Malaysian Foochowese News
January 23, 2007My friend William Lau sent me a short audio file of the Foochowese news broadcast in Sarawak, Malaysia. To speak the truth, I was quite surprised by this accent when I first heard it. Its most prominent features that makes it distinguishable from Foochow downtown accent are the lack of “initial assimilations” and “close/open rimes“. But a Foochowese would understand most part of it, whether he has the backround knowledge or not.
I guess most Malaysian Foochowese are originally Mìng-chiăng (閩清) or Kŭ-chèng (古田) decents… well then again, maybe not. 
I put its text here, so that you won’t get lost.
ΟΟΟΟ我國人民ΟΟ政府舉行 2007 年大馬旅游年獲得成功，州政府將繼續加強努力，以提昇本州XX事業其質量共數量。本州遘了 2008 年將有自家其Ο稻谷種子加工中心。本州預料將有三萬余中國人口遘本州來觀光，以配合 2007 年大馬旅游年。以下是新聞內容。
Indeed, the majority of Foochowese in Sarawak are Mìng-chiăng or Kŭ-chèng descents.
The radio broadcast, being formal spoken Foochow , can only be fully understood by the older generation. Foochowese of my generation and younger probably can understand only 60% or less of the news. When speaking in Foochow and encountering a situation where it cannot be expressed in Foochow (for the lack of language skills), Mandarin or English would be used. There is no effort to find the proper expressions (or words) in Foochow, and this is a contributory factor in the decline of Foochow dialect in Sarawak.
Comment by William Lau — February 4, 2007 @ 11:00 am
Hello, how are you? I come from Fuqing! It is great to find the links to the century-old Foochowese translation of the Holy Bible. Hope things are fine with you wherever you are. Best regards,
Comment by rat — March 14, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
Wishes for a blessed new year.
Comment by rat — March 14, 2007 @ 2:11 pm
Wishes for a blessed new year.
Comment by rat — March 14, 2007 @ 2:12 pm