should i learn hokkien?
i think i should. at least enough to hold a decent conversation with people above the age of 70. but where would i go for hokkien lessons? everywhere else you see centres urging us to learn Japanese, French, Italian, all the exotic language you will never put to use in Singapore, and people are still dying to sign up for foreign language classes.
i realised my, what do you call it? my disability when i stepped out of the lift this morning:
old lady: auntie, blahblahblabhalbhablab (this means hokkien. since i can't understand hokkien, i won't know what she's talking about.)
me: ...
old lady: blablabalbhalbhlblahblahba, blahblab. balbhab!
me: ...
she senses that i probably did not understand her (hell yeah) so she decided to go slowly, as if i were simply dumb instead of handicapped at her language.
old lady: blah blah... blah blahb blahb lift blah blahb
see that english word in there? she tried to translate what she said. yeah i guess she's pretty exasperated at my lack of initiative.
what happened next was she got pretty upset because i wasn't answering her, neither was i helping her. when you're in need of help, i'm sure it'd irk you to see the other party just standing there, right?
but how can it be my fault? it wasn't like i was pretending to be some bystander, i didn't even understood what she said! it wasn't not the first time something like this has happened, usually i reply in chinese "sorry i don't understand hokkien", then the old people assume you just don't want to help them because they're old. then they go on and on "wait till you are old yourself, then you know what it feels like."
my god! weren't they young themselves once? sigh.
i think i should. at least enough to hold a decent conversation with people above the age of 70. but where would i go for hokkien lessons? everywhere else you see centres urging us to learn Japanese, French, Italian, all the exotic language you will never put to use in Singapore, and people are still dying to sign up for foreign language classes.
i realised my, what do you call it? my disability when i stepped out of the lift this morning:
old lady: auntie, blahblahblabhalbhablab (this means hokkien. since i can't understand hokkien, i won't know what she's talking about.)
me: ...
old lady: blablabalbhalbhlblahblahba, blahblab. balbhab!
me: ...
she senses that i probably did not understand her (hell yeah) so she decided to go slowly, as if i were simply dumb instead of handicapped at her language.
old lady: blah blah... blah blahb blahb lift blah blahb
see that english word in there? she tried to translate what she said. yeah i guess she's pretty exasperated at my lack of initiative.
what happened next was she got pretty upset because i wasn't answering her, neither was i helping her. when you're in need of help, i'm sure it'd irk you to see the other party just standing there, right?
but how can it be my fault? it wasn't like i was pretending to be some bystander, i didn't even understood what she said! it wasn't not the first time something like this has happened, usually i reply in chinese "sorry i don't understand hokkien", then the old people assume you just don't want to help them because they're old. then they go on and on "wait till you are old yourself, then you know what it feels like."
my god! weren't they young themselves once? sigh.
I encountered an old lady that talked cantonese to me. I kept shaking my head and telling her I don't understand cantonese (said in Chinese and also Hokkien). But to no avail. Until she gave up and as she walked off, she said "Chi Seen!". Wah that I understood.
hahaha. HAHAHA. that was my first response. poor thing! but most aunties are like that. they blabber in a dialect foreign to you and expect you to understand. had those and i politely told them i don't understand them in mandarin and they stared into me blankly. next thing they knew, i walked away.
-s.y.
You mean you really can't understand hokkien? Not even a word of it? I know I can't speak much of it but at least I can pretty much understand.
I was at the polyclinic once and this old lady asked me in hokkien what I was there for. At least I could answer that in hokkien.
I was going to suggest you replied in mandarin that you don't understand...
Oh...forgot to sign off again...that was from me.
Hugz,
BOSS
hahaha, i can understand the more popular words, like vulgarities and some others, but if it's too cheem then of course i can't. i'm cantonese, not hokkien.
i did try to reply in mandarin, like "ah", "wo", "auntie" but she just blabbered on so quickly! one thing about people when they speak hokkien, they always sound so kan cheong. lol.
li jin eh buay hiao tiah hokkien ah? ko lian dai, ga pak lang kong ka chueh taam poh lor.
si beh kin eh sai liah tio seh eh!
hehehehe
Translate:
blahahablahblahblahahablahblahblahahablahblahblahahablahblahblahahablahblah
blahahablahblahblahahablahblah
blahahablahblah
heheheheheheh
=D
9, your written hokkien very tat gong! swee swee boh chao chwee.
hanyu pinyin is my strong point...coz english letters are involved
writing and reading chinese characters is my weakness. im a china helicopter. hehehe
give me chinese newspapers, i would use it for bird cage lining. hehe
ah 9: yes i can't understand... is it so surprising? and i'll be sure to consider ur advice seriously. :)
(actually wanted to reply in cantonese but my written canto is quite jialat, lol)