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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Saturday's "It's not true ....." (4)

To highlight the unusual 'Chinese' factor in the PP by-election where nearly 70% of voters are Malays, I have decided to use a number of phrases in typical Penang Hokkien, initially without translation, but in response to complaints I have now included the translations (as close I can possibly make them) in coloured highlights, just beneath the respective phrases ;-)


It's not true that ........

(1) candidates for the Permatang Pauh's by-election will have to undertake a Chinese language test

(2) which may be in Mandarin or Penang Hokkien

(3) Arif Shah has challenged Anwar Ibrahim to take the test in both lingo

(4) Anwar replied man man lai

(5) Dr Mahathir said, Arif hoe liao see hoe liao tapi boe kau liao

Arif is real good (as a candidate) but still not good enough against .....

(6) Arif was heard to say karn neen nay (KNN) mend char koay teow lah

KNN = f* it or damn or blast! - don't char koay teow (don't stir it ...)

(7) Meanwhile PAS Penang delegate Mohd Fahmi Abdul Wahab is real tu larn with Penang Pakatan

tu larng larn = fed up

(8) Fahmi said kahwin see guoi geet kar Pakatan liao pun boe tua pah tor koe

married to Pakatan for 4 months yet still not pregnant

(9) boe th'an bong bong soe soe (BBSS), mar nar ay tua pah tor ah

ta'dapat rubba rubba (BBSS) pun mana boleh jadi hamil - without a chance to touch and caress, how in the world will the spouse be pregnant

(10) He was advised to jip been cheng mooi if no tua pah tor has been the problem

enter by the front door if no pregnancy has been the problem

(11) DAP sweetie chided kaytee with lu cheen chnea heow see boe - mend kare hair tau eu lah, hoe boe

you sangat gatal, 'kan, jangan taruh tau eu (soya sauce - add to the char koay teow stirring), boleh kah! - [sorry, English words won't do this justice ;-)]

(12) to which I replied tham poh nia, regarding the heow-ness, tapi wah hair kar chay tau eu, balu kar hoe chea mah

heow = gatal, miang

tham poh nia = sedikit saja lah

tapi I add more tau eu to make the meal (or story) more appetizing

19 comments:

  1. Sorry I don't understand Hokkien but I think it's something funny.

    Karn Nee sounds like a dirty word.

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  2. Perhaps we should all emigrate to China!!
    http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com

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  3. Kaytee ,
    here's another story for you

    BUKIT MERTAJAM, Aug 16 (Bernama) -- Two press photographers were assaulted by about 30 people wearing Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) T-shirts during the nomination for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election Saturday, resulting in one of them taking a severe beating and losing his RM15,000 digital camera.

    The mob had set upon Mohd Sairen Mohd Nafis, 26, of the New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad (NSTP), when he was photographing Barisan Nasional (BN) workers while standing on a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

    He said the crowd pulled him off the vehicle and he fell to the ground and "I was dragged for about 15 metres before being punched, slapped and kicked in the head, hands, legs and body".

    The assault went on for 10 minutes before Halim Berbar, a foreign press photographer, went to his aid, and Halim too was beaten up by the mob, Mohd Sairen said.

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  4. Two old friends - a Chinaman and a Malay were having a conversation recently ....

    Apek: Lu potong zaka ada bagut ka?

    Ali:Manyak bagus. Bila lu potong haa, lu punya barang manyak bersih loo.
    ..
    Apek: ?!! err ... saya kawan ala cakap, potong zaka aaahh.... manyak ploblem..

    Ali: Apa problem?

    Apek: Manyak buang lui, lagi aahh ... dia punya performance tadak bagut... manyak cinang semputloh ...

    Ali: Cehh... apek, lu apa cerita... saya suda lama potong. tada apa problem... bini saya manyak puas woo.
    ..
    Apek: Lu mini puas sama itu potong zaka ka?

    Ali: Ya laa. Bila lu p otong aahh... lagi sedap main woo. lu lagi lambat pancut..

    Apek: ???!!! err... lu punya 1.3 atau 1.5??

    > Ali: ??!! woi apek cakap baik2 sikit ha ... saya punya 6 inci laa.

    Apek: ??! Tiu nia ma... lu jangan main2 haa... mana ada potong zaka 6 inci.

    Ali: Cilaka apek ni...nah tengok (opens his trousers)

    Apek: Chee sin punya olang.....gua tanya baik2 ... lu tunjuk lu punya lanchiau..

    Ali: Abis... lu tada percaya..saya tunjuk la..

    Apek: Saya tadak tanya sama lu punya lanchiau. Saya tanya lu pasal itu nasional car... potong zaka. bolo punya olang..

    Ali: Aiya... apek... lain kali lu sebut betul2 la....kasi susa saja..
    Bukan potong zaka la..... Proton Saga........

    ReplyDelete
  5. kt,

    now i know what those who yelped plaintively in chedet's blog "give malay/english version, can or not?" feel.

    i know five and a quarter languages. unfortunately hokkien is not one of them. shame on me!

    give malay/english version, can or not, kt... someone? :D

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  6. Kt, you really have to stop wrting in the bastardised version of Hokkien. Your Hokkien is terrible and inaccurate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your Hokkien is terrible and inaccurate.

    Agree with anonymous 12:17 AM I cannot understand some of it !

    ReplyDelete
  8. dei kawan, I'm a Penang larng, not even a kuoi karng larng (on the mainland as opposed to the Island) - therefore my Penang Hokkien is perfect wakakaka

    OK ch'ien ch'ai ch'ien ch'ai lah (I'll be kind), will provide rough translation here:

    (5) Dr Mahathir said, Arif hoe liao see hoe liao tapi boe kau liao

    Dr M = Arif is good but not good enough to ...

