Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC) will be be presenting their very first full Hokkien comedy. And it’s also played by a bunch of real Hokkien lang. That’s why this production sparked my interests. I invited not only the cast, but also the writer and director to the show. We chatted about how this comedy came about and why is it fully in Hokkien.
I’m personally excited about this production, and I hope you will be too. Please go support the production. And actually bring your friends, even if they don’t speak Hokkien. There will be sub-title in English. I think having experience thes sound of the full Hokkien cast is going to be a great experience.
There’s also a special deal for early birds. Get the basic information below, or find out all the information from KLPAC.org.
Date & Time:
22 – 24 July @ 8:30PM
24 & 25 July @ 3:00PM
Venue:
Pentas 2, The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC)
Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan off Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur
Ticket Price:
RM35 (adults) / RM23 (students, senior citizens & disabled)
Promotion: Early bird special: RM23 (all tickets bought before July 15th 2010)
Box Office:
Purchase Online: KLPAC.org
Call / walk in: KLPAC 03 4047 9000
Call / walk in: The Actors Studio @ Lot 10 – 03 2142 2009 or 03 2143 2009
Walk in: Axcess HQ (Jalan Semangat), Axcess 1-Utama outlet & Alamanda Putrajaya outlet
Great show! Cultural production (plays, songs, poetry) are great ways to encourage people to learn or improve on their Hokkien. Pity I can’t go and see the play.
What I wouldn’t give to get hold of the script in English and Hokkien. If anyone wants me to write the script out in POJ, it would make a great project for me….
Nice quote from Ah-long:
“Hok-kiàn-ōa hâ-míh pún kóng ē chhut, to sī lâng koàn-sì bô kòan-sì niā.”
“You can say everything in Hokkien, it’s just a case of being used to it or not”
Some new words:
Seng-hoat-biáu 乘法表 – times tables
Gûi-ki 危機 – crisis
Tó-iân 導演 – director
Ha. Ha. Ang-moh ~ and also a few more words. I think we should start a new session to teach people new Hokkien words, words that we may come across daily. There are in fact tons of words used in Penang that younger people no long hear, we should bring them back to Penang daily life.
Harvest 收穫 [siu1-hik8]
Shooting Star 流星 [liu5-tshee1]
Actor 演員 [ian2-uan5] or sometimes read as [ian2-guan5]
Gûi-ki 危機 – crisis
I thought it is “ui-ki”
like “ui-hiam” (danger)
Hi Or Bee:
It’s actually gui5-hiam2. Your understanding is correct but sometimes in Penang, we tend to drop the “g” sound. It’s called Lazy Sound, it happens to every language, unless you try to pronounce every word perfectly but that’s just not normal. Ha. Ha !
gua2 我 has been pronounced as wa2 for many years in Penang
guan5-lai5 原來 sometimes is heard as uan5-lai5
kam1-guan7 甘願 is always read as kam1-uan7 by most Penangites
Cool…… because of this topic, I’m going to the play (^^)
& had send the information to all my Hookkien’s friend, most of them are going. Good endorsement from Penang Hokkien. Wink!
good interaction between ang moh and ah long, it’s quite enlightening! keep it up penang hokkien langs!
Should there be a nasal sound in chhe•ⁿ/tsheenn for “star”, or does it rhyme with ke• “to add”?
Hi Ah-bin:
“Tsheenn” (star) does rhyme with “kee” (to add) and it does carry a nasal sound. The literal pronunciation of it is “sing” as in “ko-sing” (singer).
Xiamen Ah Long: That makes the Penang Hokkien distinctive from the Melaka Hokkien or even Port Klang Hokkien (and Xiamen Hokkien). The way we drop or add a certain sound, there’s no perfect pronunciation but just the evolution of the dialect, I believe. Points to ponder.
Hokkien language: Hokkien ue? Hokkien oa?
breast feeding: Sook-ni? sok-leng?
Cow’s milk: gu-ni? gu-leng?
My sister (who is english ed) couldn’t understand the melaka hokkien.
(the chinese-eds can do guessing based on Mandarin sound)
She was wondering why her mom in law told her to give the baby “gu-ni”?
Penang Hokkien “gu-ni” is the brown “gunny sack”
Ofcorse not to mention the VERY off tangent ones like,
“:ba-tu” (the cupboard to keep meat?), “chiuk-tau” (to borrow the head?)
“long-kau” and “kau-ua”
“bang-ku” …………….
Hi Or Bee:
Yes, every language is evolving. Lazy sound happens in many languages, even English and Mandarin all the time. Dropping of “g” also is found in other Hokkien variants but communication is not a big issue.
The differences you point out are actually the distinctions in different Hokkien dialects. Hokkien is a language itself, different areas where the language is spoken usually have their own local element. Hokkien Ua is Zhangzhou, Hokkien Ue is Quanzhou. Most people can understand both. The differences are lesser than that between American English and British English.
Gu-ni is how Southern Malaysians say, we call it Gu-leng in Penang.
Batu is a Malay loanword, it has nothing to do with closet. Meat is pronounced Bah with a glottal stop, though so Batu and Bah-Tu are different at sound. Of course Meat Closet does not make any sense. Heh-heh.
Tsioh-thau is the original Chinese word for “stone”.The tone for Tsioh is different when you say “borrow”. Try to say “borrow book” and replace “book” with “head”. “Borrow” is higher tone then the “stone”.
I’m not sure about the origin of Long-kau but I believe Bang-ku is another Malay loanword. Correct me if I am wrong.
I think people who converse in Hokkien will never misunderstand them, just like FEED and FEET are 2 completely different things. My American colleague always makes fun (in a friendly way) of me when I mention SHEET in an Excel document. 🙂
I’m so glad to see such an active discussion about Penang Hokkien.
I love to speak hokkien
Hokkien is easy to speak