GnuDoyng Comments

by: Oliver Loi

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:24:28 +0000

The decline of Foochow as a spoken language is a concern close to heart. After reading what you have written, it seems that you have - to a certain extent- some knowledge or training in sociolinguistics. Your analysis of the current state of the Foochow language is well summed up.

I live in New Zealand, and I still make the occasional trips back to my hometown (Bintangor, Sarawak, MALAYSIA) where Foochow is the main Chinese ‘dialect’ in use but I have noticed that Foochow youths -especially those who are products Chinese Language (Mandarin) Primary Schools- have almost no sense of pride in this rather unique branch of the Chinese Language.

Of course Foochow is not the only victim of Mandarinization. Penang Hokkien is another example to the extent that there are people out who make conscious efforts to revive or revitalize the use of Penang Hokkien by actively publishing books. I reckon, similar efforts should be undertaken to address the issue of decline in the context of Foochow.

The uniqueness and inpenetrability of Foochow is even acknowledged by one western scholar of the Chinese Language, Daniel Kane. Let’s do something about our beloved tongue. It will be a shame if it is allowed to die a natural death!

by: 暗生番

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:45:31 +0100

飛船？Súi 気，後 pái hōló 話 ánne 寫 tō 好 ah。Poe-tsûn。

by: teurasia@hotmail.com

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:05:37 +0000

My Grandfather helped set up a church in Foochow in the early 1900’s, my father still has his Foochow bible. Wouldn’t that be an interesting thing if there was some kind of connection. This Foochow bible that you make reference to, which denomination does it belong to?

by: teurasia

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:46:31 +0000

My parents are from Fuzhou and I would really love to hear other native speakers other than my family. I’ve been surrounded by cantonese speakers and almost feel like a minority within a minority. What other websites and such, are there?

by: gnudoyng

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:23:19 +0100

Thanks for the infomation, Alan. I once read in some magazine that Foochowese have already become the most widely spoken language among Chinese people in New York City, even more widely than Cantonese. From your comment above, however, I see it’s not quite true.

Hopefully, our work can change the apathy of common Foochow people both home and abroad. It is impossible to explain with reason why I’m so passionate about Foochowese. But I know that something must be done before our mother tongue ceases to be spoken. That is a moral issue.

by: Iap, Sian-Chin

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:45:05 +0100

I am very proud of Amoy citizen.

by: Alan

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:51:42 +0100

Hey dude, you have a very interesting blog. Why are you so interested in promoting Foochowese? I am just curious. I was born and raised in Fuzhou until I left for college in 1983. I have a lot of Foochow relatives living in America. Many of them speak Cantonese instead of Foochowese with their peers. They only speak Foochowese with older parents and grandparents. As a Foochow native, I personally don’t have much respect for that language. Maybe you can enlighten me as to why I should care about my mother tongue when it’s not even well regarded by lots of its native speakers. Some of your blog entries reminded me of my scholarly papers written during my graduate studies of Linguistics many years ago.

by: oscar

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 07:15:31 +0100

my friends who were brought up speaking foochow learn new languages very fast. they say it is easy.

by: Rat

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:15:14 +0100

Hello, this is rat. You have access to my space now. (easter06)

by: gnudoyng

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 21:30:38 +0100

To khaihiok: “新婦” is a term shared by most southern Chinese languages, including Hokkianese, Taiwanese and Cantonese.

To 葉先秦: speaking Mandarin with a strong accent is not something to feel shameful about. :’)