by HeziCyan
恁食飽未?
Hokkien, spoken by tens of millions across Southeast Asia and beyond, isn’t just a dialect — it’s a window into ancient China, a living connection with Minnan traditional customs, and the cultural heart of southern Fujian.
As one of the major Chinese dialects, Hokkien not only reflects the rich cultural heritage of southern Fujian but also plays a key role in the communication of Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia. Understanding this dialect opens a door to history, tradition, and the everyday lives of millions.
In this article, we will explore the historical origin of Hokkien, its cultural influences and meanings across borders, and provide you with some essential phrases to get started in mastering this fascinating language!
Dialects in China
Due to China’s vast territory and dense population, the Chinese language is famous for its high degree of complexity. Typically and generally, we can classify all the varieties of the Chinese language into seven groups:
Mandarin, represented by the Beijing dialect, which has been adopted as the official language of China since the 1930s
Xiang or Hsiang, represented by the Changsha dialect
Wu, represented by the Shanghai dialect and the Suzhou dialect
Gan or Kan, represented by the Nanchang dialect
Yue, represented by Cantonese
Hakka, represented by the Meixian dialect (Moiyan)
And the last one is Min. Among all the seven groups of Chinese, Min is undoubtedly the most complicated and cannot be represented by any dialects. Min languages are mainly spoken in Fujian province (officially abbreviated as Min) located in the southeast corner of China, as well as among many overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia.
Fujian has a mountainous and rugged terrain with inconvenient transportation, which results in a considerable degree of geographical isolation between different regions. And caused by the geographical isolation, there are varieties of subdivisions of Min, many of which are often mutually unintelligible. Dramatically, even in some adjacent villages, people are unable to understand each other. In general, Min can be divided into the following major sub-dialects:
Mindong (Easter Min), represented by Fuzhou dialect
Minnan (Southern Min), represented by the Xiamen dialect (Amoy Hokkien)
Pu-Xian, represented by the Putian dialect
Minbei (Northern Min), represented by the Jian’ou dialect
Minzhong (Central Min), represented by the Hokkien dialect
Keep the above background knowledge in mind, next, we will discuss the origin and some derived cultures of Minnan (especially Hokkien), and then I will introduce to you some basic phrases and sentences of Hokkien. So get ready, and let’s continue!
Hokkien vs. Taiwanese vs. Minnan
Technically speaking, Minnan (lit. Southern Min) refers to a much broader linguistic group of dialects spoken in southeast Fujian province, including Hokkien and some other dialects like Hakka. But in fact, we often consider Minnan as the same as Hokkien and Taiwanese.
In ancient days, people from Fujian crossed the seas to reach various Southeast Asian countries for trade and livelihood, bringing the Minnan language with them. Over time, regional variations of Minnan emerged, and so did the ways people in different areas refer to the language. Today, the term, Minnan, is more commonly used in mainland China. Taiwanese, as the name suggests, is primarily used in Taiwan, and refers more to the variation of the dialect in Taiwan. While Hokkien is especially used by overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines. Interestingly, the word “Hokkien” in the Hokkien language means “Fujian”.
For the sake of convenience, in this article, I will use only Hokkien to refer to this mysterious, ancient, and beautiful language.
The Origin and Spread of Hokkien
Simply speaking, the Hokkien language originated from ancient Chinese, and spread with the people of southern Fujian.
During the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China, Easter Wu entered Fujian five times, but few people came, leaving behind only traces of Wu and Chu dialects. There were also three larger waves of immigration, which actually laid the foundation for the formation of the Hokkien dialect in Fujian.
The first massive one is during the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians (304-316), a chaotic period of warfare during the Jin dynasty. Civilians flew south in droves and settled in Fujian. The language of the Han people from the Central Plains they brought, became the foundation for the formation of the ancient Hokkien, which is oldest Chinese dialect in Fujian, retaining some characteristics of Chinese before the Sui and Tang dynasties.
The second and third large-scale immigration was both in the Tang dynasty. Because of various complex historical reasons, mainly social differentiation and social unrest, a large number of people came to Fujian from the Central Plains with the Middle Chinese language, which gave Hokkien its literary readings and contributed to the shaping of Hokkien and all the other Min languages.
