'''Min nan hua''' or '''Southern Min''' (?___b - Ban3 nam2 Wei3) is the Chinese dialect of the Southern part of Fujian province, the area around Xiamen and Quanzhou. A variant is widely spoken in Taiwan where it is referred to as '''Taiwanese''' (Dai3 wan1 wei3). Another variant is also spoken widely in the Philippines where it is referred to as '''Lan Nang Oe'''. In Singapore, Malaysia and Medan, the Minnian dialects excluding Teochew are called '''Hokkien''' (Hok4 kien4 wei3), the Min-nan pronunciation of Fujian.

Note that this list is based on the Xiamen version of Minnan. The dialects spoken in Taiwan, other parts of mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Medan and other Chinese communities have some differences, due to borrowing of words from different languages and sometimes language evolution due to relative isolation. Most notably, Minnan spoken in Taiwan has borrowed some words from Japanese, so "uncle" would be known as "ojisan" in Taiwan instead of "Ah Pek" (father's elder brother), "Ah Chek" (father's younger brother) or "Ah Ku" (mother's brother) as in Xiamen. The variant spoken in Zhangzhou, Fujian province has some subtle differences from the Xiamen varient but is largely mutually intelligible (eg. ''kiam nui'' instead of ''kiam neng'' for salted egg). Yet another well known variant is the Teochew dialect spoken around Chaozhou and Shantou in Guangdong, and by large foreign Chinese Teochew communities around the world including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and France which is significantly different (eg. ''tsit kai nang'' instead of ''tist e lang'') but is still mutually intelligible with the Xiamen variant to a small degree. The variants spoken in Singapore and Malaysia are also known to have extensive borrowing from Malay and to a lesser extent Cantonese and English.

While the Hainanese dialect spoken on the island of Hainan is grouped under Minnan by many linguists, it differs more significantly and is not mutually intelligible with any of the other variants of Minnan.

It can be said to be '''mutually unintelligible''' with standard Mandarin and other dialects not only due to the pronounciation differences but also because of the irregular word/character convertion i.e. a non-native Minnan speaker can only understand the dialect to a small extent even when it is presented in written form (e.g. "_h_b___D?__?__,___^_[_l__" - _s____.?___A_D_t) It is also not mutually intelligible with the other branches of the Min dialect family such as Mindong, Minbei and Puxian.

Pronunciation

Like all other Chinese dialects, Minnan uses Chinese characters but employs its own 'unique' pronounciation. However, it should be noted that similar to Japanese kanji, most characters have two or more pronunciations in Minnan, which means that many characters would be pronounced '''differently''' depending on context, even if their Mandarin pronunciation remains the same in both instances.

For example:

_l is pronounced ''lang2'' and __ ''si-ee1 / xh-e1'' (as verb) when used alone, but when used as _l__ they is pronounced as ''lim3 sim1''

Also compare: _s - _s_v (mm-mai3) and _s_\/_s____ (bwuei3/bei3 sai4) ).

_v - changeable between ai3 / ai4 / be4 / bei4 depending on context

__ (wah4/gua4) is used in more informal context while __ (gun2) is more formal and ?? (lim2 bpei3) is very derogatory but used very commonly. (This variation does not exist in Mandarin or Cantonese)

The minnan dialect is tonal and the tones must be correct in order to convey the correct meaning. Tone sandhi is particularly common and not standardised in the minnan dialect, which makes it a little harder to learn than say Mandarin, where tone sandhi is standardised and Cantonese where tone sandhi is used sparingly.

Pronounciation varies from region to region (? ''You'' - Lee4/Lu4/Lle4) mainly due to lack of standardisation making comprehension difficult sometimes even between 'native' speakers from different region. It should also be kept in mind that most dialects are 'incomplete' in comparison to Mandarin, hence for uncommon words/characters standard 'Mandarin' pronounciation are employed when the 'sound-conversion' is not possible/too difficult (e.g. __). The variation of the pronounciation from standard Mandarin also reduces the more uncommon the word is.

