zia2 者

I want to talk about zia2 者 today.  It means

1. this type of, this sort of, this kind of as explained by zhe4zhong3 這種 or zhe4yang4de5 這樣的
2. this one as explained by zhe4ge5 這個

This is our own word and worth learning. 

hian5

I want to talk about hiaⁿ5 today. My dictionaries have not agreed on the character and I will therefore present them one by one.

Zhang XiaoShan writes hiaⁿ5 燃 means zheng1zhu3 蒸煮 - which means cooking by steaming.  There is a word zheng1zhu3 dai4 蒸煮袋 which means a poaching bag.  In fact, I cannot find in my Mandarin dictionaries the meaning of zheng1zhu3 蒸煮 and I only assume it to mean cooking by steaming.

Here are the examples given by ZXS

hiaⁿ5 guê2 燃粿 - to steam rice cakes

hiaⁿ5 bung5 燃飯 - to steam rice 

hiaⁿ5 muê5 燃糜 - to steam congee 

I have seen in historical dramas where they actually put congee in enclosed containers in a steaming baskets to steam.

ZXS also explains muêh8hiaⁿ5 物燃 as chai2huo5 柴火 which means firewood. 

ZXS also gives other examples of use.  For example, the Mandarin word shao1huo3 燒火, which means to start a fire, could be said as:

hiaⁿ5 ca5 燃柴

hiaⁿ5 cao2 燃草

hiaⁿ5 suaⁿ1mo1 燃山芼 where 山芼 in Mandarin is shan1cao3 山草 a kind of grass founds in hills and mountains

My word dictionary uses a different character for hiaⁿ5 煆 as in hiaⁿ5 huê2 煆火: It explains hiaⁿ5 huê2 煆火 to mean shao1huo3 燒火 : to light a fire.

The example of use given is:

Ua2 ca2 cai3 le2 hiaⁿ5 huê2.

我炒菜你煆火。

and in Mandarin it writes 我炒菜你燒火。which means I will fry the vegetables and you will light the fire.

Do you use the word hiaⁿ5?  If so, how to you use it?

號

I like to talk about this character 號 today.

Most of us should know ho7bhê2 號碼 as in "number" and said in Mandarin as hao4ma3.

However, the Mandarin er4hao4 二號 - the second day of the month is said and written as ciu1dzi7 初二 in our language.

but ho7 號 means to reserve or to take up or occupy: 
for example
soiⁿ1 ke3 ho7 gai5 iu7 先去號個位。｜First, go and reserve a seat.

hao6 號 - in our language means nickname and in Mandarin as wai4hao4 外號

Then there is hao1 號 which means to cry.  For example, 

hao1tiⁿ1gio3dzig8 號天叫日 means to cry bitterly: calling on heaven and the sun 

so, if we do not have PêngIm, how would we know how to say or read 號

第一課 問候 – first lesson: paying respects

I have posted the Mandarin version of the audio file

In addition, the English translation is from the Mandarin spoken by the lady.

第一課 問候 – first lesson: paying respects

1. 您好 : Hello

2.您早 : Good morning

3. 您身體好嗎？: How is your health?

4. 還可以，謝謝。您哪？: Fine, thanks.  How about you?

5. 我也很好。您工作忙不忙？: I am also very good.  Are you busy with your work?

6. 很忙。我們好久沒見面了。: Very busy.  We have not met for a long time.

7. 是啊。家裡人都好嗎？: That is right.  Are your family members alight?

8. 托您的福，全都過得很好。Thanks to your blessing, all are very good.

9. 您好像還有事要辦，是嗎？: It looks like you still have work to do, is this right?

10. 真對不起，我九點鐘還有個會。: Really sorry, I still have a meeting at 9 o’clock.

11. 那就不耽誤您了，再見。: Then let’s not delay you.  Good bye.

12. 再見! : Good bye

第一課 問候

This posting is based on this mp3 file which is found on this webpage.

第一課 問候 : dioⁿ5ig4 kuê3: mung7hao7
Lesson One: paying respects 

le2ho2 您好 : How do you do?

le2za2 您早 : Good morning

 Le2 sing1ti2 ho2 mêh4? 您身體好咩？: How are you?  A direct translation is: "Is your body alright?

Bhoi6mo2, zoi7sia7. Le2 nê1?  [不/會]孬, [多|支]謝。您呢？
Not bad, thanks. How about you?

ua2 ia7 bhoi6mo2. 我也[不/會]孬。
I am also not bad.

