Penang Ah Beng vs Klang Ah Beng
It is known that the chinese hokkien community in Malaysia are segregated into northen and southern hokkien. Being a Klang hokkien lang, I’ve always got into trouble trying to speak to my Penang hokkien friends. Just like ‘kai thung ngap kong’… chicken and duck talk, I’ve spent much time trying to understand their hokkien. Eventually, I managed to narrow down the gap of our mother tongue though once in a while I still do get teased by them.
Not being able to speak Penang hokkien properly, I’ve always been accused and laughed off for speaking broken hokkien. With the help of my good friend KY, here’s my desperate attempt to show everyone how different is Penang and Klang hokkien.
Here’s a list of normal everyday conversation and let the showdown begins…
KY representing Penang and Galvin for Klang.
Let’s go eat rice.
KY : kia khi ciak pui
Galvin : kai ki chiak p’ng
I wanna eat chicken rice.
KY : wa ai ciak keh pui
Galvin : wa ai chiak kuay p’ng
Where you wanna go?
KY : lu ai khi koh lok
Galvin : lu ai khi toh chi peng?
Anywhere it ok.
KY : koh lok pun biau kin
Galvin : Toh chi peng pun eh sai
Wanna eat shit or not?
KY : ai ciak sai boh?
Galvin : ai chiak sai bo?
Crazy ah? Don’t make whack you.
KY : siao ah, mang cho wa phak lu
Galvin : sioa ah, mai cho wa pha lu
Motherfucker, stare cock ar?
KY : cibai, seong hamik?
Galvin : Niameh, kua lanjiao ah?
Fucker, wanna fight ah?
KY : lanciao, ai sioh phak ah?
Galvin : Kanneh, ai sioh pak si bo?
Come la, scared you ar?
KY : lai la, kia lu meh?
Galvin : lai la, kia lu meh?
Wah, damn no manners.
KY : wah, boh leh sor
Galvin : wah, bo tua bo suay
Who no manners? Your mother no manners la.
KY : hamik boh leh sor? lu eh mak la boh leh sor
Galvin : hamik bo tua bo suay? Nin lau bu bo tua bo suay
Eh don’t insult my mother ok.
KY : mang kong wa eh mak ok
Galvin : oi, mm thang kong wa eh lau bu ho bo
Later I let you eat my fist.
KY : tan ci ek wa hoh lu ciak kun tao boh
Galvin : chia lu chiak kun tao bo
Come la, you think I really scared ar?
KY : lai lah, lu siang kong wa kia ah?
Galvin : lai la, lu siong wa chin chia kia ah?
Scared you got balls ar?
KY : kia lu uh hud ah?
Galvin : kia lu uh lam pa ah?
Fuck you, you goddamn mother fucker!
KY : cibai, lanciao!
Galvin : Kanninnahbuehchaocibaibolanjiaobolampa!!!
So, which hokkien do you prefer? Eh…dun pway pway ah! Tan ji eh wa hud lu!
You have been Tomorrowed
http://tomorrow.sg/archives/2005/06/25/penang_ah_beng_vs_klang_ah_beng.html
wah now i can speak hokkien oledi..dun pway pway ar… ;p
just to show klang chow ahbeng is worse.
Sin Chew eh hokkien ka siong klang eh hokkien leh.
Hahaha this is funny!
Singaporean Hokkien is quite similar to Klang Hokkien, it seems that Penang Hokkien has got alot of Teochew influence. Lu liao kai bo?
farking : good…hokkien is cool!
sin chew lang : sin chew lang…hokkien lang…all ka ki lang
barffie : yeah, Klang hokkien are very similar to Johore and even Singapore hokkien.
hehehhehehehe……..stupid penang hokkien,
u forgotten who is ju joi and to klang is tiang
hey… “balls” is NOT lam pah la… is lam pah chi la…. apalalu Galvin… =.=”’
Aiyoh! Siao sampai bo loh!
