Hello and welcome to the first lesson in Learn to Speak Penang Hokkien. These lessons are created to provide you exposure to the sentence structure of Penang Hokkien, and to help you accelerate your familiarity with the language.

Each lesson is a short dialogue with audio output on demand. Click to listen to the audio as many times as necessary. Once you have become familiar with it, continue to the Exercise Section where you can attempt to translate similar sentences orally. Some of these sentences may require you to refer to the Penang Hokkien Dictionary and Penang Hokkien Vocabulary for the words. For a comprehensive learning of Penang Hokkien, use the lessons here along with the ones in Learn to Write Penang Hokkien.

Often there may be more than one way to express the sentences below in Penang Hokkien, but for the sake of familiarity, only one way is used throughout.

What is your name?

In this lesson, we learn to say, "What is your name?" and to answer such questions when asked.

What is your name?
Lu1 mia3 ha1mik1?

My name is John.
Wah1 mia3 John.

What is his name?
Ie1 mia3 ha1mik1?

His name is Ah Seng.
Ie1 mia3 Ah3 Seng2.

What is your mother's name?
Lu1-eh3 ma3ma1 mia3 ha1mik1?

My mother's name is Mrs Ong.
Wah1-eh3 ma3ma1 mia3 Ong2 Thai1-Thai3.

What is the name of this place?
Cit1-leh1 sor1cai3 mia3 ha1mik1?

This place is called Jelutong.
Cit1-leh1 sor1cai3 mia3 Jit3lor33tong3.

Exercise Section

Once you are familiar with the above example sentences, try to translate the following sentences orally. Check your answer by clicking on the audio. Use the Penang Hokkien Dictionary, the Penang Hokkien Vocabulary and the lessons in Learn to Write Penang Hokkien for assistance.

1. What is your name?

2. My name is Peter.

3. What is her name?

4. Her name is Ah Gaik.

5. What is your father's name?

6. My father's name is Kean Leng.

7. What is the old man's name?

8. The old man's name is Mr Lee.

9. What is the name of this place?

10. This place is called Teluk Kumbar.

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