Weekly learning of Cantonese

Today we learnt more about conversational Cantonese such Sek Fan, Yam Cha, Tek Si (Taxi), Yi seng1 ( doctor), Uk Kei ( House)

Since we are in the pandemic we are reminded to always go to toilet to wash our hands .Keoi5 heoi3 zo2 ci3 so2 sai sau ( He went to the to washroom to wash his hands)

Gam yat lou ban hui lei, lei xing ding di ah ( Tonight the boss will come, you better be alert!)

Cantonese lesson

Started my first Cantonese lesson with Prof Sew this semester. Excited to learn and speak basic Cantonese this semester.

Cantonese word I learnt today:

Cantonese uses jyut ping
Cantonese Han yu Pin yin
DEI is to use for plural
Ngo dei Jay. Hou gou jging jing xik nei ( I am Jay, nice to meet you)
Ngo dei Jay. Ngo dei Hou Hou ( I am Jay, I am very good )

M4 Goi is Thank you.

M4 Goi Sai is Thank you very much
Do1 ze6, Thank you ( when receiving a gift, appreciative/formal)

Haa6 ci3, Next time

Haa6 ci3 gin, See you next time

Zoi3 gin3 Goodbye

Nei5 sik1m4 sik1 gong2 jing1 man2

You know or not English?

Dak man is Gernamn

Nei cai ju ngo gou dai. (You are stepping on my plastic bag)

m4 ho2 ji3 si1, ngo5 jau ci4 dou3 ( sorry i am late again )

deo3 m4 zyu6, ngo5 daa2 laan6 zo nei5 bou6 din6 nou6 ( Sorry, I broke our computer)

I often get confused with pronunciation with Mandarin,Hokkien and Cantonese. Today,I learnt to better pronounce more cantonese words!

Would be so much better if we had the opportunity to learn cantonese face to face instead of zoom.

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

To strengthen my knowledge on my Hokkien Dialect and understand about the language shift in Singapore amongst the Chinese Community, I did an interview with my Mother & Grandmother. It was quite funny and we all certainly had a great time.

Here’s the two videos!

Interview with my mother

Interview with my grandmother

We finally finished our first assignment! For our first assignment , we sang the song Lang Zi Hui Tou and edited the chorus such that there were rhyming parts.

Here’s the edited lyrics

Hun ji ki ji ki ji ki eh tiam, >> Cei ji gang ji gang ji gang dei Tak ( study everyday)
Jiu ji bui ji bui ji bui eh ta >> Mou ji tiao ji tiao ji tiao eh LAK ( hair keeps dropping )

xi gan ji gang ji gang ji gang eh Zao (Unchanged)
Gua ji ti ji ti ji ti eh lao > Wa tak gang tak cei kena xiang Gao ( We study everyday like dog)

We thought we were funny.. hahahha
Nonetheless, we really enjoyed going to the KTV for this!

Here’s the video!

Today I learnt about how say each animal’s name in Hokkien.
Bird is called Jiao
Black bird is called Aw Jiao
Prof Sew did not share with us 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 very fun!

Today, I learnt about how classifiers work in Hokkien. Ji PUA kuey png , pua is the classifier for plate. Ji puey zhui , puey is the classifier in this case for cup. Lastly, we also learnt about words that rhymes in Hokkien . For example, kuey pu jiak kuey, hen eats cake.

Attending my first Hokkien Lesson

It was an enjoyable day learning Hokkein with Cikgu Sew during the first week of school. Today, I learnt how to how the sounds of the number 1 to 10 , could sound similar to other words in Hokkien and make sense.

Selamat datang ke blog saya! Hari ini saya ingin bercakap tentang pengalaman yang tidak dapat dilupakan dalam kehidupan NUS saya.

Sebagai seorang pelajar di NUS, saya diberikan banyak pengalaman yang sangat berharga. Di luar pengajian saya, saya telah mengambil bahagian dalam pelbagai CCA untuk mendapatkan lebih banyak kemahiran sambil menikmati Kehidupan Pelajar NUS.Sebab berminat dalam sukanbola sepak sejak muda, saya menyertai pasukan bola sepak Prince George Park Inter Hall Games untuk mewakili dewan saya.

Daripada semua permainan yang kami main,permainan ini adalah satu yang paling menarik. Ia adalah perlawanan menentang Dewan King Edwards. Semua orang memberikan yang terbaik dalam permainan. Kami berlari seperti bermati-matian dan berjuang untuk merebutkan setiap bola.Malangnya, kami mengakui tewas 1 gol semasa perlawanan pada separuh masa pertama. Selanjutnya, kapten kami cedera. Kami berasa tidak berdaya seperti anak ayam kehilangan ibu . Namun, kami tahu bahawa kami tidak boleh kalah dalam perlawanan ini.

Kami tetap bekerja lebih keras selepas itu dan berjaya mencipta gol baharu. Skor terikat pada 1 sama pada minit ke-80.Bunyi peliut menghukum pasukan lawan dan kami diberikan satu jaringan penalti. Saya mengambil peluang serangan penalti untuk menjaringkan gol penentu. Kami memenangi permainan! Saya dan pasukan saya sangat gembira sehingga kami tidak boleh mempercayainya. Itu benar-benar satu permainan yang luar biasa dan saya tidak boleh melupakan perasaan kemenangan pada hari itu.

Pasukan bola sepak saya