Le2 gang1zag4 m6oiⁿ5  a1 bhoi6? 您工作唔閑阿[不/會]？
Are you busy with your work?

M6oiⁿ5 si2. 唔閑死。
Very busy

Nang2 hoh4gu2 bho5 giⁿ3ming7  lo1. 俺好久無見面囉。
We have not met for a long time. 

nang2 俺 = za2men5 咱們 in Mandarin which means we or us (including both the speaker and the listener) but the lady said wo3men5 我們 and not za2men5 nor zan2men5 咱們

Si6a1. 是阿,
That is right.

Gê1lai6 coh4nang5 ho2 mêh4? 家内撮人好咩？
Are your family members alight?

Gê1lai6 家内 - family
coh4nang5 撮人 - those people

but it would sound very abrupt in English if I were to translate it as are those people at home alright?

toh4 le2 gai5 hog4 托你個福，thanks to your blessings: however the person did not say toh4 but hoh4 

cuang5bou6 guê3lai5 bhoi6mo2. 全部過來[不/會]孬。
Literal translation: all recently not bad: actual translation: all of us have been good recently

Le2 huaⁿ1 u6 se7 aiⁿ3 poiⁿ7, si6 mêh4? 您還有事愛辦，是咩？
It looks like you still have things to do, is this right?  - this is translated from Mandarin.  The Teochew sentence just say: you still have things to do, is this right?

Guê3 dui3m6zu6, ua2 gao2 diam2 huan1 u6 gai7 huê6. 過對唔住，我九點還有個會。
Very sorry, I still have a meeting at 9 o'clock.

Hia2zu6 mai6 dam1ghou7 le2 liao7, zai3giang3. 吓就勿耽誤您了，再見。
Then, (let's) not delay you anymore, good-bye.

He did not say dam1ghou7 for delay and it seems to me like he has said dam1goh4  耽擱.

I hope this is some help for you to learn our language. 

a little, a few

I would like to talk about a little / a few today. In English we say 

we want to eat a little rice and have few cats - little for those we cannot count and few for those we can count

However, in our language, a little = a few and there is no distinction between the two.

There are many ways to say a little / a few and I am going to list them for you from my current study notes.  I am sure as I 讀破 [tag8pua3] my dictionaries, I might be able to find more.  哈哈

1. siam1su1 參須 
2. su1giaⁿ2 須囝 sometimes said susu1giaⁿ2須須囝
3. sê1su1 些須
4. dih4giaⁿ2 滴囝
5. giam2 減
6. ko2 顆
7. dam6boh8 淡泊
8. diam2giaⁿ2 點囝
9. lang5su1 零須

All of these would be said in Mandarin as yi1dian3dian3 一點點 or shao3liang4 少量

Homework Review

You were given a homework recently to translate  公子悄悄出門  into our language? 

How have you translated 公子悄悄出門 ?

I have written it as 

A1sia3 zêⁿ6zêⁿ6 cug4mung5

阿舍靜靜出門。

a'sia - is the son of a rich person equivalent to 公子 : it is now used as a derisory term of abuse for sons of rich people who do nothing and waste their parents' money in China.

悄悄 would be read as ciao1ciao1 but we would say it as zêⁿ6zêⁿ6 

You would hear people say in Mandarin 我要安靜安靜一下 - I want a bit of silence and peace for a while 

You might want to try to translate 我要安靜安靜一下 into our language.  

m6zian3gêng1 唔正經

Let us learn more words today.

m6ziaⁿ3gêng1 唔正經 : not proper, not honourable, not decent

If you were to watch this video at 3:39 you will hear the use of m6ziaⁿ3gêng1 唔正經

The sentence said was:

Le2 gai5 se1siang2 m6ziaⁿ3gêng1

你個思想唔正經。

se1siang2 思想 means thinking, mentality, ideas, thoughts 

Your thoughts are not proper

Apparently, m6ziaⁿ3gêng1 唔正經 could also be said as m6ziaⁿ3 m6gêng1 唔正唔經 - not proper, not honourable, not decent 

Finally, do notice 正 is said as Ziaⁿ1ghuêh8 正月 for the first month of the lunar year.

tou5ê6 塗下

I have been watching 趙氏孤兒案 a drama set during the Warring States Period of China about an orphan and in particular Cheng Ying 程嬰 a doctor which in the drama is called an yi1jiang4  醫匠.