Vowels

Consonants

Minnan is full of consonants, even more than standard Mandarin or Cantonese, and pronouncing them correctly is going to be a challenge for English speakers. For instance, there is a difference between the aspirated and unaspirated t, k and p sounds like in Mandarin, as well as the hard b and hard g sounds of English. Just to highlight the distinction, the words for "open" (_J khui) and "close" (__ kui) sound almost identical to a native English speaker, and the only difference is that "open" uses an aspirated initial k while "close" uses an unaspitated initial k! The j sound in English is also used along with the j sound in Mandarin hanyu pinyin. Labial initials such as the m sound are also present. However, unlike in Mandarin, there is no "tongue rolling" initial consonant. Like Cantonese but unlike Mandarin, Minnan retains all the final consonants(n,?,p,t,m and k) of Middle Chinese.

Common diphthongs

Phrase list

Here are a few very basic phrases:

Hello - ''li ho'' ?_D (LEE-HO)

Thank you - ''kum sia'' ____ (KUM-SHEEAH)

You are beautiful - ''li chin sui'' ?_^__ (LEE-CHIN-SWEE)

Don't lie to me! - ''mai ke'' ?__ (MY-GAY)

This is delicious (for beverage) - ''ho lim'' _D__

This is delicious (for food) - ''ho chiah'' _D_h (HO JEEYAH)

Have some tea - ''lim te'' ____

Make tea - ''pao te'' _A__

That's OK/You're welcome - m-ben kekki ___q__

Basics

; Please note that the Chinese tonal inflection is represented as numbers following each syllable. ; ; Hello. : Li/Lu(1) ho(1) . ?_D(''Mandarin: Ni(2) hao(3). Literal: You Good?'') ; Hello. (''informal'') : . ('' '') ; How are you? : Lee(1) ho(1) boh(3) ? ?_D__ (''Literal: You Good Not?'') ; Fine, thank you. : Waah4 ho4, gkaam2-xia3. ___D_C?? (''Literal: I'm fine. Thanks'') ; What is your name? : Lee(1) kio(2) shi-ia(1) mi(2) mya(2)? ?___r?__(''Literal: How are you called?'') ; My name is ______ . : Wah(1) eh(2) mya(2) si(3) ______ . ___I__________('' Guwa (guwa is one syllable) shi _____ .'') ; Nice to meet you. : ('' '') ; Please. : qia(2,4) ?. (''Not to be used alone as in English - this is not a direct translation as there is none'') ; Thank you. : Kam(1) siah(1). ____ ('' '') ; You're welcome. : Mm-mien2 Khay4 Khi3. _s_p_q__(''Literal:Don't be too polite'') ; Yes. : si(1) . __ ('' '') ; No. : mm(3)-si(1). _s__ ('' '') ; Excuse me. (''getting attention'') : . ('' '') ; Excuse me. (''begging pardon'') : . ('' '') ; I'm sorry. : Shi(1) Lei(1) . ___X('' '') ; Goodbye : Zhai(4) gen(3) . ____('' '') ; Goodbye (''informal'') : . ('' '') ; I can't speak ''name of language'' [well]. : Wah(1) buay(2) hiao(4) gong(1) ''name of language''. ___s__?_____ ('' [ ]'') ; Do you speak English? : Lee(1) gum(1) eh(3) hiao(4) gong(1) eng(2) gyi(1)? ('' ?'') ; Is there someone here who speaks English? : Gum(1) ou(3) lung(2) eh(3) hiao(4) gong(1) eng(2) gyi(1)? ('' ?'') ; Help! : ! ('' !'') ; Look out! : xio2 sim1! ___S ('' !'') ; Good morning. : gau cha ('' '') ; Good evening. : . ('' '') ; Good night. : . ('' '') ; Good night (''to sleep'') : . ('' '') ; I don't understand. : tianh bo . ___v_L (''hear not '') ; I don't understand. : beh meng pek . _s____ (''do not understand '') ; Where is the toilet? : Ben(3) soh(4) di(2) de(1) We(2)? __?__?__(''Literal: bathroom, where is it?'')

