Jared's Discusion Re the Hakka Language

[Linny.Thom@TWDJAPE.TW.nt.gov.au]

Hi Jared and friends,

I am also an East Timorese Hakka and have long been in search for my roots,
culture and language.  I've come across to this forum last year and didn't take
any step to participate until today.

I don't know whether anybody has gotten back to you regarding your queries, but
I think I can share with you what I've learnt from my trip to China and from
members of my family.

You're correct that our dialect is quite different from those spoken in
Malaysia/Singapore and other countries.  This is because our ancestors were
from a different region in China.  Our tongue (yours and mine) is spoken in the
moiyan (Meiyen in Mandarin) district of the Guongdong province.

Hakka in the different region of the same province and in different provinces
speak differently - some have slight variations while others are just
completely different.  This is because the language of that region has been
assimilated in the Hakka
,s vocabularies and gradually replacing the original
Hakka words  (Although I don
,t really know which region
,s Hakka is the original
or oldest tongue or if there is such a thing).   My personal experience is that
I have to concentrate and listen very carefully before I can understand other
countries
, Hakka or rather the region where they or their ancestors were from.
The most difficult one that I experienced was trying to convey with a Hakka
from the Tai Pu area.  I think the only reason I understood the Tai Pu fella
was my knowledge in Mandarin, Cantonese and some knowledge of the Chinese
characters.

Your reference to the word fish (umni), infact is "UM" or "NG" (sound's the
same to me).  The second character "NI" , I don't know why it was there, but we
seems to add meaningless word at the end of a word or a sentence.  For example,
"le", "la" vah" really have no meanings except they seem to emphasis the word
before it.

Your question about the word hungry or hunger, ie. 
&tu qie
8 in our tongue or
NGO in your friend
,s tongue is quite confusing isn
,t it?  The word 
&tu
8 is
stomach and 
&qie
8 if I am right means hunger.  
&NGO
8 in our tongue means 
&
starve
8 or 
&starving
8 and for what I can make up of it is of the same meaning.
Hakka is one of those dialects that you can
,t write as you speak.

I just want to make the point that the tones of our Hakka have not change,
despite the fact that most of us are 2nd and 3rd generation East Timorese.  If
you go to the Moiyan region, you will hear many people speak just like you and
I.  Having said that, we have also borrowed many foreign words as well as have
invented many new words.

Moreover, I like to add that Hakka is indeed a dying language and as well as an
ethnic group.  My travel in China, especially in the north and north east,
tells me that the ordinary Chinese do not know that we
,ve existed and let alone
that we
,re Chinese! I found this really hard to conceived and rather
embarrassed.   Most people that I came across were quite educated by Chinese
standards and their ignorance about Hakka was just astounding.

Forum like this is great.  I really feel proud to be a Hakka, knowing that
there are so many of you out there interested in our culture and heritage.  I
was once lost, but now I have found what I've been looking for - I actually
belong to a group of people that still exist!

Just out of interest, has anybody given a paper in the Hakka conference about
the Hakka in the different regions of China or the different countries of the
world???

Cheers
Linny



--------------------
Dear Sir/Madam,

A friend of mine from Canada he is orginally from Trinadad, sent me some
information about Hakka language and its people. I've met him through the
Internet, he was asking me what language I speak at home..I told it was
Hakka but a East Timores Hakka which is quite different to Malaysian or any
other country Hakka.

He told me to write something in Hakka...I can't write Hakka cos I never
knew Hakka writing is really existed.

I've read some of the Hakka pronouciation but unfortunately its so different
to the way East Timores Hakka say it. eg: in Hakka NG is fish but the way I
say is "umni" means fish, "NGO" means Hungry, the way I say is "tuqie" means
hungry. I create the writing according to my saying.
It could be I live in East Timor and our Hakka has change.

I live in Australia now...and its really interesting to finally know where
you come from..for so long I've been searcing for my roots and my language.

Keep up the good work and thanks for creating this website. People like me
and other Hakka people need to know about the ancestor.

Yours Sincerely

Jared Lay