DIALECT BECOMING FOREIGN LANGUAGE
13 January 2006
We speak English and Mandarin at home. Occasionaly, my wife and I switch to Hokkien in the presence of our 9 year old daughter if the conversation is not meant for her ears. She will nonchalantly ignore us in her innocent way until one recent day, when she asked with a suspicious look in her face, "Why are you guys talking in a foreign language?"
-_- since when Hokkien has become a foreign language? Come to think of it, dialect is indeed dying out with the new generation. It is quite rare these days to have extended family living under one roof. In our childhood days, grandparents and dialects are part and parcel of growing up.
The only Hokkien phrase my daughter knows "Lim peh ka lu kong" was picked up from watching a Singapore produced movie. However, that coarse phrase is totally inappropriate to be used by a little girl!
Maybe it is time to start some Hokkien lesson.
We speak English and Mandarin at home. Occasionaly, my wife and I switch to Hokkien in the presence of our 9 year old daughter if the conversation is not meant for her ears. She will nonchalantly ignore us in her innocent way until one recent day, when she asked with a suspicious look in her face, "Why are you guys talking in a foreign language?"
-_- since when Hokkien has become a foreign language? Come to think of it, dialect is indeed dying out with the new generation. It is quite rare these days to have extended family living under one roof. In our childhood days, grandparents and dialects are part and parcel of growing up.
The only Hokkien phrase my daughter knows "Lim peh ka lu kong" was picked up from watching a Singapore produced movie. However, that coarse phrase is totally inappropriate to be used by a little girl!
Maybe it is time to start some Hokkien lesson.
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