    (6) Arif was heard to say karn neen nay (KNN) mend char koay teow lah

    = (colloquial) F**k, don't char koay teow (stir the issue)

    (7) Meanwhile PAS Penang delegate Mohd Fahmi Abdul Wahab is real tu larn with Penang Pakatan

    tu larn = fed up

    (8) Fahmi said kahwin see guoi geet kar Pakatan liao pun boe tua pah tor koe

    = married to Pakatan for 4 months yet still not pregnant

    (9) boe th'an bong bong soe soe (BBSS), mar nar ay tua pah tor ah

    ta'dapat rubba rubba pun mana boleh jadi hamil

    (10) He was advised to jip been cheng mooi if no tua pah tor has been the problem

    = enter by the front door if no pregnancy has been the problem

    (11) DAP sweetie chided kaytee with lu cheen chnea heow see boe - mend kare hair tau eu lah, hoe boe

    = you sangat gatal, 'kan, jangan taruh tau eu (soya sauce - add to the char koay teow stirring), boleh kah!

    (12) to which I replied tham poh nia, regarding the heow-ness, tapi wah hair kar chay tau eu, balu kar hoe chea mah

    tham poh nia = sedikit saja lah

    = tapi I add more tau eu to make the meal (or story) more appetizing

    wakakaka - you all failed the Penang Hokkien test, hope Anwar and Arif will do much better

    ReplyDelete
  9. KT
    (I'll be kind)= chin chai

    tu lan = fed up

    see ko goik kar Pakatan liao pun boe tua por tor koe = married to Pakatan for 4 months yet still not pregnant

    (9) boe th'an bong bong soe soe (BBSS), mar nar ay tua por tor ah

    He was advised to jip bin cheng mooi if no tua por tor has been the problem

    to which I replied tam poh nia, regarding the heow-ness, tapi wa hair kar chay tau eu, balu ka hoe chia mah

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. thanks chaktokam, I wonder why my original 'tu larn' became 'tu larng', but you're right there shoudl be an adiditonal 'g' there - OTOH, your 'tu lan' ma be mispronounced by westernised English speaking ppl as 'tu len' ;-)

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  12. typo, should be an additional 'g' = should NOT be an additional 'g'

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  13. hey how about this ; cheo kay bo kahho cheo hero.i mean ezam he prefer to be chicken than to be hero.,
    kana sai like shit,

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  14. 'cheo' sounds like 'stone' or 'granite'

    'to be' would be better written as 'choe'

    kaypo, 'kana sai' means you're a Southerner ;-) because Penang Larng would say 'siang kar sai' and never 'kana sai' - wakakaka

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  15. Dear KT,

    Penang Hokkien is best classified as a form of 'pidgin' Hokkien. It has lost the finer grammartical structure which you will find in the Hokkien spoken in many other parts of Malaysia. For eg. "ee larng tua tee kopitiam kongsamkok’.
    Though using the phrase "tua tee" in the sentence is not technically
    incorrect as "ee larng" may actually be living at the "kopitiam" but the proper word to use here will be "ter".

    However, the development of a language is such that new elements will be added over time. I hope that Penangtites will appreciate what they have as something special. Kt if you really want to help with the development of Penang Hokkien I suggest you use pin yin to more accurately reflect the language. Very difficult I must warn you as the official language of China has lost almost all of the minor inflections found in dialects. One example will be "sert". Guess what the word means KT.

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  16. ;-) no, Anon, I don't think I have heard of, let alone know the Hokkien word 'sert'

    I believe 'ter' is typically Southern Malaysian Hokkien or orthodox Hokkien (from China Fujian region, or Taiwan).

    Regarding "ee larng tua tee kopitiam ..." I believe Penangites distinguish between:

    "ee larng tua tee ..." and "ee larng tua ..."

    My Pg Hokkien is a bit rusty but I believe the former says "They are at/in ..." (eg. coffee shop, cinema, etc) whilst the latter say "They live at ..."

    I've very seldom heard of Penangites saying "ee larng tua tee 123, Lorong Boleh."

    Rather, it would usually be "ee larng tua 123, Lorong Boleh."

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  17. "ee larng tua 123, Lorong Boleh."
    Exactly what I mean by pidgin Hokkien. The sentence above is ambiguous in that it can mean "they brought along 123, Jalan Boleh". 'sert' is used to mean 'say' rather than 'talk'. It is this kind of inflection which has virtually disappeared from Mandarin. By the way try not to use so much Teochew in your Hokkien. The Teochew dialect is probably the only Chinese dialect left in the world which still maintains a lot of its ancient inflections. Penang, with a sizable Teochew population has imparted some of these inflections to Penang Hokkien. This partly accounts for the so-called "singing" nature of the dialect.

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  18. "ee larng tua 123, Lorong Boleh." = "they brought along 123, Jalan Boleh"???

    No way Jose!

    You have mistaken it for "ee larng CHUA (not 'tua') 123, Lorong Boleh."

    'chua' = bring along
    'tua' = stay/live

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  19. 'chua'does not mean bring along. It means to guide someone to a particular destination. You are right 'tua' can mean stay/live. Perhaps I fail to make myself clear here because 'tua' also means to bring along something. That is why it is neccessary to add 'ter' after 'tua' in the sentence "ee larng tua ter 123, Lorong Boleh." to denote the act of staying or living at that address. Penang Hokkien has simplified this part of the grammar. No problems in everyday usage but big problems in a formal setting.

    ReplyDelete