Hi guys,
can I ask my Hokkien speaking friends from some help please? I am about to record the Hokkien portion for my language-learning app and I am struggling to translate the word 'tired'. I asked my mother and strangely enough, she was not much help. You would've thought that she had needed to say the word 'tired' sometime in the last 70-odd years but there you go. The word she used was 'sian3' but to me, that translates more as 'bored' or "boring". The word I came up with was 'ai4 kun3" which translates as "want sleep" or "sleepy" - which is closer to the word 'tired' but not quite the same thing. Can you help me come up with a more accurate translation please?
I had no problems with Mandarin where I had the choice of either 累or 疲倦 or even 困 - but I am totally stumped with Hokkien. My mother insists that 'sian3' can mean tired and not just bored/boring - but I swear I have never heard it used in the context of 'tired'. I supposed ai4 kun3 would now be my first choice - but if
any of you could help me out please with your translation for 'tired' in Hokkien please, as in 'I'm really tired' or 'Are you tired?' Thanks, kum siah!
I am repeatefly reminded that "koen" in Hokkien means "sleepy"
ReplyDeleteRgds,
Koen
Hi there, hoe gaat het Koen?
DeleteKun/Koen/Koon means 'sleep', aikun = want sleep or sleepy.
But there's a difference between being sleepy and being tired... okay it's similar, but I am just trying to find the best word. I mean I would use aikun = sleepy to mean tired, but I am so rusty in Hokkien I thought I'd better ask around before I get it wrong.
Hi Lim Peh,
ReplyDeleteI believe I have found the answer for you. This is from a Taiwanese Minnan language dictionary which from all appearances is supposedly endorsed by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education (Taiwanese kids have to elect a local language as one of their subjects in school, and they can choose from Minnan, Khek or any of the officially endorsed Taiwanese aboriginal languages).
Webpage: http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index.html
音讀 Pronunciation: approximate pinyin spelling: tiàm - the ending 'm' sound obviously does not exist in Mandarin, but I have added it. Hokkien has 7 tones, but I have no idea how to represent them, all I can do is to use the nearest approximate Mandarin equivalent.)
There are two meanings (according to the dictionary):
1.疲累。
例：今仔日做了有夠忝的！Kin-á-ji̍t tsò liáu ū-kàu thiám--ê! (今天做得好累！)
1. Tired
Example: I am so tired from work!
2.慘重。形容程度深、嚴重。
例：伊哭甲真忝。I khàu kah tsin thiám. (她哭得很凶。)
2. Grievously
Example: She was crying grievously.
Currently, the word 'sian' cannot be typed using all conventional input methods (pinyin or handwriting). According to the same dictionary, it is a 病 minus the 丙 and replaced with a 善. So 'sian' basically means your generosity or sense of well being is being sickened! Lol!
Brandon
Hi Lim Peh,
ReplyDeleteI believe I have found the answer. This is from an online dictionary that is for all appearances endorsed by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. Taiwanese kids have to elect a local language as a subject in school (they can choose from Minnan, Khek or any of the officially endorsed Taiwanese aborigine languages).
Website: http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index.html
Written character: 忝
Approximate pinyin spelling: tiàm
Meaning:
1.疲累。例：今仔日做了有夠忝的！Kin-á-ji̍t tsò liáu ū-kàu thiám--ê! (今天做得好累！)
1. Tired. Example: I am so tired from work today!
2.慘重。形容程度深、嚴重。例：伊哭甲真忝。I khàu kah tsin thiám. (她哭得很凶。)
2. Grievous. She was crying grievously.
According to the same dictionary, xian3 is written as a 病 (sick) minus the 丙 and replaced with a 善 (virtue, goodness, kindness, expertise). This character unfortunately cannot be typed by using any of the conventional Chinese input methods.
Thanks for this Brandon - perhaps it makes complete sense to the Taiwanese but I swear I have never heard thw word thiam/tiam used like this before in this context and it may be a Taiwan thing? When I hear diam I think 'quiet' but that's a Malay loanword for Singaporean hokkien = eg. "diam lah!" (shut up!) and everything else I am using is Singaporean-Hokkien (with my parents' help).
DeleteI have worked with Taiwanese speakers of Minan before and they have no freaking clue what the hell I am saying in Hokkien and vice versa and we end up speaking in Mandarin or English as our versions of Hokkien are so so different.
I believe "sian" is the word to express fatigue as well. Wikipedia confirms this.
ReplyDeleteThank Davin, that means my mother is right. That was her choice of translation, I am just so rusty with Hokkien after this many years in Europe that I can't remember a lot of subtle nuances like that.
DeleteChuan
ReplyDeleteI suppose that's the Hokkien translation of 倦?
Deletebuay tahan ??
ReplyDeleteNaaah not quite there - buay tahan = can't stand it/can't take it any more and in any case, tahan is a Malay loanword. I faced the same problem when I needed to translate toilet and my mum pointed out that jambuan is a Malay loanword and we opted to use shway tsiu keng (translation for xi shou jian) instead as we had been avoiding loanwords if at all possible in other languages. Whenever we hit a situation where there is a loanword vs a word in the local language, we always avoid the loanword.
Deletehow about " jin het" ? I knew that buay tahan is Malay.... but that's Singaporean hokkien, so rojak leh. lol
DeleteI went with 'ai kun' as that's the least ambiguous option and one that I definitely have used in the past.
DeleteHi Sir!
ReplyDeleteIt is great to see you interested in dialects. I was wondering if you would be keen to sign our petition to reintroduce dialects on local television and radio. This petition has been supported by MP Baey Yam Keng, Kit Chan and the Singapore Heritage Society! If you could do a blog post on this, we would really appreciate you helping to advance this cause! Thank you so much!
Petition: www.thepetitionsite.com/312/814/814/support-the-reintroduction-of-dialects-on-local-tvradio-programs/
My article: http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2013/03/reintroduce-dialects-singapore/