How do you say "thank you" in Taiwanese Hakka? What's the difference between "恁careful" and "Thanks to you"?

?

  1. Hakka
  2. "Thank you" in Taiwanese Hakka

?

?

?

?

?️

Taiwanese Hakka "Thank you"

The word "thank you" is a very commonly used word of gratitude between people, but in Hakka, the words of thanks do not directly use the words related to the original "thank you" directly, and different accents also have different accents. Different usage, why is this?

1 Introduction

The three words "please", "thank you" and "sorry", no matter what race, culture, or language they are in, are very practical and polite terms between people The friction between people makes interpersonal relationships more harmonious.

When asking people to do certain actions, help or services for themselves, the word "please" can be used to ask others, so as not to make people sound like an order; when the other party has completed certain actions, help, services or After asking, you can use the word "thank you" to express your gratitude to others; when you accidentally infringe, hurt or cause inconvenience to others, you can use "sorry" to express your apology and reduce conflicts.

However, usually the words used to express gratitude in the same language, even if there are some changes, can still be understood literally and refer to the same meaning, for example: "Thank you.", "thanks", "thx" in English " (Internet language), etc., "Thank you", "Thank you", "Thank you" in Chinese (Mandarin). Even if different languages or dialects are used, they will be expressed with common vocabulary of similar language families, for example: "thank" in English and "Danke" in German, "thank you", "thank you", "thank you", "thank you" in Chinese "Grateful", "grateful", etc. Hokkien also uses the same or similar words "thank you", "thank you", "thank you", "grateful", "say thank you", "labor", etc., while Cantonese uses "thank you" and "No" and so on.

But in the Hakka language, "Xie" or other words that are easy to understand directly are not used as thank you words, and in different regions and different Hakka accents, there are also different expressions to express gratitude. For example, "Xiexie" in Sixian dialect and "Cheng Meng you" in Hailu dialect, etc. What is the reason why Hakka language does not use the same "Xie" or similar words as other Chinese families?

2 Background knowledge

Due to the many types and tones of Hakka, this article only discusses the common tones of "Taiwanese Hakka"—Sixian dialect, Hailu dialect, Dapu dialect, Raoping dialect, Zhao'an dialect and Nansixian dialect, without focusing on other types , "Thank you" in a Hakka accent. In addition, the phonetic symbols used in this article are "Taiwanese Hakka Pinyin Scheme" and some "Zhuyin symbols" (Zhuyin is only used to mark Sixian dialects). For more information about Hakka types, pronunciation methods, and other Hakka content information, please refer to <How do you say in Hakka?? > article with a complete description.

3 Reasons

In other Chinese families, "Thank you" and other related words are usually used as words of gratitude to others. In Chinese, "Thank you", "Thank you", "Thank you", "Thank you", "Grateful" Hokkien also uses the same or similar words "thank you", "thank you", "grateful", "grateful", "say thank you", "labor", etc., while Cantonese uses "thank you" and "wugai".

The word "thank you" in Taiwanese Hakka usually does not use "xie" or other related words. This is because the word "thank you" is pronounced (in Sixian dialect as an example) as "do'(ㄉㄛ')( )(24)  qia(ㄑㄧㄚ) )(55), which sounds the same as "reversed (do(ㄉㄛˋ)( )(31) qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55))" or "withered (diau'(ㄉㄧㄚㄨˊ)((ㄉㄧㄠˊ))(24) qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55))” and other bad situations are homophonic, so you can’t say “thank you” to the boss who grows mushrooms. If you want to say “Duo Sheng”, the pronunciation is somewhat similar to “apology”.

And many of the languages of the Chinese family are more or less taboo about homophonic words that are not good for the situation (for example: the Chinese "four" and "death" have similar pronunciations, so they will try to avoid living on the fourth floor), and there are many Hakka cultures. There are more euphemistic factors, and there are more taboo words and euphemisms, so the word "thank you" is replaced by other words. Sixian dialect uses "恁careful" while Hailu dialect uses "恩恩你".

But in fact, in mainland China or some places, due to the influence of other Chinese characters, or because modern culture is less likely to avoid suspicion and homonyms similar to bad things, the word "thank you" is used instead, which is easier to remember and understand, but in Taiwan The more common ones that are more commonly used to express the meaning of "thank you"vocabularyIt's "you carefully" and "thanks to you",These two words both retain the simple and simple connotation, and can see the expresser's elegant and meticulous gratitude, and can also deeply express acceptanceThe people who help are sincere.

4 word parsing

The following will introduce the words of thanks that will be used in Hakka, and will first list the pinyin pronunciation of each accent (sub-dialect) (use the pronunciation of the Taiwanese Hakka pinyin scheme, and mark the tone value and tone pattern at the same time), And explain the source and usage of each vocabulary.

