to say that I just want to learn Hokkien for my personal interest.
Dictionaries! I never even knew that was a thing, how would that work? Especially for certain dialects that don’t work phonetically.
Check out this for example if you can read Chinese: https://www.theteochewstore.org/product ... ingbianben

Technically speaking, there is a phonetic system that tailors for every dialect. These dictionaries usually also include expositions for some specific terms. It is interesting to see there are several online dialect dictionaries, but I guess they are not so comprehensive as the paper books.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Sat, 28 May 2022 1:33 am

generao wrote:
Fri, 27 May 2022 10:42 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Fri, 27 May 2022 1:03 am
generao wrote:
Thu, 26 May 2022 5:26 pm


I heard that there are many different dialects (or maybe the same dialect in different tones) spoken within Fujian province, and the same thing happens in Guangdong province, at least in the past few decades. This typically happens in South China as the area has many mountains and the traffic was not so developed back then. They also have dictionaries in Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka etc. when I was a kid. But the new generation probably don't care about this at all. Like I spoke with some youths from Xiamen and they can only speak Mandarin and possibly cannot understand Hokkien much. In Guangzhou, I heard that the students are not even allowed to speak Cantonese in school..

Anyway, I would like to say that I just want to learn Hokkien for my personal interest.
Dictionaries! I never even knew that was a thing, how would that work? Especially for certain dialects that don’t work phonetically.
Check out this for example if you can read Chinese: https://www.theteochewstore.org/product ... ingbianben

Technically speaking, there is a phonetic system that tailors for every dialect. These dictionaries usually also include expositions for some specific terms. It is interesting to see there are several online dialect dictionaries, but I guess they are not so comprehensive as the paper books.
How interesting, are any of the dictionaries sort of hinged on a language with a phonetic system? For example Chinese?

generao
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed, 18 May 2022 1:50 pm

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by generao » Sat, 28 May 2022 10:35 am

Lisafuller wrote:
Sat, 28 May 2022 1:33 am
generao wrote:
Fri, 27 May 2022 10:42 am
Lisafuller wrote:
Fri, 27 May 2022 1:03 am


Dictionaries! I never even knew that was a thing, how would that work? Especially for certain dialects that don’t work phonetically.
Check out this for example if you can read Chinese: https://www.theteochewstore.org/product ... ingbianben

Technically speaking, there is a phonetic system that tailors for every dialect. These dictionaries usually also include expositions for some specific terms. It is interesting to see there are several online dialect dictionaries, but I guess they are not so comprehensive as the paper books.
How interesting, are any of the dictionaries sort of hinged on a language with a phonetic system? For example Chinese?
I believe they are somewhat related but at least not every dialect can hinge on only Mandarin, for example, Cantonese has more tones than Mandarin. If I am not wrong, Taiwan and Hong Kong are using two different phonetic systems. You can tell easily by just looking at the spelling of the their names. And of course, China mainland uses Pinyin, which is also different. For Singapore, honestly I am not sure, it seems that the phonetic system is all mixed together. May be because it is not an official language after all.

Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: Anyone teaching me Hokkien?

Post by Lisafuller » Mon, 30 May 2022 3:50 am

So interesting, although I’ll probably never be able to make use of one of these dictionaries.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Language Exchange”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests