A Hokkien Poem

Malaysia is a multi-racial country. Even the Chinese community is made up of people from different dialect groups, i.e., Cantonese, Hokkien (Fujian), Hakka, Teochew, Hainanese, and others, and even these can further be subdivided into various sub-dialects. However, the amazing thing is that all dialects use the same common written form, the Chinese characters.

In Malaysia, each area or city somehow has a dominant dialect, e.g., in Kuala Lumpur, the lingua franca is Cantonese though other dialects are also spoken but to a lesser extent. However, in Penang, Hokkien is the main dialect used.

And talk about Hokkien, here's a poem for you, Hokkien lang. ** Special note to the uninitiated: "kia" is Hokkien for "a child of" or an equivalent.

Children is kina kia
Bird is chiao kia
Korean Car is Kia
Give birth is seh kia
Furniture is Ikea
Police is mata kia
Small house is chu kia
Country name is Czechoslovakia
Puppy is kao kia
Kitten is ngiao kia
Chicken is kuey kia
Pig is tu kia
H/phone is nokia

I'm Hokkien kia,
Malay is huan kia
Hindu is kit leng kia
Kuai lou is ang mo kia
Chinese is t'ng lang Kia
Japanese is jit pun kia
Bad Guy is phai kia
Good Guy is ho kia

Person who read this message is Gong Kia
If you laugh, you are Siow Kia


Peace!