4.1 Carefully

  • Four county dialect:an(ㄚㄋˋ)((ㄢˋ))(31) zii(ㄗˋ)( )(31) the se(ㄙ ㄝ)( )(31)
  • Rao Ping accent: anˋ(53) zii(53) se(53)

Usually, the word "恁careful" is only used in Sixian dialect, and Hailu dialect does not use this word, but uses the word "thanks to you".

The word "恁" in the Hakka language means "like this" and "like this". Usually, people who have never learned Hakka language often don't know how to use the word "恁", but use "press carefully" and "an carefully","Careful"and other words with similar pronunciation, but in fact the word "恁" is pronounced as "恁" in Hakkaanㄚㄋˋ(ㄢˋ)(31)", pronounced in Chinese as "renㄖㄣˋ "or"nin'ㄋㄧㄣˊ 」。

The word "careful" has three meanings in Chinese, namely: (1) careful, not rash; (2) careful, careful; (3) frugal. But in Hakka, it means being grateful for being careful and thoughtful, and it is extended to "thank you".

Therefore, the Hakka word "恁精心" literally means "thank you very much", but the general thank you also use "恁秀秀", and although the word "恁秀" means "thank you" in the Hakka language, it usually means "Thank you". Most of them still use the three words "恁careful" to express their thanks.

4.2 Thanks to you

  • Sea and land dialect: shin(55) mung(55) ngi(55)
  • Tai Po dialect: shinˇ(113) mungˇ(113) ngiˇ(113)
  • Rao Ping accent: shin(55) mong(55) ngi(55)
  • Nansi county dialect: shinˇ(11) mungˇ(11) ngiˇ(11)

Usually the word "Thank you" is used in Hailu accent, but the word "恁careful" is not used in Sixian accent.

The word "Chengmeng" in Chinese refers to "suffering" and a polite word used when receiving help, hospitality or attention from others; while in Hakka, the word "Chengmeng" is used to thank others, extended as "Thank you".

Therefore, the literal meaning of the word "Thank you" is "Thank you". Although the word "Chengmeng" has the meaning of thank you in the Hakka language, the word "Thank you" is still used most of the time. To say thank you.

In addition, due to the communication and integration of different tones of Hakka in Taiwan,Nansi County accentThe word "thanks to you" is also gradually used, but the most common dialect in Nansi County is "thank you".northMost of the four county dialects still use "恁careful".

4.3 Courtesy

The pronunciation is the same as the first two characters of the previous "Cheng Meng You", but usually the three characters "Cheng Meng You" appear together, only in some cases will only the word "Cheng Meng" appear.

4.4 Thanks

  • Four county dialect:do'(ㄉㄛ')( )(24) qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55)
  • Sea and land accent: doˋ(53) cia+(33)
  • Tai Po dialect: do+(33) cia(53)
  • Rao Ping accent: doˇ(11) cia'(24)
  • Nansixian dialect: doˊ(24)  qia(55)

Because of the influence of other Chinese, or because modern culture is less likely to avoid homophonic characters that are similar to bad situations, the word "thank you" is used without taboo, which is easier to remember and understand, especiallyNansi County accentIt is more common, but the traditional words of thanks still use "恁careful" and "thanks to you" more.

Note: "多" in "Thank you" in Sixian accent is a Yinping tone followed by "Xie" is a Qusheng (the Yinping tone of Hakka Sixian accent (vˊ(24)) followed by Yinping (vˊ(24)), Qusheng (v(55)), yang entry (vd(5)will change from time to time (vˇ(11)),so"do'(ㄉㄛ')( )(24)  qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55)" to transpose into "do(ㄉㄛˇ)( )(11) qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55)".

4.5 thanks

  • Four county dialect:gam(ㄍㄚㄇˋ)((ㄍㄚㆬˋ))(31)  qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55)
  • Sea and land accent: gamˊ(24) cia+(33)
  • Tai Po dialect: gam^(31) cia(53)
  • Rao Ping accent: gamˋ(53) cia'(24)
  • Zhao'an dialect: gam^(31) cia(55)
  • Nansi county dialect: gamˋ(31) qia(55)

The usage situation is roughly the same as the word "thank you".

4.6 Lao Li

  • Tai Po dialect: loˇ(113) lad(54)

Used in "Tai Po accent".

4.7 Labor

  • Zhao'an accent: looˋ(53)  lad(43)

It is more used in "Zhao'an Qiang". In addition, one of the Hokkien sayings for "thank you" also has the word "labor".

