Hokkien

[Kxbc]

Hokkien is a crude language mostly because it sounds crude.

Cantonese, on the other hand, sounds elegant.

 

edit for double post.

Edited June 2, 2009 by Kxbc

[Gearoil]

friend...you talk like this not very right ler...there are many hokkien people around hor...even here...so what dialect is high life huh?

 

So simple also must ask me back!...that means there are also A LOT OF LOW LIFE PPL around lah!

[Josho]

Agree with that. To someone who does not understand either, Hokkien sound more crude than Cantonese. Maybe it's the phonetics etc. Just like I find the Korean language sounds more crude than the Japanese language.

 

It depend on how the person talk and voice it out. Normal uncle talking does not sound as crude as like those beng.

 

Li Jiak Ba Bey?

 

Eh... Li Jiak Liao Bo?

 

 

 

[Iliketodrive]

Hokkien is a crude language mostly because it sounds crude.

Cantonese, on the other hand, sounds elegant.

 

And hokkien is a dying language. Give it another generation, it will almost die off.

 

u siao or wat?

i speak hokkien with my 3 year old son. he also speak with his grandparent n great grandmums.

 

 

[Application9999]

So simple also must ask me back!...that means there are also A LOT OF LOW LIFE PPL around lah!

 

well ok..heard your offensive statement loud and clear...

 

[Geboz]

Why must you state as low life? What is high life? I do not want to assume if you speak Hokkien or not, but this is a sweeping statement.

 

 

I fully support you. I have been using Hokkien all my life, I don't find it disgraceful in anyway. I use Hokkien at home (teaching my boys), at work, at social gathering and even in school when I was still schooling.

 

Is those people who thinks that speaking Hokkien is disgraceful are really the low life people.

 

Too shameful to be a Hokkien ? why should you ??

[Ahgongwolve]

"Is those people who thinks that speaking Hokkien is disgraceful are really the low life people. "

[Law_ong]

hmmm...got this from web too

 

Hokkien - Language of the Tang Dynasty (http://romerz.blogspot.com/2009/02/hokkien-language-of-tang-dynasty.html)

 

To all Hokkien langs out there, you must be proud of your dialect. Did you know that the Hokkien dialect was the ancient imperial language of China 2,000 years ago?

 

Hokkien (Fujian/Minnan Hua) is :

 

1. The surviving language of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD), China's golden age of culture. (Note: The Hokkien we hear today may have 'evolved' from its original form 2,000 years ago but it still retains the main elements of the Tang Dynasty language.)

 

2. Hokkiens are the surviving descendants of the tang Dynasty. When the Tang Dynasty collapsed, the people of the tang Dynasty fled south and sought refuge in the Hokkien (Fujian) province. Hence Hokkiens called themselves Tng-lang (Tang ren or people of the Tang Dynasty) instead Hua lang (Hua ren).

 

3. Hokkien has 8 tones instead of Mandarin's 4. Linguists claim that ancient languages tend to have more complex tones.

 

4. Hokkien retains the ancient Chinese pronounciation of "K-sounding" endings for instance hak seng (student), tua ok (university), thak chek (read a book, study). Note that the "k-sounding" ending is not found in Mandarin.

 

5. The collection of the famous "Three hundred Tang Dynasty Poems" sounds better when recited in Hokkien/Teochew as compared to Mandarin.

 

6.Consider this for a moment. Today the Hokkien Nam Yim orchestral performance still has its roots in ancient Tang Dynasty music. Here's the proof. The formation of today's Nam Yim ensemble is typically seen in Tang Dynasty paintings of musicians.

 

More astonishingly;

 

Although not genetically related [?], Hokkiens, Koreans and Japanese share many similar words which are different from Mandarin. That's because Hokkien was the official language of the Tang Dynasty whose influence and language spread to Japan and Korea (just like Latin where many words were borrowed by the English, French, Italian, etc.)

 

Here are a few words in Hokkien, Korean and Japanese for your comparison.

 

English - Hokkien - Korean - Japanese

news - sin boon - sin mun - shinbun (newspaper)

government - cheng hu - chong bu - none

room - pang - pang - none

car/vehicle - chhia - ch'a - none

door - mui/m'ng - mun - none

ticket - p'hio - p'yo - none

eternal - eng wan - yong won - none

book - chaek - ch'ae - none

flag - ki - ki - ki

river - kang - gang/kang - none

insurance - poh hiam - poh ham - none

caution - sio sim - cho sim - none

attend/join/mix - cham - ch'am sok - none

simple - kantan - gan dan - none

new world - sin sei kai - shin sae gae - none

nation - kok ka - kuk kka - none

elder brother - hya - hyaeng - none

prepare - choon pi - jun bi - none

time - si kan - si kan - none

emotion, feeling - kam tong - kam jong - kanjoo

gratitude, thanks - kamsia - kam sa - kansha

marriage - keat hoon - kyol hon - kekkon

exercise - oon tong - undong - undoo

university - Tua ok - tae hak - daigaku

safety - aun chuan - an jon - an zen

satisfaction - mua chiok - man jok - manzoku

success - seng kong - song kong - seikoo

suicide - chhui sat - cha sal - jisatsu

grapes - pu do - p'o d'o - budoo

progress - chin por - chin bo - shinpo

 

[Four4s]

Speaking Hokkien is fine and something to be proud of if you're Hokkien.

However, the "Army-style Hokkien" some Singaporeans adopt is extremely crude and "low class". If you compare the typical Singaporean "Army-style" Hokkien to Penang or Medan Hokkien, you would hear the difference quite clearly.

[Freestylers09]

actually the most vulgar dialect is cantonese and hainanese...cantonese is give no face when come to vulgarity..hainanese is more chor lor compare to hokkien

 

btw i not hokkien

[Freestylers09]

if not wrong..japanese got related to the Han words in chinese one...for korean..not very sure...

[Whyeme]

fully agreed!!!....cantonese vuglar words are equally solid...I use them all the time....

 

the crudest canto vulgarity i ever heard is: diu lei ma ge far hai... tsk tsk tsk...ear bleed

[Law_ong]

hmmmm...my limited history knowledge is that both countries ancestors also from China...which dialect or at which dynasty did they migrate over? me dont know....

[Mustank]

if you want to hear elegant hokkien, i suggest that you attend a hokkien speaking religious group meeting

 

my late grandma used to attend a hokkien church and trust me, the hokkien is very the powderful

 

my firend also tell me 95.8FM has a 10 min hokkien and cantonese news broadcast everyday. confirm elegant

[Yeobh]

Great ,keep it up, I am also training my nieces to speak proper hokkien. I am lucky my mother tongue is Hokkien and being able to speak Teochew , Cantonese and Pasar Malay, I am able to do my business during my younger days with Indonesia, Thai, Viet Chinese.

[Kongkongwolf]

let me start.....KNNBCCB.....so may be I low life lor..

Canto will be TLLMCH.

[Yeobh]

Good extract, hope those who are blind by our ChengHu speak Mandarine campaign, after reading this write up, will understand that Hokkien is NOT low class and spoken only by the peasants.

[Kongkongwolf]

So is talK co cK hokkien also?