Penang Hokkien For Beginners Lesson 2: What is your name?

---

Hello and welcome back to Penang Hokkien for Beginners

We are now in lesson 2, and in this lesson, we learn to ask people for their name, and answer them when they ask for our name. To help us along, I will introduce you to Alex and Hock Seng. Alex is an American expat living in Penang, while Hock Seng is a Penangite whom he befriended. Alex is fascinated by Penang Hokkien, which is Hock Seng's mother tongue, and has asked him to teach him the language.

Lesson 2: What is your name? (AI generated on 30 October 2025)

Today, Alex is learning how to ask someone his name. "What is your name?" in Penang Hokkien is "Lu4 mia3 ha1mik1?"

It comprises the following words:

• lu4 : you
• mia2 : name
• ha1mik1 : what

As you would notice, the word "mia2" has changed its tone to "mia3" in the sentence "Lu4 mia3 ha1mik1?" For now, just accept it as it is. We will learn tone changes further down our lessons.

When asked, "Lu4 mia3 ha1mik1?" (What is your name?), you answer by saying, "Wah4 mia3 ... " (My name is ...)

For example:
Wah4 mia3 Alex.
Wah4 mia3 Hock1 Seng2

Exercise

1. Ask someone, "What is your name?" in Penang Hokkien.
2. Answer by saying, "My name is James."
3. Now say "My name is (your name)", and get someone who speaks Penang Hokkien to verify your answer.
4. Now click sound icon and give your answer in Penang Hokkien.

Penang Hokkien for Beginners Lessons

• Lesson 1: Greetings
• Lesson 2: What is your name?
• Lesson 3: Intonation
• Lesson 4: What is your job?
• Lesson 5: Where do you live?
• Lesson 6: Tone Sandhi
• Lesson 7: How do you come here?
• Lesson 8: Counting from 1 to 100
• Lesson 9: Counting money
• Lesson 10: How much is this?
• Lesson 11: What time is it?
• Lesson 12: How long does it take?
• Lesson 13: How far is it?

Have a question?

If you have a question about Penang Hokkien or this lesson, pose the question in the Learn Penang Hokkien Facebook Group and I will answer you there.

Page Details

This page was created on 30 October 2025. Hi, my name is Timothy and created it from my research, for my own entertainment, knowledge and to satisfy my curiosity. I am providing the information to you in good faith and hope it is useful. I try to get the details as accurate as possible. I also try to update the page whenever I stumble on new details. So this and all my other pages are perpetual work in progress. If you discover any error, please politely inform me, pointing out where the error lies, and I will correct it as soon as possible. Your helpfulness will keep this page accurate, relevant and helpful to those who need the information.

Penang Hokkien For Beginners