4.8 Help

  • Four county dialect:da((ㄉㄚˋ)( )31) bong'(ㄅ ㄛ ㄫ)((ㄅㄛㄥˊ)
    (ㄅㄛㆭˊ)
    )
    (24)
  • Sea and land accent: daˊ(24) bong(53)
  • Tai Po dialect: da^(31) bong+(33)
  • Rao Ping accent: daˋ(53)  bongˇ(11)
  • Zhaoan accent: da^(31) bongˇ(11)
  • Nansi county dialect: daˋ(31)  bong'(24)

The term "Dabang" has three meanings in Hakka, namely: (1) share; (2) luck; (3) thanks. Hakka seldom uses this word.

4.9 Arigado

  • Sixian dialect: aˊ li ga doˋ
  • Hailu dialect: a+ li ga doˋ
  • Tai Po dialect: a+ liˋ gaˋ do^
  • Rao Ping accent: a+ li ga doˋ
  • Zhaoan accent: aˇli ga do^

This usage is rare, and it originated from a Japanese loanword introduced when Taiwan was still under Japanese colonial rule. The original Japanese text is: "ありがとう (Japanese Roman characters: arigatou)」。

At present, this usage is only used by a small number of Hakkas who were colonized by Japan in the older generation. Now most of the younger generation or the mass media usually do not use this term. There are someMany Hakka people have also indicated that they have never heard of this usage in Hakka dialect, so it is not recommended to use this word as a word of gratitude in Hakka.However, it is included in the Taiwan Hakka Vocabulary Database of the Hakka Committee, so I will briefly explain it.

5 Conclusion

In Taiwanese Hakka, the most common usages of words of thanks are "恁秀心" and "Thank you". The two most common tones (or sub-dialects) of Taiwanese Hakka, the Sixian dialect uses "恁careful" and the Hailu dialect uses "Thank you", while the Nansixian dialect uses "Thank you".

The following table will sort out all the tones of the Taiwanese Hakka language, as well as the words of gratitude used. If the tone is blank, it means that there is no such expression for the tone, or the pronunciation of the relevant tone cannot be found.

"Thank you" in Taiwanese Hakka
word \ accent Four County accent Nansi County accent Sea and land accent Tai Po accent Rao Pingqiang Zhao'an accent
ye carefully an(31) zii(31) the se(55)
)
      an(53)  zii(53)  se(53)  
thanks to you   shin(11) mungˇ(11) ngiˇ(11) shin(55) mung(55) ngi(55) shin(113) mungˇ(113) ngiˇ(113) shin(55) mong(55) ngi(55)  
Thanks to   shin(11) mungˇ(11) shin(55) mung(55) shin(113) mungˇ(113) shin(55) mong(55)  
thanks do'(ㄉㄛ')( )(24) qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55) do'(24)  qia(55) do(53) cia+(33) do+(33) cia(53) do(11) cia'(24)  
grateful gam(ㄍㄚㄇˋ)((ㄍㄚㆬˋ))(31)  qia(ㄑㄧㄚ)( )(55) gam(31) qia(55) gam'(24) cia+(33) gam^(31) cia(53) gam(53) cia'(24) gam^(31) cia(55)
Lao Li       loˇ(113) lad(54)    
labor           looˋ(53)  lad(43)
fight da((ㄉㄚˋ)( )31) bong'(ㄅ ㄛ ㄫ)
)
(24)
da(31)  bong'(24) da'(24) bong(53) da^(31) bong+(33) da(53)  bongˇ(11) da^(31) bongˇ(11)

Among the Hakka users in Taiwan, the accents used most are the accents of the four counties in the north and the south, followed by the Hailu accent. Therefore, the frequency of use of words of thanks is roughly as follows:ye carefully > thanks to you (thank you) > thank you ≒ thank you, and the remaining words are very rarely used.

references

  1. Hakka Dictionary Editing Team of the Ministry of Education (2006), "Taiwanese Hakka Dictionary".
  2. Qiu Xiangyun (2007), "The Expression of Euphemism in Taiwanese Language and Literature".
  3. Zeng Tingwan (2016), "Word Frequency Analysis of Primary School Hakka Textbooks – Taking Miaoli County Edition as an Example". National Taichung University of Education, Department of Language Education, National Primary School Teachers In-service Master's Degree Master's Thesis, unpublished, Taichung.
  4. Hakka Committee (2010), <Thanks>. Hakka cloud.
  5. Hakka Committee (2014), <Thank you>. Hakka cloud.
  6. Qiu Zhongsen (2005), "A Comparative Study of Hakka Dialects in Miaoli, Taiwan and Xingning, Guangdong". National Hsinchu University of Education Master's Thesis, Institute of Taiwan Language and Language Education, unpublished, Hsinchu.

update record

  1. 2022/05/15, multilingual version added.



English