In the drama, they used tu2di4 塗地 to mean floor and this made me think of our tou5ê6 塗下.  Nowadays, floor is called di4mian4 地面 or di4shang5 地上 in Mandarin.

If you were to watch commentaries of our language you would find experts unable to explain why we call floor tou5ê6 塗下.  I think this drama has given me an insight into why this is so.

It is homework time: I have not given homework for a long time for you to get your brain thinking.  In the drama, they said 公子悄悄出府 gong1zi3 qiao1qiao1 chu1 fu3

公子 - this is the son of the official
悄悄 - silently [giving a sense of secrecy] 
出 - to go out
府 - an official residence

So for your homework: how do you say 公子悄悄出門  in our language?  We do not use 府 because I imagine none of us are living in a government official home and I therefore change it to 出門 instead.

You can use our dictionaries of course to do this homework.

reduction

When we cook, we reduce some liquid from sauces etc and when I was studying our language with my  Swatow teacher years ago, most of the learning was oral.  Now that I can read some Chinese, I begin to go back to my old notes and check the characters to make sure the right ones are used.

I was thinking of reduction - giam diao go ziu - and I was thinking how do we write this go?  Could it be ko rather than go?

My old notes had ko2 顆 and I believe it should be 減掉個水 - giam2diao7 go6 zui2 

I was reading my dictionaries and saw 個 could be read as go6 and I therefore went to the Chinese website to hear the sound of 個 go6 and I am now sure my notes should have been written as 減掉個水 rather than 減掉顆水

It should be said as 減掉一些水 in Mandarin and the literal translation would be "lose some water" = which is "reduction"

Thank you for reading this posting. 

bho5 ian2 bho5 ziah4 無影無跡

I was thinking of "bho5 iaⁿ2 bho5 ziah4 無影無跡" [which means baseless or without foundation empty, illusory, non-existent] because I was watching a Mandarin drama and they were doing something which was baseless and I was wondering what character would we write for ziah4

There is a Fujian Min'nan Hua website which has given an example of use and please have a look at it, that is if you can read Chinese characters otherwise you can read my comments below.

The Hokkien example given in the above link is

伊講的話攏無影無跡。and in Hokkien it would be read as 

i gong ê uê long bho5 iaⁿ2 bho5 ziah4

the Hokkien gong 講 = daⁿ3 呾 in our language 

the Hokkien ê 的 = gai5 個

so in our language it would be said as

伊呾個話攏無影無跡。

i1 daⁿ3 gai5 uê7 long2 bho5 iaⁿ2 bho5 ziah4 

All (of what) he has said is baseless, untrue, without foundation

Do remember Hokkien and Teochew are dialects of one another and hence we have similar words, grammar and sentence structure

Thank you for reading this posting.  

扎

I like to talk about this character 扎 today.

It can be said as zag4, zab4 or za1 

I have used Zhang XiaoShan's dictionary and another website to do this posting

First zag4 扎 - it means to prick as to prick a needle, to insert as to insert flowers into a vase or someone's hair

another use of zag4 is in zag4zêng1 扎掙 - and this means to move with difficulty

Then there is zab4 as in the use of zab4suah4 扎煞 which means to open, to open up, to spread

or as in zab4zam1 扎針 which means to to give or to have an acupuncture treatment

and finally za1 as in za1bi5 扎啤 which means to use a large glass to measure out draught beer

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as you can see from the above examples, it would be very difficult for a beginner to learn our language without pêng'im for it would be impossible for us to know how to say those characters

Thank God for pêng'im 拼音!

學潮汕話

I love watching this video - do watch this video and have a wonderful laugh 

some where in the beginning it says "cam2log8 慘朒" and the subtitles write it as 鄉色佬

I have been thinking about this log8 -

cam2log8 慘朒 
cao3log8 臭朒 
hiao5log8 嫐朒 
suê1log8 衰朒

and I had such a good laugh

Do remember these are derisory words use for scolding people and not to be used in polite conversations

i1 dui3 hang7gian2 an1 guê3ke3 伊對巷仔揞過去

I have been thinking how to translate 伊對巷仔揞過去, read as i1 dui3 hang7giaⁿ2 aⁿ1 guê3ke3

guê3ke3 過去 could mean many things, for example

1. in former times as in the pass or previously
2. to go over
3. to pass by

hang7giaⁿ2 巷仔 means alley way [Mandarin xiao3xiang4 小巷]

dui3 對 means from [Mandarin cong2 從]

the problem I have is with aⁿ1 揞 for Zhang XiaoShan explains this new word for me as wei2du3 圍堵 which means to besiege, to surround and block up, block up, shut off 

My other Teochew dictionary writes this as du3se4 堵塞 to block, blockade or to stop

So the sentence is written in Mandarin by ZXS as 他從小巷堵過去

Therefore one of the logical translations I can make is:

"He was been blocked from the alley way previously."

