Friday, March 10, 2006

The Comic With Hainanese Dialogue

This is a comic with two women talking about the most mundane things during lunch time. But I thought it would be interesting to present the dialogue in a romanised version of the Hainanese dialect. If you're totally clueless, mouse-over each frame for 'subtitles' (if you're using Internet Explorer). For FireFox and Netscape users, right-click on each image, select 'Properties' and view the alternate text.



(L): *Sigh* The weather is soooo warm.  (R): Hey, don't you get tired of eating bread everyday? I get nauseous just by watching you eat.


(L): I don't get tired of eating bread. Hehe. Hey, what're you looking at?  (R): Hey, there's a man staring at us over there.


(L): Who?  (R): Look carefully. The man in the blue shirt holding a plastic bag, wearing glasses.  (L): Oh...


(L): *Sigh* Let him stare. Obviously he hasn't seen pretty girls before.  (R): Hey! You're really thick-skinned.  (L): And you're not?



(L): Hey, talk to you another time. I've to rush back to the office to finish a report. My boss is really detestable.

P.S. Ay, Wu Siang Gkai Tah Bou Gkia Sum Gkai Jiao Nong ah :)

Update:
Click here to read all my comics featuring the Hainanese language.

41 comments:

BBBBBBB said...

o_O I totally needed the translation HAHAAHAHAH! Me is totally Hokkien lah paiseh :P

Acey Deucey said...

Me also hokkien plus some cantonese only.

Only managed to catch the odd word here or there. :P

Damien Wang said...

'Allo AO. I understood absolutely but for the appeal in the postscript after the last frame, all the good ones have been taken man. But you can do stake outs at the new National Library building, levels 1, 7 and 8.

Li Yi said...

Or noh kai tah bou kia siang boh? :-)

Comic Guy said...

To Liz: (Mimicking Hainan CoffeeShop Ah-Pek voice) Guah Ooey Syoud Lai Gkai Tah Bou Gkia, Boh Siang Di Gkeh Gkai lah ;)

To OneFiveThree: The instructions for deciphering the comic is explained at the top of the comic. Or is it you don't understand why I'm doing something 'boh-liao'? Hehe.

Comic Guy said...

To kifo: I did consider the 'title' attribute in the IMG tag for FireFox and Netscape users. But the text gets truncated in those browsers :(

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Moon said...

Sorry, is there a translation here? I dun understand the dialect. =p

professor said...

Oh A.O., you're Hainanese? That's a refreshing drawing with the ladies speaking Hainanese. Don't understand the dialect though, only cantonese and a little bit of Hokkien/Teochew.

PRISTIQUE said...

OMG!! Love it so much!! So trilled that someone is finally giving hainanese language some credibility! Nong ya ti hainam nang!! and proud of it. I am impressed with your art work.

chartao said...

hearing my mum and her siblings communicate in Hainanese still could understand a little...but reading it catch no balls

after reading the subtitles also catch no balls..phew...i wonder what my brains for??

Mr Sanguine said...

What does it say in the postscript? No translation for that :(

Candyfeehily said...

I gotta complain! Page 6 dont have a tag at all leh!

what make you think "heehee" dont need a translation?!! x-(

luvtopia said...

HI HI... hutdugaikarsui izzit = to tu shu de pi gu??? LOL... i hope i got it rite here.... [shu kee?]

Anonymous said...

Nong ya ti hainam nang ah... Nong Tiang Pak Lu Gai Comic Ah... Naku Ho Pak.. Keep it up!

Hengster said...

wahhh.....dong kong hainam uae.. jin di hoh leh..

Anonymous said...

heyy that was cool! i have hardly seen hainanese anywhere! i only understood parts of it..but i dont really know how its written phonetically.. and i cant speak a lot, tho can understand most of it when i listen to my mum speak it.. nong kai sik didi hainan... and no idea how to write it?! :P

Anonymous said...

Omg I am hainanese and I understood everything... this is sooo cool ^^!

Anonymous said...

