Ted
@ted_huang
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Joined January 2012
Ok, hear me out. In Hawaiian, Mahalo means thanks. In Taiwan’s indigenous Saisiyat (賽夏), ma'alo' means thanks & it comes from the root word 'alo' meaning blessing. In Hawaiian, it’s Aloha (good wishes) 📷 Austronesian Languages (Cognation & Comparison) FB
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Mandarin: Three o’clock 三點鐘 (三點) 3:30 三點半 Three hours 三個小時 Half an hour 半個小時 (半小時) Three and half hours 三個半小時 Taiwanese: Three o’clock 三點 3:30 三點半 Three hours 三點鐘 Half an hour 半點鐘 Three and half hours 三點半鐘 Confused? 😆
lol it took me so long to get this 一個半小時是三個半小時 I must be a foreigner 😅 This meme is about how in Mandarin: 一個半小時 “one and half” hours 三個半小時 can be read as “three” half hours In Taiwanese: One hour is 一點鐘 One and half hour is 點半鐘
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lol it took me so long to get this 一個半小時是三個半小時 I must be a foreigner 😅 This meme is about how in Mandarin: 一個半小時 “one and half” hours 三個半小時 can be read as “three” half hours In Taiwanese: One hour is 一點鐘 One and half hour is 點半鐘
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@egasmb Some personal thoughts--been thinking about this kindest and warm 90+ year old Taiwanese 牧師媽 whom I knew over 20 yrs ago. She never went to school, but learned to read POJ at church after she heard the gospel on the street of Tamsui https://t.co/fjAjI2CuJv
@egasmb @Zayday1998 @dai_alan_dai I knew a Taiwanese pastor’s mom over 20 yr ago. She was already over 90 then. She was illiterate in Chinese but loved reading the Bible & hymn books in POJ. POJ was not just a writing system for her. It was her language & her treasure. I think about her often
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Last but not least, this family letter written in POJ from over a century ago by a woman in Chiayi to her nephew studying in Japan. Back then, POJ for many Taiwanese was the only way for them to write what they spoke (台語) ht @egasmb
https://t.co/kxUvtUlSZB
Someone is kind enough to share the transcribed and translated version of the full letter. It’s fascinating (and sad) to see that a century later, Taiwanese were once painted by the KMT as a lesser-cultured sub-language without a writing system when it’s the exact opposite.
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After first issue of POJ 台灣府城教會報 (1885), POJ materials that weren’t church related were published in the ensuing years, including dictionary, periodicals, books on languages, medicine, literature & education, as well as first novels in POJ (mid-1920s)
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According to this doctorate thesis 白話字的起源與在台灣的發展 by 陳慕真 (2015), in 1936 TW Presbyterian church estimated that 12,380 members could read the Bible. The actual number of Taiwanese people literate in POJ at that time was likely much higher
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白話字 Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ), a romanization system for Hokkien developed by western missionaries, was introduced to Taiwan ~1870s In 1925 the first vernacular Taiwanese novel “Án-niá ê Ba̍k-sái” (阿娘ê目屎 Mother’s Tears), written in POJ, by 賴仁聲 was published
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The reason 鳳凰風颱 “hōng-hông hong-thai” can be tricky to say in Taiwanese is because the first three words are said in different tones 鳳 hōng 凰 hông 風 hong Also, note Typhoon (颱風) in Taiwanese is 風颱 (originally 風篩) attested in 重修臺灣縣志 (1752)
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Typhoons are named by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization using predetermined, rotating lists of names from different regions Typhoon Fung-wong 颱風鳳凰 was named after 鳳凰山 (fung6 wong4 saan1) aka Lantau Peak in Hong Kong
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As Typhoon Fung-wong* 颱風鳳凰 hits Taiwan, many people are learning how 鳳凰 (Phoenix) is pronounced in Taiwanese In Taiwanese, 鳳凰 is pronounced “hōng-hông” and 鳳凰風颱 is “hōng-hông hong-thai” which is quite a tongue twister😅 *Fung-wong is Cantonese!
令和7年台風第26号はフォンウォンで、広東語で鳳凰の発音に由来🐦🔥 台湾語で Hōng-hông hong-thai (ホンホンホンタイ） 発音時は、 hōngは第7声から第3声に、 hôngは第5声から第7声(使用者が最も多い) や第3声(主に北部で使われる)に、 hongは第1声から第7声に変化し、 最後のthaiは第1声のまま
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你 (nǐ) historically is used as a 2nd person pronoun that’s gender-neutral. In Taiwan many also use 妳 for female 2nd person pronoun Unlike 她 (tā, she), 妳 is not a newly created character in 20th cent. (attested in 龍龕手鑑 997 CE as a variant of 嬭 ← 奶)
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TIL the Mandarin pronunciation of 卑 (lowly, inferior) /bēi/ differs from the expected pronunciation bī (carrying forward from MC pjie) to avoid homophony with the taboo word 屄 (bī, “cunt”) While in Hokkien 卑 is pronounced /pi/ and 屄 is /bai/ (白話音)
Nr.2059 卑 /bēi/ „niedrig, minderwertig, demütig“, aus einer linken (= minderwertigen?) Hand 1207;→ 十, die einen (dem Zeichen 甲 ähnlichen) Gegenstand hält.
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Mencius (孟子, c. 371 - 289 BC) still relevant today for individuals and nations, especially in these volatile times “He who finds the proper course has many to assist him. He who loses the proper course has few to assist him." 「得道者多助，失道者寡助。」
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奴才 was used during Qing dynasty as a "first person pronoun of eunuchs and officials" when addressing the emperor, as a term of self-reference "I the servant" (Manchu: aha) Today 奴才 is used as a derogatory term for lackey, minion, bootlicker, as in 狗奴才
@HistorianZhang 山東巡撫 (奴才) 同興 😅 You can search the archives in the online catalogue of the National Palace Museum (Taiwan) https://t.co/XZROPCei7v
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That time when Qing emperor Jiaqing (嘉慶) replied in red ink (硃批) to an official’s memorial to the throne (奏摺): “(You) utter fool and useless garbage. (I will give) another edict.” 「糊塗不堪無用廢物另有旨」 嘉慶十九年 = 1814 CE
"This piece of paper is full of preposterous ideas, from what I can tell you're insane" Imagine getting this from your emperor
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Just learned about the use of 姖 for “she” (female 佢) in Cantonese and Taiwan Hakka 😍 courtesy of @justin_r_leung I would love to see someone start using 𡛂 / i / yi / for “she” (female 伊) in Taiwanese/Hokkien 😁 Photo credit: @justinrleung.bsky.social
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For non-Mandarin (to consider if you wish) Canto/Hakka 佢 he 姖 she ⿰冇巨 non-binary Taiwanese/Hokkien 伊 he 𡛂 she ⿰無尹 or 无尹 non-binary https://t.co/MV2s5ZIIKu
Woah there‘s this new Chinese character ⿰無也 (⿰无也) for “nonbinary third person” in analogy to 他她 etc., but it isn‘t encoded yet, so they ended up writing the components separately as 无也, which sounds like “there is none” in Classical Chinese 😂
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In 海錄, it referred to America (ie South America) as 亞咩哩隔 (aa3 me1 lei1 gaak3) and Portugal as 大西洋國 (Great Western Country) or 布路叽士 (bou3 lou6 gei1 si6) It also reported the Portuguese King had recently (1807) moved his capital to Rio de Janeiro
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