Problems

Numbers

; Please note that the Chinese tonal inflection is represented as numbers following each syllable. ; One : __ yit(1) / chjit(1) / i-ou(1) ; Two : ?/__ nng(2) or li/ji/di(2) (''Please note rules to use nng(2) or li(2) when counting.'') ; Three : _O sa(1) ; Four : _l si(3) ; Five : __ go(2) ; Six : _Z lak(2) ; Seven : __ chit(2) ; Eight : __ bpui(2) ; Nine : __ kau(4) ; Ten : _\ tzhap(2) ; Eleven : _\__ tzhap(2)-it(1) ; Twelve : _\__ tzhap(2)-li(2) ('' Notice change from nng(2) to li/ji(2) when describe unit of one'') ; Thirteen : _\_O tzhap(2)-sa(1) ; Fourteen : _\_l tzhap(2)-si(1) ; Fifteen : _\__ tzhap(2)-go(2) ; Sixteen : _\_Z tzhap(2)-lak(2) ; Seventeen : _\__ tzhap(2)-chit(2) ; Eighteen : _\__ tzhap(2)-peh(2) ; Nineteen : _\__ tzhap(2)-kau(2) ; Twenty : ___\ li/ji(3)-tzhap(3) ('' Notice use li/ji(2) to modify units of ten'') ; Twenty-One : ___\__ li/ji(3)-tzhap(3)-it(3) ; Twenty-two : ___\__ li/ji(3)-tzhap(3)-Li/ji(3) ; One Hundred : ___S chit(1)-pah(1) (''pah = 100'') ; Two hundred : ?_S nng(2)-pah(1) ('' Notice use of nng(2) to modify multiples of 100) ; Two hundred twenty-two: ?_S___\__ nng(2)-pah(4)-li/ji(2)-chap(2)-li/ji(2) ; One thousand : ____ chit(3)-chien(1) (''chien = 1000'') ; Two thousand : ?__ nng(2)-chien(1) ; Ten thousand : ____ chit(3)-ban(2) (''ban(2) = 10000'') ; Twenty thousand : ?__ nng(2)-ban(2) ; One hundred thousand : _\__ chap(2)-ban(2) ; One million : ___S__ chit(3)-pah(2)-ban(2)

Note: the following uses unconventional romanization and does not describe tones, but just tries to be phonetically accurate from an (American) English speaking standpoint. Goal is to have an English speaker's first try be fairly close, without reading a bunch of rules for phonetization nor trying to distinguish between the 7 tones in Taiwanese. Unfortunately, it is difficult to cover all tones this way, especially nasal and breath differences, and thus cannot be completely accurate. Also to note is the author learned Taiwanese from one parent from the south, and one parent from the north.

  • Asterisk precedes words that are very hard to phonetize. It would be nice to get some audio on here for these.
  • Also to note is the phoneme for "L" used below. Linguists call this sound a "flap" - it is similar to the "tt" sound in Standard American pronunciation of "butter". It is also similar to the Japanese "r" and the Spanish "single-r" sounds.
  • Basic Phrases

    Hello - Li huh ?_D -- literally, "you good?"

    How are you - Li ho-bo ?_D?_H; OR Jia bah bo _h?__? -- literally, "eat full?"

    Not bad - Buay pai _s__

    Good, Thank you - Informal: Hoh, duh shiah. _D_C__? Formal: Hoh, gahm shiah _D_C__?

    What is your name - Li-ay myah shee sa? ?_I_____r?_H

    My name is - Wah-ay mya shee ___I____

    Please - Pbai toh _`__

    That's OK / Your Welcome - Me-en Kayki _____q__

    Excuse me - Pai say _s_D___v

    Sorry - Informal: Pai say. Formal: ''shit leh''

    Goodbye - tzai chien __?