If you think I have translated this incorrectly, please write and comment or write an email to me directly.

dui3 對

I was reading about aⁿ1 揞 which is one of our words listed in Zhang XiaoShan's dictionary.  I looked up Lin LunLun's dictionary and he has not marked it as our own word and explains it to mean "to cover with one's hands".

An example which ZXS gave was 

i1 dui3 hang7giaⁿ2 aⁿ1 guê3ke3

伊對巷仔揞過去

ZXS actually gave several examples of use and my other Teochew dictionary also gave one example of use.

I was fascinated with the use of dui3 對 in the above example.

So I looked up ZXS, for I was sure this would be another specific example which we could use dui3. 

ZXS said this dui3 對 is the same as the Mandarin word cong2 從 and chao2 朝

so ZXS gave two examples of use

dui3 he2go3 guê3 對許塊過 - cross over from there - and ZXS explains that it means 從那兒經過 in Mandarin.

the second example of use which ZXS gave was dui3 dong1boiⁿ5 giaⁿ5 ke3 對東畔行去 - walk facing east and he explains in Mandarin as 朝東邊走去

We have looked at two ways dui3 could be used which are specific to our own language, today. 

I hope you find this fascinating

===========

do3boin2 倒反

I want to talk about do3boiⁿ2 倒反 today

I heard a Mandarin sentence 桌子撞得四腳朝天 - a table being knocked over and its four legs turned upside down facing the sky

So how would I say the above: it is the the above Mandarin sentence which made me think of do3boiⁿ2 倒反 and I have noticed we are very minimal with what we say and we assume people know the rest and with this I would say: 

gai2 ceng5 do3boiⁿ2 ke3
吤床倒反去


How would you say the above Mandarin sentence in our language?

Notice: I have left out zuang6 撞 because it would make the sentence very hog8zab8 複雜 哈哈 ^_~

also do notice we say ceng5 床 for table and bed: bung'ceng for dinning room table; ming'ceng for bed 

Analysis of gai2

The first step in analysing the use of gai2 is to compare its use with Mandarin so we can deduce some guidelines about its use

gai2 mih4gai5  個乜個 - [What is this?] In Mandarin, we would say: shi4 shen2me5 是什麼

gai2 ua2 gai5 個我個 - [This is mine] In Mandarin, we would say: shi4 wo3 de5 是我的

So from these two examples, we can say one aspect of gai2 is that it has the same meaning as the Mandarin shi4 是

==========================

Second use of gai2

gai2nang5 haoⁿ3 cia1 個人好車 - [he likes to boast] Mandarin = zhe4 ren2 xi3huan5 kua1kou3  這人喜歡誇口

個人 = 這人 = this person

So the second use of gai2 is that it has the same meaning as the Mandarin word zhe4 這: this 

The third use of gai2: gai2 here has the same meaning as dao4di3 到底 : 

Gai2 si5 zo3ni5? 個咋呢 - [What is the matter?] Mandarin = dao4di3 zen3me5le5 到底怎麼了

gai2 also has the same meaning as jiu1jing4 究竟 which has a similar meaning to dao4di3 到底 : for example see below:

gai2 u6 iaⁿ2 a7 bho5 個有影啊無 [Is it true or not?] In Mandarin it would be said as: jiu1jing4 you3 mei2you3 zhe4  hui2shi4 究竟有沒有這回事

Fourth use of gai2: gai2 here has the same meaning as ba3 把 in Mandarin 

gai2 i1 liah8 lai5 個伊掠來 - [bring it here] Mandarin would be ba3 ta1 na2lai2 把它拿來

gai2 i1 ziah8 loh8ke3 個伊食落去 - [take and consume it] Mandarin: ba3 ta1 chi1 xia4qu4 把它吃下去

so gai2 in Mandarin can mean

1. 是
2. 這
3. 到底 or 究竟
4. 把

gai2

There is no addition in Lin LunLun's dictionary written in 1996 about gai2 but we use it naturally.  However, this is used in my other two Teochew dictionaries.

