99 Teochew Expressions in Their Actual Chinese Characters - Difference

One of the biggest misconception existing in numerous books and the media today is that of Chinese as a language, when it is in fact a writing system, much like Latin or Arabic. The historical adoption of Hanzi 漢子 - also known as Deng-nang ji 唐人字 in Teochew, in non-Sinitic languages such as Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese shows this.

The cause of this situation is the politically-driven representation since the 1920s of all major varieties of spoken Chinese as dialects of Mandarin, even though they are mutually unintelligible and recgonised according to international linguistic classifications to be at least seven separate language families.

Teochew, like Cantonese and Hokkien, has a literary form that traces to at least the 10th century during the Tang dynasty and a spoken vernacular that is probably even older. It is certainly not a debased form of Mandarin, which linguists have properly established to have been evolved in northern China only after the 13th century.

The fundamental difference between the Teochew and Mandarin can be amply illustrated by the written forms of a simple sentence like "you call her children to run over there":

Teochew: "爾呌伊個囝走去許塊" (le gie yi gai gia zao ke he go)

Mandarin: "你叫她的孩子跑到那里"

Below is a (non-exhaustive) list of 99 Teochew expressions in their actual Chinese characters, as opposed to Mandarin ones that they are commonly confused with:

No.	English term	Spoken Teochew expression	Chinese character in Mandarin	Actual Chinese character in Teochew
1.	You (second person)	Le	你	爾/汝
2.	He/she (third person)	Yi	他/她	伊
3.	We/us (including the listener)	Nang	我們	俺
4.	We/us (excluding the listener)	Uang	我們	阮
5.	You (plural)	Nin	你們	恁
6.	Elder brother	Hia	哥	兄
7.	Elder sister	Ze	姐	姊
8.	Child	Gia	孩	囝
9.	Face	Ming	臉	面
10.	Hair	Mo	發	毛
11.	Eye	Mak	眼	目
12.	Tooth	Ki	牙	齒
13.	Neck	Am	脖子	頷
14.	Right-hand	Zia-ciu	右手	正手
15.	Left -hand	Do-ciu	左手	倒手
16.	Buttocks	Ka-ceng	屁股/臀部	尻倉
17.	Why/how	Zo-ni	為什麼/怎樣	怎呢
18.	What	Mi-gai	什麼	乜個
19.	Who	Di-diang	誰	底滇
20.	When	Diang-si	什麼時候	滇時
21.	Where	Di-go	哪裡	底塊
22.	This	Ziah-gai	這個	只個
23.	That	He-gai	那個	許個
24.	Many	Zoi	多	㩼
25.	How many	Jieh-zoi	多少	若㩼
26.	Not yet	Bhue	還沒	未
27.	Must not	Mai	不要	勿
28.	No need	Miang	不用	免
29.	No good	Mo	不好	孬
30.	Must	Dieh	必	著
31.	Don’t want	Mai	不想要	嫑
32.	Unable to	Bhoi	不會；不能	𠀾
33.	Don't	M	不	毋
34.	Forget	M-gi	忘記	毋記
35.	Dislike	Lou	討厭	惱
36.	Want to	Ai	愛	欲
37.	See	Toi	看	睇
38.	Speak	Da	講	呾
39.	Call	Gie	叫	呌
40.	Smell	Pi	聞	嗅
41.	Eat	Ziah	吃	食
42.	Drink	Lim	喝	啉
43.	Sleep	I; Ngh	睡	夗
44.	Enter	Jip	進	入
45.	Find /search	Cue	找	覓
46.	To do	Mueh	做	物
47.	Walk	Gia	走	行
48.	Run	Zao	跑	走
49.	Stand	Kia	站	徛
50.	Swim	Siu	遊	泅
51.	Bathe	Soi-eg	沖涼	洗浴
52.	Urinate	Bang-jie	拉尿	放尿
53.	To have diarrhea	Lao-sai	拉肚子	漏屎
54.	Wipe	Cig	擦	拭
55.	Sun (to dry)	Pag	曬	曝
56.	Take	Kieh	拿	挈
57.	Catch	Liah	抓	掠
58.	Hit/beat	Pah	打	拍
59.	Knock	Ka	敲	扣
60.	Throw	Ham	丟	撼
61.	Fall	Buag	跌	跋
62.	Slaughter	Tai	殺	刣
63.	Descend	Loh	下	落
64.	Most/best (superlative)	Siang	最	上
65.	Just enough	Du-ho	剛好	拄好
66.	All together	Long	全部	攏
67.	Beautiful	Ngia	美	雅
68.	Fragrant	Pang	香	芳
69.	Difficult	Oh	難	惡
70.	Small	Soi	小	細
71.	Young	Hao-se	年輕	後生
72.	Impoverished	Kiao	窮	磽
73.	Tired	Heg	累	乏
74.	Lazy	Dua	懶	惰
75.	Dirty	Ci-ghi	髒	淒疑
76.	Fast	Me	快	猛
77.	Slowly	Mang-mang	慢慢	緩慢
78.	Late	Ua	晚	晏
79.	Black	Ou	黑	烏
80.	Day	Jig	天	日
81.	Morning	Ming-ki	早上	眠起
82.	Night	Me	夜	暝
83.	Sun	Jig-tao	太陽	日頭
84.	Weather	Ti-si	天氣	天時
85.	Cold	Ngang	冷	凝
86.	Typhoon	Huang-tai	颱風	風臺
87.	Caught by rain	Ag-hou	淋雨	沃雨
88.	Clothes	Sa	衣	衫
89.	House	Cu	屋	厝
90.	Home	Lai	家	內
91.	Bed	Ming-ceng	床	眠床
92.	Cigarette	Hun	烟	熏
93.	Letter	Poi	信	批
94.	Fruits	Ci-gue	水果	鮮果
95.	Carrot	Cai-tao	蘿蔔	菜頭
96.	Porridge	Mue	粥	糜
97.	Chopsticks	De	筷子	箸
98.	Things	Mueh-giah	東西	物件
99.	Store	Pou	店	鋪