Later, through various historical periods of change and development, coupled with the geographical isolation of mountains and rivers and the lack of communication with other places, the Hokkien dialect gradually matured and formed a unique regional dialect.
However, Fujian has limited arable land but a large population, making it difficult to develop agricultural production. Therefore, people there have no choice but only to rely on the vast sea, use the sea as “farmland”, and immigrate abroad to seek new space and opportunity for survival and development. Skilled in seafaring, they developed fishing and maritime trade. Their long experience at sea fostered a bold and pioneering spirit, instilling in them an open-mindedness and character shaped by the ocean, and nurturing the “爱拼才会赢 (fight to win)” mentality. Quanzhou, a coastal city in southeast Fujian, has been identified as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, proving the glorious history of the Minnan people in the world’s maritime civilization. The Hokkien people sailed out to Taiwan, to Malaysia, and even to other countries like Japan, America, Spain, etc., bringing with them the Hokkien language, the Hokkien culture, and, most importantly, the Hokkien spirit.
With tens of millions of speakers, Hokkien is truly a dialect that transcends regions, provinces and national borders. It is one of the major language dialects in the world. In 1977, Hokkien was recorded on the Golden Record, journeying along with the Voyager spacecraft to seek its soulmate in the vast, boundless galaxy.
Why Should We Learn Hokkien
As we mentioned before, Hokkien retains much of the characteristics of the Chinese language in ancient days. There are also rich and colorful ancient sayings in Hokkien, including idioms, proverbs, xiehouyu, etc. Hokkien is a shining pearl of folk literature, it is a combination of wisdom and talents of working people of all ages. We can say that Hokkien carries the excellent traditional culture of China and tells the traditional folk culture of southern Fujian.
Besides, due to the spread and distribution of the Hokkien people, the Hokkien language plays an important role in Southeast Asia. Hokkien is the common language, the common belief, and the common blood of people in Southeast Asia. It’s not only a dialect anymore, but some kind of solid connection between people, and even some kind of shared memory, glory, and pride. That’s why they say “学好闽南话,通行闽台东南亚 (Master Hokkien, and you can travel without trouble in Fujian, Taiwan, and various Southeast Asian countries)”.
Whether you want to delve into the study of ancient Chinese language, connect with the everyday lives of ordinary people, have a passion for Minnan culture like Nanyin, or simply wish to appreciate this elegant and graceful dialect, learning Hokkien is definitely your top choice.
Basic Phrases and Sentences in Hokkien
Unfortunately, Hokkien does not have a unified, standardized writing system in spite of its significance. In Taiwan, the Ministry of Education has adopted a standard for Written Hokkien. However, in many other regions, no such official system has been implemented until now. In mainland China, Xiamen University devised a romanization system for Hokkien, particularly the Amoy (Xiamen) version, which we call Bbánlám Uē Pìngyīm Hōng’àn (闽南话拼音方案, lit. Hokkien Spelling System). Below, I will use both the two systems to introduce to you some of the basic phrases and sentences in Hokkien!
Hello - 你好 - lǐhǒ
Many thanks - 多謝 - dōsiâ
I / we - 我 / 阮 - gguǎ / ggǔn
You(singular) / you(plural) - 你 / 恁 - lǐ / lǐn
Sleep - 睏 - kùn
House - 厝 - cù
Excuse me - 請問 - cniǎ bbn̂g (used to ask questions politely)
It doesn’t matter - 無要緊 - bbuê yào gǐn
Have you eaten - 食飽未 - ziáh bǎ bbuê (This sentence is often used as greetings in Hokkien, the first sentence in this article)
About HeziCyan
Hezi, a freshman from China, is passionate about languages and linguistics, with a special interest in phonology. Fluent in Mandarin and Hokkien, he is also learning English and Japanese. Deeply intrigued by anime, manga, and video games, Hezi enjoys immersing himself in Japanese culture, as well as the Japanese language. Meanwhile, Hezi has recently developed an interest in Korean and Indonesian. Always keen on experiencing different cultures and diving into literature, Hezi’s passion for languages continues to grow.