Hainam Ko,
Du tia tuoi hainam tu, jin oh pak lah. Ahm pak ja hui, na ming pbeh. OH pak, nadi jin kueh jin!
(Translated :The hainanese words you wrote are difficult to read. Had to read a while before understanding them. Difficult to read but very syiok nevertheless)

I am nearly 50 years old, english educated with 3 kids. Only my eldest understand and speak but vocab is limited. My younger ones almost none. Although all of them studied Chinese in primary school, they hardly had the opportunity to speak or hear much Hainanese. Their mother is of another dialect and we converse in English. I only have myself to blame and wished I had been more diligent in teaching them Hainanese. I try from time to time but they find it very uncomfortable and give up easily.

As for me, when with my Hainanese friends, we always converse in Hainanese anywhere we are at and feel proud of it.
For those of you here who are Hainanese, I urge you to speak it whenever you have the opportunity lest it is lost on you.

My mum always chid us "Chiak hainan pooi ahm kung hainam hueh leh! (Eat Hainam rice, must speak hainanese!)
Cheers

Anonymous said...

Woah I'm Hainanese too and I was just searching up stuff about it and came across this comic. Omg, it's still kinda hard for me to read it since I never saw it written phonetically. Also, I grew up learning english more than Hainanese =P.

Guah but jin juo nang gong hainan oey (I know so little people that speak hainanese) =P?

Anonymous said...

Wow..Cool...Good effort! I'm a Hainanese too but shame to say I couldn't really speak that fluent anymore. I used to speak with my Grandparents when I was younger. Nowadays, I find it very hard to speak in Hainanese, not only because I can't speak well anymore without adding other dialects in it but also I can't find anyone that is Hainanese that speak Hainanese. I really miss those days where I can speak Hainanese fluently with my Grams... It just scary that we somehow "forgets" our roots so easily with time passing by...

Nong jin di kia oo jia jit bo ya kai hai nam nang bart gong hai nam eueh! (I really scared that one day not a single Hainanese is able to speak Hainanese!) Well, that's if no one try to do anything about it. It's happening everywhere I suppose...

Anonymous said...

there were some parts i couldn't catch but i understood after i read the subtitles. i'm not sure whether its just because my hainanese ain't good enough or its the phonetics thing. its really difficult to romanize hainanese. just wondering, who is the youngest person here who understood every word of that comic strip? i think the language is getting lost in our youngsters. its kinda sad. i'm sure many of u feel the same

Anonymous said...

Lol I'm hainanese..but I can some what pronouce the words o_o..ish still so confusing xD.

Anonymous said...

About my last comment. Yes the comic was confusing. But don't get me wrong I am Hainanese. And now I'm in Canada so I'm learing English more than Hainanese and my mom and my family knows my Hainanese is the weakest in my family. ( The Shame D:) But I can still speak it fluently and understand alot(>:3 muhahha) .. I don't see Hainanese people in Canada these days.



P.S.

I ish 12 By the way :D. and Wan, don't be scared. There's penlty of Hainanese speaking Hainans in Hainan. :D.

leena said...

hey....nong ya ti ai nam nang..very happy to see that there are those who knows how to speak in hainanese which is quite rare among the younger generations. I am a typical hainanese, my parents and grand parents are all hainanese.
I can be so typical that i taught my nieces to speak in hainanese when they are still young (ha ha though the father is of another dialect)
Anyway, hope that i can see more webpage from hainanese

Anonymous said...

Wow so many Hainam Ah Ko out here. was very surprised to see a comic written in Hainanese...took me awhile to figure it out though..
hehe Im 100% Hainanese too but do not have many opportunities to use the language... hehe I miss Hainanese Cuisine back in Singapore...esp the Pork Chops from Chin Chin =)

leena said...

hey...if we are worry about no hainanese can speak their own dialect, by any chance just teach the younger generation to speak in hainanese, we should not forget about our own dialect...what i have found recently is that there so many chinese in overseas, especially the younger generation can't even speak in any of their mother tongue

Anonymous said...

oh wow. i can't believe that this comic exists. i can understand hainan quite well, but that was hard to get. had to read the translation at some points before getting it. good stuff though!

Comic Guy said...