~o0o~

Comment on this post (5 comments)

The Teochew Store says...

“

Hi Ung,

No change was made to the chart. Perhaps it has something to do with your device settings?

Best regards,
The Teochew Store team

October 08, 2023
Ung says...

“

What happened to this chart? Both columns of Chinese characters in Mandarin and teochew have their content replaced with English words? I was saving this page for the teochew characters…

September 16, 2023
Tyman, Ung says...

“

Suggestions
1)to produce spoken and written
Teochew app—
A)- person to speak or type
Teochew words with original tones
B) app to show on screen both original
and changed tones
C) app to speak changed tones.
This would be a great aid to all who wish
to learn Teochew
2) To promote mutual research and teaching
organizations, media, books, cds etc among
overseas and Mainland China Teochew experts, as in Chinese Dialect Association,
its Fangyan Magazine, and Zhongguo Yuwen, Magazine, all in Beijing with websites, and if you are lucky, with issues in
public ir university library near you—-1950 to
now.
3) Teochew part of Min Nan chapter in classic Hanyu Fangyan Gaiyao, Beijing 1969 and 89? also in library near you?
Joisia. Zhu ni, hao yunqi!!!

June 27, 2022
Alim says...

“

Don’t do Mai zo
Or cannot do mo zo
In text don’t is m ?
Please explain difference

August 21, 2021
Lim says...

“

Is this based on Teo-yio (潮陽）pronunciation?
Gie (叫) supposes to be Gio to non Teo-yio
Bang-jie (小便) supposes to be Bang-jie.
Teo-yie (潮陽）supposes to be Teo-yio.
Jie-say (這樣) Hie-say (那樣）supposes to be Jio-say, Jio-say to non Teo-yio.

August 23, 2017

99 Teochew Expressions in Their Actual Chinese Characters - Difference Between Our Language & Mandarin

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