Hokkien

Notes on learning Hokkien

There’s no official transliteration for Hokkien. In fact, there’s no official way of writing Hokkien. As such, for the English speaker, I recommend using the English transliteration, which is still in use in Taiwan. This script is called Peh-oe-ji The Chinese script requires… well… Chinese, which is really cool, but is unhelpful to the language learner unfamiliar with it.

The official romanisation that Taiwan uses is called Tai-lo, which has built on peh-oe-ji.

Books

Videos

Podcasts

  • Bite Size Taiwanese. As the about us describes themselves: “Bite-size Taiwanese is a podcast giving you a taste of real, everyday Taiwanese. Co-hosts Phil & Alan will guide you through the ins and outs of the Taiwanese language with light-hearted, fun (and occasionally funny) bite-sized conversations about how to use it in today’s Taiwan.” There are 3 podcasts, Newbie level for newcomers, Elementary level for those with some background to the language, and Pronounce it like a Pro, focused on improving pronunciation with a focus on pronunciation that English speakers might find tricky.

Websites

Youtube

  • Vaccinate Already? aka 您打疫苗没, a mostly hokkien song by the Singapore government with some mandarin and cantonese to encourage the elderly to vaccinate in Singapore. The main message is catchy enough that this tune could be used to get used to Hokkien sounds.

Television (TV)