Problems Associated with Saving Penang Hokkien

10 August, 2016.

One of the biggest problems associated with trying to save Penang Hokkien from dying is that different people have a different idea of what is Penang Hokkien. A lot of people may have their own take of what it is, but when it comes to doing the work to save the language, they pull back. Let someone else do it. They are keen only to talk and to provide opinion.

As one of those who are willing to shoulder the hard work, my take of what is Penang Hokkien matters to me a lot. It is the language I learn from small, and I want to preserve it according to how I know it. Not only that, how the language is preserved matters to me.

At present, there are different people taking different approaches to save Penang Hokkien. If I disavow any involvement in what they are doing, it is not because I am not keen to save Penang Hokkien, and certainly not out of jealousy. The two main reasons would be (a) I feel what they are doing to be a futile exercise which they do not yet realise, or realise but are in denial, and (b) the end result is not the Penang Hokkien that I know and am keen to save.

Many are attempting to swim against the tide. But I know that, if you try to do that, the tide will defeat you, and all your effort will come to nothing.

At this point, I need to be clear that I am interested to save the language that I know from small. I am not interested in establishing standard Hokkien as a common language for all Hokkien-speaking people to communicate among themselves. Particularly, if that comes at the expense of eroding the Penang Hokkien that I know.

A lot of people use the term "Penang Hokkien" when they are actually talking about standard Hokkien. As mentioned, different people have different opinion of what is Penang Hokkien. To me, Hokkien is a language, and Penang Hokkien is a dialect of that language. Hokkien is not a dialect of Mandarin, and Penang Hokkien likewise is not a dialect of Mandarin. However, Penang Hokkien is a dialect of Hokkien.

In my opinion, something that is too purely Hokkien has no business calling itself Penang Hokkien. Penang Hokkien has to exhibit specific characteristics that differentiates it from Hokkien. There are two main characteristics I want to talk about: loanwords and sentence structure. Many consider Penang Hokkien to simply be Hokkien with loanwords from the Malay peninsula, be it from Malay, English, Cantonese, etc. To me, Penang Hokkien is more than that. However, many shun to regard a sentence to be in Penang Hokkien, if it takes on an English or Malay sentence structure. In my opinion, that IS Penang Hokkien too, for it exhibits the indigenous characteristics and influence of having been in this region for over two hundred years. On the other hand, in my opinion, a Hokkien that is pure is not Penang Hokkien, even if it is spoken by a local.

It is common knowledge that among all those who are keen to save Penang Hokkien, I am the most hard headed. But I am so for the passion I have to preserve the language that I know from small. I want it to be exactly as it is, and if I can, then develop it as a modern language for future generations. The moment a person opens his mouth, I can tell whether that is Penang Hokkien or not. As for saving other dialects of Hokkien, I am not interested; let someone else do it.

Because of the differences I have, and that I have remained strongly unmoved by approaches that modify my definition of what is Penang Hokkien, I am unwilling to be involved in other people's approaches to save the language. [an error occurred while processing this directive]

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

Adakah anda mempunyai hartanah untuk dijual atau disewakan? Adakah anda ingin membeli atau menyewa hartanah? Hubungi saya. WhatsApp saya (Timothy Tye) di 012 429 9844, dan saya akan menugaskan salah seorang ejen hartanah saya untuk berkhidmat kepada anda. Saya akan pilih ejen untuk anda, mengikut keperluan hartanah anda. Oleh itu, apabila anda menghantar mesej kepada saya, berikan saya beberapa butiran tentang apa yang anda perlukan, sama ada untuk menjual, untuk membeli, untuk disewakan atau untuk disewakan, dan jenis hartanah apakah itu kondo, pangsapuri, rumah, kedai, pejabat atau tanah.

您有待出售或出租的房产吗？ 您想购买或租赁房产吗？ 与我联系。 WhatsApp 我 (Timothy Tye) 012 429 9844，我将指派一名房地产经纪人为您服务。 我会根据您的房产需求，为您选择代理。 因此，当您给我发消息时，请向我提供一些您需要的详细信息，无论是出售、购买、出租还是出租，以及房产类型，是公寓、公寓、房屋、商店、办公室还是土地。

 New Properties in Penang

Looking to buy property in Penang? Get the e-brochures right here without having to visit or contact individual developers.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Discover with Timothy YouTube Channel

 PG Food Channel

 Learn Penang Hokkien YouTube Channel

SojiMart Videos

 Share your travels and/or ask a travel-related question

Join the Penang Travel Tips Facebook Group to share photos, tips and anything related to your travels, or ask travel-related questions.

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Discover with Timothy

Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.

Disclaimer

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

Latest from Discover with Timothy: Gurney Bay - what to see and do there

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

Robbie's Roadmap