Here are some examples of use:

gai2 mih4gai5  個乜個 - what is this?

gai2 ua2 gai5 個我個 - this is mine

gai2nang5 haoⁿ3 cia1 個人好車 - he likes to boast - cia1 here means to boast and is used as a verb

Gai2 si5 zo3ni5? 個咋呢 - what is the matter?

gai2 u6 iaⁿ2 a7 bho5 個有影啊無 Is it true or not?

gai2 i1 liah8 lai5 個伊掠來 - bring it here : laih8 here has the same meaning as 拿 in Mandarin

gai2 i1 ziah8 loh8ke3 個伊食落去 - take and consume it

I have given you all the examples listed in two of my dictionaries and I hope you are able to use gai2 well in the future

hiao1 梟

Let us look at another Diosua Uê [Teochew] word today - hiao1 梟

Hiao1 here means callous or heartless

Zhang XiaoShan has shown an example of use for this word hiao1 

伊個心怪梟, 孥囝細細就放家己去讀書。

i1 gai5sim1 guê3 hiao1, nou5giaⁿ2 sio3sio3 ziu6 bang3 i1 ga1gi3 ke3 tag8ze1

she is rather callous [or heartless] to allow her very young children to go to school on their own

In Mandarin, ZXS translated the above as:

她的心真狠, 孩子那麼小就讓他自個兒去上學。

So you have learnt another of our own word today - hiao1 梟 like hiao2 曉 but tone 1. You can hear how to say hiao1 in this website and of course Mogher. 

龜 gu1, giu1, gung1 or kiu1

龜 could be said as gu1 or tortoise or turtle, giu1 [which I will be blogging today], gung1 and kiu1 [you need to look at your Teochew dictionaries for the last two]

So giu1 - what does giu1 mean?

My new dictionary by Zhang XiaoShan explains there could be three different meanings for giu1 龜

First meaning: to withdraw, to retreat

ziah4 gu1 gai5 tao5 giu1 nang5 ke3  
隻龜個頭龜人去。

the tortoise withdrew its head [in this case it explains it is caused by a person unknown]

How about the Mandarin translation?

那烏龜把頭縮進去。

The Mandarin translation just states the tortoise withdrew its head.

However, do note the difference between our Diosua Uê and Mandarin

We begin the sentence with a measure word [classifier] ziah4 隻 and then the subject which is tortoise gu1 龜 and the verb is placed at the end : giu1ke2 龜去.  The nang5 人 hear just explains the cause, which is not found in the Mandarin sentence.

Second meaning of giu1: giu1cung5 龜存
and it means short of, less than

Let us see how this can be used

daⁿ3 liah8 zab8 bhuang7 ngeng5 cug4lai5 giu1 cung5 zêg8 bhuang7
呾掠十萬銀出來龜存一萬。

said would contribute 100 000 Yuan and is 10 000 short

The Mandarin translation of this sentence, given by ZXS is 

說拿十萬元出來減少辦一萬。

There is not much difference in sentence structure here and I am surprised ZXS does not say gai5bhuang7 and wrote zêg8bhuang7 instead. 

Third meaning of giu1: giu1ke3 龜去

to mean embezzle, misappropriate

here is an example of use:

saⁿ1gai5 cung5 zêg8, no6gai5 i1 giu1ke3

三個存一, 二個伊龜去。

one is left from three; two have been embezzled or misappropriated by him

In Mandarin, ZXS gave this translation: 

三個只剩一個, 兩個被他貪佔了。

So now you have learnt how to say 龜 as giu1.  

只有潮汕人才懂

For the rest see this website

poi1siah4 批削

poi1siah4 批削 is one of our Teochew words which means to make deletions, amendments, corrections to essays or any written work.

In Zhang XiaoShan's dictionary,  it gives an example of use

paing1bhung5 keh4 i1 poi1siah4 gao3 cung5 bho5 diam2giaⁿ2

篇文乞伊批削到存無點囝

篇文 piang1bhung5 is wen2zhang1 文章 in Mandarin which means essay, articles or other written work

乞伊 give him

批削 see above 

到 gao3 until

存無點囝 cung5 bho5 diam2giaⁿ2 - little is left

The Mandarin sentence of the above given by Zhang XiaoShan is

文章被他砍得只剩一點點