So hilarious liao! Reading the Klang part make me realise how different it is from my Hokkia ua.
hahaha cool
hud wa lan jiao ar?
kakaka KY’s version is unheard of … prefer yours man!
that was fuckin’ hilarious! makes me wanna learn how to speak this beautiful dialect. but i’m hakka. it’s tough as hell. btw, i found you thru . do you know the owner of that blog?
u guys should listen to kelatan hokkien instead…
English : tackle some chic.
Penang : kau cha boa
Klang : (Galvin to express)
Kelantan : Chock cha boa.
should i call it eastern hokkien.
Klang Ah Beng,
After reading your interesting dialogue with Penang KY, and contrary to barffie, I find that Kang and Singapore Hokkien are closer to Teochew. All I can say about Penang Hokkien is it evolved from the original Hokkien (as in the ones spoken in Fuchien, China). I once heard Hokkien from Fuchien and Hokkien from Singapore spoken together, and they were not much difference. I understood your Klang Hokkien, I admit KY’s choice of vocabulary is more typical of Penang Hokkien. If I, a Penang Hokkien speaker were to use your vocabulary, I would have pronounced it slightly different. Examples? I would have said, ‘Wah, bo tua bo say.’ and ‘lao bo’ instead of your ‘lau bu’ for mother.
Penang Hokkien has more Malay influence too. Examples:
Bring the chair.
Penang: Gia bangku.
non-Penang: Gia kau ee.
Toilet.
Penang: Jamban.
non-Penang: you could help me.
My brother once said it is pang sai keng. Is it true?
Soap.
Penang: Sabun.
Fuchien, China: Se bun.
‘Se’ as in wash.
Klang Hokkien: you could help me here too.
Wow Anisah, I just realised that you’re a malay and you’re pretty fluent in hokkien!
Haha, I think it’s really cool to know more languages especially when we are staying in a multi-racial and cultural country.
Thanks pointing out the difference in my hokkien dialect. It’s kinda hard to tell who is right and who is wrong now as my hokkien now is all mixed up. No matter who’s wrong or right, as long as we understand each other, peace and harmony will prevail.
Thanks for visiting my blog
Megalomaniac: Yes, I do know KY.
Anisah: Interesting analysis of the dialect. But at the of the day, it doesnt matter what dialect we speak. We are all the same
We called soap sabun too.
No need cibai, lanciao kanninnahbuehchaocibaibolanjiaobolampa, use foochow swear word: Sa ni neh li!!!sounds nice
Oh, I just LOVE this post.
I have a show called Penang Hokkien at http://penanghokkien.com
And one of our topics coming up is all about curse words/ bad words/ chao ua/ chao ue/…
Good job on this post. Love it.
Wah Lau! Lu eh brog zhin ho chio ah..Mai sng sng
I’m from Pa Sang too =)
Good to see another pa sang lang! Hahaha..
Wah lau eh, this type hokkien is not pure hokkien lah. Is lot diff from pure hokkien and teow chew nang.
Hey interesting brog.
Yes, northerners and southerners usually end up misunderstooded and kuarelling.
classic case: Kui mng (shut the door) and khui mu (open the door.
Sarawak hokkien is somewhat similar to Klang and Penang Hokkien though the khniau is a bit different.
I hv some kelantan hokkien fren too. And I found out why most of them are reluctant to speak Hokkien with me.
“It’s raining non stop” in Kelantan hokkien: Hor lok boh theng theng. (Hujan turun tak berhenti-henti).
English Penang Klang Kelantan
Don’t know Mm Chai Buay Chai Bo Chai
Not/No Mm Sii Buay Sii Bo Sii
Red shirt Ang Sa Ang Sa Sa Ang
Penang hokkien, klang hokkien… as long as we understand each other, we’re all kaki lang!!
Hoh seh bo??? LOL
Ya lor. But The difficult part is sometimes there are bound to be some misundertanding over certain words used which unfortunately might sound similar but actually is different.
Cheers.
wa, citle brog kai ho!
Hit e Kelantan Hokkien sit-cai bo siang, pau gua thia bo
(Tai oan lang)