Chinese New Year
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Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. Traditionally there are certain things we say or do and certain things we do not say or do. For example, we say good things to everyone we meet and never say anything bad on this day. We do not use items, such as knives, because they signify violence. We do not use brooms because they bring bad luck. On this day, we eat vegetable dishes only. This is called jäi.
Actors: Ä-Yẽh, Ä-Ngĩn, Yëin Tẽng (grandson #1), Tëin Hã (granddaughter #3), Än Hã (granddaughter #5)
Yëin Tẽng, Tëin Hã, Än Hã: Grandpa, Grandma, good morning. Happy New Year. Good health to you.
Yẽh-Yẽh, Ngĩn-Ngĩn dāo sĩn. Güng hī fät tõi. Sïn hāi gèin höng.
Ä-Yẽh: Good morning. I give each of you a red envelope. May you become wiser in your studies. May you grow up faster and healthier.
Dāo sĩn. Ī bâo hũng-bäo nêk lö. Gïm nẽin ùk sï tüng mẽin nāi lö. Fäi gäo jēng ài lö.
Ä-Ngĩn: Good morning. I also give each of you a red envelope. May you behave better this year. May you become more intelligent in your studies.
Dāo sĩn. Ngöi yèk ī bâo hũng-bäo nêk lö. Hëng-gäo hëng-và. Ùk sï lēk nāi lö.
Ä-Ngĩn goes to make the vegetable dishes, make rice cup cakes, and sweet rice balls.
Ä-Ngĩn huï jī jäi, jēin fät tĩ/, äng tĩ dōi.
We have eight kinds of vegetable dishes.
Ngôi yiü bät yèng jäi.
- Green bean noodles
xäi fūn - Dried bean curd strips
fù jūk - Winter mushrooms
üng gü - Snow peas
xūt èo - Two arrowhead roots
lēng göi sĩ gû/ - Unshelled gingko nuts
bàk gō - Dried seamoss
fät töi - Cloud ears
vũn ngī
HA HA 台山话真噶好经典
this is a wonderful website. I have been concern for years that my parent’s language will die. I live in southern California and I have no one to speak to in Toisan language. It is so refreshing to hear this language again. BTW my parents have passed away a long time ago so I have not spoken this language for years. Thank you for reviving it.
Hi Judy,
You are most welcome. If you think of topics that you would like to include in these dialogues, please let me know.
Hi Gene,
Thank you for your response. I was trying to follow lesson 10 and realized there is so much I DO NOT KNOW!!! Is there anyway, the Chinese characters can accompany the conversation?
Can you believe it…I took 6 years of Chinese School in San Francisco and I feel like I lost most of it. Also, regular Cantonese was taught..not Hoisan Va. What a shame.
I am glad people like you are keeping this language alive!
Do you happen to live in SF or LA? I live in S CAL.
Again, thank you!
Judy Young
Hi Judy,
Hoisinva is a spoken language. Thus, many Hoisanva words do not have corresponding Chinese characters. Some people have attempted to create new characters for these words. However, there is no standard, and you would not find these characters in Chinese dictionaries. This is the reason for my Romanization, i.e., to preserve the sound of the words.
The opposite is not true. Every Chinese character does have a Hoisanva sound. Thus you can read modern Chinese or classical Chinese in the Hoisanva dialect. I’ve created a Hoisanva English Dictionary (HED) and will discuss with our webmaster how to best present this on the web.
I don’t believe there are any classes anywhere in the world being taught in Hoisanva. When I was a child all my classes were in Hoisanva. The only thing that was in Mandarin was the national anthem.
I’m in the East Coast. I visited my daughter’s family a couple of weeks ago in San Diego. We plan to visit more often in the near future.
Regards,
Gene