To my fellow Hainanese readers:

You can also read other comics in my blog using the Hainanese language by click the link below:

More comics in Hainanese

:)

Zank said...

heya,
I'm a hainanese too,
but my parent never teach me how to speak hainanese,
I't such a waste living for 16 years without knowing how to speak or understand a single words of hainanese. Can anyone teach me??

ADd me in wonder_magic91@hotmail.com

bojongkia said...

I have listened to Hainanese songs, watched Hainanese operas & dramas but this is the 1st time i read a nicely exhibited Hainanese comic ! COOL ! Naku-Siang !!! Keep up the Hainanese heat !

Anonymous said...

Please make more comics in the Hainanese dialect. You can rescue a lost generation of linguistically-challenged young Hainanese people in this manner.... including me :):)

Unknown said...

war dee zhen waihee oo nung sul but gong hainum ewair pawa wa nar but 3 nung but gong.du gai du dee zhen darlok and war dung mor orgai nung sul diar ee gai du hainum ewair.war dee ungmor nung nar war gai nae dee hainum nung gai war when war dee niao gia.un yet cha mwair ga ee.-
translation-i am very happy that there are other people who speak Hainanese.Your comic was very funny and I really liked reading other people's Hainanese comments.I am a "redhead" Eurasian but my Gran taught me Hainanese when I was a child.We ate rice porridge every day!
I hope you all remember the nursery rhyme
"Lum lee lum lot nung char goi hoi sum coo bung pooi!
translate-lum lee lum lot people eat chicken leg must go and fart!
I think I translated that wrong but feel free to add to it as it has been a long time!

Anonymous said...

I always thought you pronounce "shirt" as "dah" not "tah". Am I speaking it incorrectly?

Anyways, thanks. I was beginning to feel bummed that no one else knows the Hainanese language around me.

leena said...

i knew from my grandma that there r 2 different groups of hananese - "ek kwai nang" and "jiok kwai nang" and i think the "hainam uae" in the comic is in the "ek kwai nang hainam uae" that's why some take a while to understand it; for instance, "who" in the comic is "niang" but the "jiok kwai nang" will say "diang"...hehe...dunno if i am right about this....

Janet said...

jin khui tim (very happy) found this site.
nong yati hai-nam nang.. used to speak fluently when grams around.
mon hockien, hubby cantonese, working english & mandarine. some hainanese frnz, dunno hainanese.
sometime m proud of mself.
I must keep up, teach my son.
Do keep up too..good job.

Unknown said...

Hello,
You are talented. Hello suki keep up with the good work. I suspect that you are from Calgary, Canada. There are many Hainanese here in Toronto. If anyone wants to practise hainanese please drop in at Hainan Association of Ontario at 217 Augusta Ave. in Kengiston Market,the heart of Chinatown. Eat hainan Chicken rice, minum hainan kopi and pah bar and listen to pek tek and ah mai ok gook and talk about hainan stories. I am full blooded hainanese speaks perfect hainanese with a twist. My son who is hainanese English could speak the language. Not forgeting my Canadian niece who is only 3 could speak the language fluently. Hainanese language will never dies. Only those who refuse to learn this language will parish. Long live the hainanese language.

Marina Burn

Comic Guy said...

To rai:

I'm from Singapore actually :)

Thanks for reading and glad to know the Hainanese community in Canada is so happening.

Anonymous said...

hey~
i'm hainanese too...
i can speak haianaese but i think there is diff in malaysia's hainan language... lolx....
maybe cause of mix here mix there..
well..
i hope we can pass down our haianese as far as we could...
" nan di hai nam nang sam gkong hai nam wey!"
" we are haianese must speak hainan language!"

" nong bat pak oo kai hao ueh, boh gai"
" i know to read the cartoon, thanks"

Anonymous said...

wa di zhen gei bo bah lu gong mi gei.

di lu gei spelling wa bo oie ah di mi lei.

Comic Guy said...

To 'Anonymous' Hainanese above:

"Na Nong But Hia Du Koong Mee Leh" :)

"But I know what you're saying leh"

Hehe.

Anonymous said...

hello people, find it hard to understand Hainanese? heres a link to online audio dictionary on Hainanese for FREE!

http://web.me.com/ankush_agg/www.MrHainanese.com/Welcome.html

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