    I don't know how to speak English - Wah mbay hyow gong eng-yee

    Do you know how to speak English? - Li gah-ay hyow gong eng-yee

    Is there someone here who speaks English? - Jiah gah oo lahng ay hyow gong eng-yee ?___L_l?__?_p?_H

    I don't understand - Wah tyah bo _____v_L

    Where's the bathroom? - Ben so dee-da

    Problems

    Go Away - Tzow / Zao4 __?

    Don't touch me! - Mai gah-wah mbong / Mai4 Mo1 Wa4 ?____

    I'll call the police. - Informal: Wah kah gien tsah. Formal: Wah ay kah hoh gien tsah. / Wa4 Kio4 Ma2 Ta2

    Police! - Gien tsah / Ma2 Ta2

    Stop! - Dohng / Tng2 __

    I need your help. - Wah soo-yow * dee-ay bahm-mahng / Li4 Ai3 (Sai4) Ga3 Wa4 Dao4 Chiu4 Bei3 _____v...?_I?_Z

    I'm lost. - Wah mbo-key

    I lost my purse/wallet. - Wah pahng-key wah-ay pay bow ___s?___I____

    I'm sick. - Wah pwah bee or Wah gahng koh

    I've been injured. - Wah dyuh shohng ____?

    I need a doctor. - Wah dah-ai ee-sheng ___i_j____

    Can I use your phone? - Wah gah-ay sai yen * li-ay dyeng-way _______p?_I??

    Ordinal Numbers

    first - day-eet

    second - day-ji

    third - day-sa

    fourth - day-si

    fifth - day-go

    ...

    twentieth

    ...

    hundredth - day chit-pah

    ...

    thousandth - day chit-chien

    Time

    what time is it? - kwee tiam? ___y

    now - jeemah or jeetzoon

    later - kah dahng-ay or shuh dahng

    before - ee jun

    early - dtsah

    earlier - kah dtsah

    morning - tao dtsah

    in the morning - tzai kee

    tomorrow morning - miyah tsai kee tao dtsah

    afternoon - ay boh

    in the afternoon -

    evening - ay ahm

    in the evening -

    night - ahm

    in the night - ahm-sheea

    tonight - kim mi ____

    Clock time

    one o'clock AM - tao tza jeet/yi4 diam

    two o'clock AM - tao tza nen/di3 diam

    noon - dyong dow / ey3 bpo1

    one o'clock PM - ay boh jeet/yi4 diam

    two o'clock PM - ay boh nen/di3 diam

    midnight - bpua4 mi2

    Duration

    minute - whhun

    2 minutes - nun whhun

    hour - diam jun

    2 hours - nun diam jun

    day - * leet

    5 days - go * leet

    week - * lay bai

    5 weeks - go * lay bai

    month - whay * leet

    5 months - go whay * leet

    year - nee

    5 years - go nee

    Days

    today - gyah * de * deet

    the day before yesterday - tzuh * leet

    yesterday - dtsah-ung

    tomorrow - miyah tsai

    the day after tomorrow - ow * leet

    this week - tsi * day bai

    last week - den * day bai

    the week before last week - jen * lay bai

    next week - ow * lay bai

    the week after next week - ow ow * lay bai

    Monday - bai-eet

    Tuesday - bai- * dee

    Wednesday - bai-sa

    Thursday - bai-shee

    Friday - bai-go

    Saturday - bai- * lahk

    Sunday - * lay-bai

    Writing time and date

    Months

    January - ee-gay

    February - * lee-gay

    March - sa-gay

    April - shee-gay

    May - go-gay

    June - * lahk-gay

    July - chee-gay

    August - bway-gay

    September - gow-gay

    October - tsahb-gay

    November - tsahb-eet-gay

    December - tsahb- *de-gay

    Colors

    color - shitd

    black - oh shitd

    white - bay shitd

    grey - whey shitd - literally "ash color"

    red - ahng shitd

    blue - na shitd

    yellow - ung shitd

    green - chyee shitd

    orange - gahmah shitd

    purple - gyuh shitd - literally "eggplant color"

    brown - toh-shitd - literally "dirt color"

    Transportation

    Bus and train

    ticket - dyu pyuh

    on ticket - jeet-pyuh

    How much is one ticket? - Jeet-pyuh shee gwee-koh? - literally "one ticket is how many dollars?"

    bus - kay-wun

    train - whey-chiah

    Where does this bus go? - Dze-day kay-wun kee-dah?

