Hokkien Reflection

When I heard that Prof Sew was leading a Hokkien module last semester, I was so excited. I knew that I wanted to be a part of the module and learn more about my dialect.

Now after much of the semester is over, I could say that it was definitely a great decision! Indeed, there were lesser face to face tutorial (which was such a boomer!) I still managed to learn a lot about Hokkien and reconnected with my culture. Although our usual lesson was cancelled due to the school’s policy, Prof Sew’s notes on Hokkien and regular update on current affairs in Hokkien played an important role in our learning.

Looking back, we went a long way in learning Basic Hokkien to ensure that everyone is able to be engaged in a comfortable pace
It was extremely enjoyable in Prof Sew’s introductory Hokkien lesson during our first day of school. We learnt how to pronounce sounds of the from number 1 to 10. It also sounds similar to other Hokkien words and could make sense in other sentences. For example, “neng” the number 2 can also be heard as egg, “Sang” the number 3 could be heard as shirt, “Xi” the number 4 could be heard as die and also an unlucky word in hokkien!

In the 2nd lesson,T I learnt about how classifiers work in Hokkien. For example, if i wish to order one plate of chicken rice, I would say Ji PUA kuey png , pua is the classifier used for plate. (A cup of water) Ji puey zhui , puey is the classifier in this case for cup. We also learnt about words that rhyme in Hokkien.This was particularly interesting. I did realise that there was this similarity between English and Hokkien Dialect. There were rhyming words too For example, we can have the phrase “kuey pu jiak kuey,” which translates to hen eats cake.

I was sick during the 3rd lesson and missed Prof Sew review on 浪子回头, it was so upsetting 🙁
During the fourth lesson, I learnt about how to say each animal’s name in Hokkien.
Bird is called Jiao
Black bird is called Aw Jiao
Prof Sew did not share with us the name of blue Bird
Chicken is called Gui
Fly is called Hor Xin
Pig is called De
We also learnt about different varieties of animals. For example, Wild Boar is called Sua De ( San Zhu )

Learning about different animals in Hokkien was definitely fun.

The fourth lesson was also our last face to face interaction of the semester because of the Covid-19 situation.
Nonetheless, we were still very involved in our learning of Hokkien! For our Hokkien Assessment 1, my friend and I sang 浪子回头 and included some rhyming words such as Wa tak gang tak cei kena xiang Gao ( We study everyday like dog) with the Gao rhyming with Zao from the previous sentence of the song (xi gan ji gang ji gang ji gang eh Zao )

Lastly, I wrapped up the learning by conducting a Hokkien Interview with my Mother and Grandmother. This was really the highlight of the module because it really created very memorable memories for my family and I . I can imagine us looking at these videos many years down the road and laughing because of how awkward we were. Through the process, I also learnt more about the dialect and our origin and also the language of the Singapore Chinese Community has shifted over the years.

Thank you Prof Sew for taking the time to spearhead and teach the Hokkien Module this semester.
It was certainly eye-opening and very exciting for all of us.

I’ll be looking forward to going back to learning Malay 3 next semester!

Cheers,
Jay