    Does this train go to ____? - Dze-day whey-chiah gah-oo kee ____?

    What time does this train leave? - Dze-day whey-chiah gwee diam tsooh-whaht?

    What time will this bus arrive? - Dze-day kay-wun gwee diam ay gow-wee?

    Please stop! - Pbai-toh, dong!

    Taxi

    Taxi - gay-dyen chiah

    Drive me to ____ - dzai wah kee ____

    How much to go ____ - mbay kee ____ gwee koh?

    Directions

    How do I get to ____? - mbay ahndswah kee ____?

    ...the train station? - whey chiah dyoo?

    ...the bus station? - kay-wun dyoo?

    ...the airport? - whey-deng-gee dyoo?

    ...downtown? - chee dyong sheemg?

    ...the hotel? - * lee-guang?

    ...the restaurant? - bung-diam?

    Where are there a lot of ____? - Dway oo jote-tsay ____?

    Do you have a map? - * lee gah-oo day-doh?

    Driving

    street/road - * loh

    left - duh

    right - jyah

    turn left - duh wah

    straight ahead - dee-deet kee or dee-deet gyah

    Lodging

    Do you have any rooms available? - Oo bahn-gyun mbo?

    How much for one room? - Jeet gyun, wah-tsay gyee?

    One person - dzeday lahng

    Two persons - nungay lahng

    Does it have... - Gah oo

    ...bathroom? - beng soh?

    ...phone? - dyung way?

    ...television? - dyung ah?

    May I see it first? - Gah-ay-dahng shung kwah?

    Do you have something... - Gah oo kah

    ...bigger? - dwah-ay

    ...cheaper? - shohg-ay

    Ok I'll sleep here for ____ nights. - Huh, mbay-kuhng ____ ahm.

    Is there another hotel? - Gah oo bahg-ay * lee-guang?

    What time is breakfast? - Dzah-dun gwee-diam?

    Please clean my room - Pbai toh kyeng wah-ay bahn-gyun

    Can you wake me at ____ ? - ____ gah-way gyuh kiah, huhbuh?

    Money

    credit card - swah kah

    Where can I exchange money? - Dway ay-dahng wah gjee?

    Eating

    Breakfast - dzah-den

    Lunch - dyong-den

    Snack - diam-shing

    Tea - day / tay2

    Coffee - gah-bee

    Dinner - ahm-den

    I want - wah-mbay

    Chicken - ga-mbah / gkwuei1 bah4

    Beef - goo-mbah

    Fish - hee-ah / hhu2 / hhhhw2 (right-most sounds like a long 'huh' without the vowel)

    Eggs - nun / gkuei1 neng3 _i?_`_j

    Vegetables - chtsai

    Fruit - dzwee-guh / gge2 chjee4 (___q)

    Bread - pahng (For you linguists, this is from Portugese)

    Noodles - mee

    Rice - bi-ee4 (short) _i___j

    (cooked) Rice - buhng / bpeng3 / b-pui23 _i___j

    Beer - bee- * doo

    Salt - yahm

    Pepper - hyahm / hhoh3 chjio1 hun4 _i_______j

    Done eating - jyah- (bpah4) lyow _i_h_O___j

    Good to eat - huh-jyah _i_D_h_j

    Bars

    Shopping

    How much? - Gwee koh/Wah dzay jyee/Luaaa3-Zwuei3?

    Too much - shyoo-(gke4) zwuei3

    Don't want - mbwai / mmm...-mai3

    I need - Wah dah-ai

    ...toothbrush - kee-mbeeng

    ...soap - day koh

    ...shampoo - suay tow-mun - literally "wash hair"

    ...paper - dzwah4

    ...pen - mbeetd / pbeet4

    ...books - dzoo / tz-cheh4

    Authority