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HendryTan

By HendryTan
in Blowing Wind Main Forum

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Guest ah di

Guest ah di

Posted
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"Sua Tao?" was exactly what some lady on the phone said five minutes ago.

Not many young ones speak the Teochew dialect these days,let alone the Ajs who do.

ah hia, le xi teo chew nan?

(bro, you r teo chew too?)

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junxiang Newbie

junxiang

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while on this thread, just a survey!

How much Teochew is left in u now?

maybe I start first:

Guess I am one of the rare few guys who not only knows how to appreciate Teochew operas but can sing the whole story too, sometimes, can get too emotional at certain parts too.

I can cook my Teochew steam pomfret, my favourite cabbage soup with prok ribs,fish ball, fish maw, my new year "pek tor" fish, cold crab, cai por eggs, pink peach kuay, chwee kuay ..........

Of course I speak Teochew too.

Most typical of all, I also dam "hao lian". True blue Teochew right?

what's yrs?

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monochrome Newbie

monochrome

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Good to see this dialect revival :) I'm quite tired of the on going mandarin-isation of our culture. I mean, it's all good and fine to learn and speak Mandarin, but we shouldn't forget the language of our forefathers. They certainly didn't speak Mandarin. For me, I'm not teochew. I actually come from a long line of peranakans so I consider my "dialect" or mother tongue to be baba malay.

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SeannyShortcake Newbie

SeannyShortcake

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How much Teochew is left in me? Mhmmm.

Both my parents are Sua Tau Teochew nang so that effectively makes me a 3rd generation Singaporean pure Teochew lol.

I learnt it when I was ferried to and fro from my mother's to my father's side.

Don't really know how to cook Teochew dishes nor appreciate their operas though.

Thinking of visiting my ancestral home (no,not Africa or the Sea) in China at the end of the year.

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HendryTan Experienced

HendryTan

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Extracted from: http://www.thefullwiki.org/Chinese_Singaporean#Teochew

The Teochew (潮州人) in Singapore constitute about 21% of the Chinese population in Singapore. The Teochew people speak Teochew, another Min-Nan language, which is 50.4% mutually intelligible with Hokkien. The Teochews, like the Hainanese, trace their ancestry to southern Fujian (福建). Their migration from southern Fujian to their new homes in what is now known as the Chaoshan region and Hainan Island respectively were mainly due to overpopulation and famine in the southern Fujian region. [2]. Despite linguistic and cultural similarities, the Teochews and Hokkiens considered themselves distinct and did not get along well during their early settlement in Singapore, especially during the British colonial era. Like the Hokkiens, the Teochews similarly shared the Taoist belief of a Taoist spiritual medium.

The Teochews were the dominant Chinese Language group for a period of time during the 19th century. Mass immigration of Chinese from Fujian later caused the Hokkiens to outnumber the Teochews, especially in the south. The majority of the Chinese living along the banks of the Straits of Johor were largely Teochew until the HDB initiated mass redevelopment from the 1980s onwards.

The majority of the Teochew settled along the banks of the Singapore River in Chinatown during the 19th and early 20th century. Teochews who settled in Chinatown worked in many commercial sectors as well as fishery. Traditional commercial sectors of Chinatown once dominated by Teochews include Circular Road and South Bridge Road.

Others Teochew businessmen set up gambier and pepper plantations in the dense forests of Singapore, parts of northern Singapore as well as Johor Bahru. The Chinese first started their plantations with the approval of the Sultan of Johor from the nineteenth century onwards. This attracted more Teochews to start their plantations in those areas over the years. As such, the "Kangchu" system eventually started to form. The Chinese word "Kang" (江) means river, while "Chu" (厝) means house. However, in this context, "Chu" is the clan's name of the first headman in charge of the plantations in the area. The "Kangchus" gave rise to modern place names such as Choa Chu Kang, Lim Chu Kang and Yio Chu Kang, all of which were largely plantation areas prior to urban redevelopment.

Early Chinese immigrants clustered themselves to form clan and Language associations. These clan associations or Kongsi served as unions for the mostly illiterate Chinese laborers and represented them when dealing with their colonial rulers or employers. One of the more prominent clan associations for the Teochew was the Ngee Ann Kongsi, a Teochew-oriented association formed in 1845 that is still in existence.

The Straits Times highlighted that Hougang has a relatively high concentration of Teochew residents.

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mamamia Newbie

mamamia

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I am not a teochew but I do have teochew relatives coz coincidentally my 3 brothers married teochew ah niah;) .... I went swatow last year ; the food was great and fresh especially the seafood , and many of our local dishes like oyster eggs, carrot cakes , chui kweh , kweh chap , fish soup , beef kweh tiao, ba chow mee etc etc are originated from there ... Hence , even though I am not a teochew , I feel there's a sense of familiarity when I was there. Many multi millionaires in South China are teochews coz teochews are well known for their business skills and acumen. The only thing I don't like about swatow, is the environment which is quite dirty especially the older part of the city area and the roads have many holes. Anyway , for food hunt and to trace some of the singapore hawker food history , swatow is a place worth visiting. You can also get good quality tea leaves and Chinese porcelain from there at a much lower price, as the teochews there have a very strong tea culture. The beach is also a must to visit especially during the summer time, you will be surprise that their beach front is almost world class and I am not kidding here as you need to pay to swim there , hence it is well maintained and the water is clean.

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doncoin Veteran

doncoin

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My dad's side is teochew, but I was raised by my maternal grandmother speaking Shanghainese and didn't learn teochew till I was 6 or 7 when I had to interact with my paternal grandmother. I recall when i was a kid, I always thought it sounded very sing-song like the language, and relied on my older sister to translate for me when I have to interact with my other grandmother. Well the teochew speaking one had passed away a few years ago and I guess that pretty much ends my conversation there. I was never quite fluent with it growing up, sometimes mixing shanghainese and mandarin on words I don't know. But it is a very melodic language nonetheless.

Love. 

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Guest Centrino

Guest Centrino

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Pure 2nd generation teochew here.

How teochew am I?.... Sad to say, not very.

I can understand 80% of spoken Teochew, but can hardly muster a proper sentence in one.

My teochew vocab is effectively kindergarten level.

Army corrupted my limited teochew even further... now my teochew is peppered with Hokkien words.

I have never liked teochew muay... instead prefer the Cantonese version.

I think I need to make a trip to Swatow to find my roots.

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Koh Chong Lip Newbie

Koh Chong Lip

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Wo si teo chew nang. :)

@Windanseaguy, you can try Chui Hua Lin at Newton or Swa Garden at Macpherson. Both serve authentic, delicious Teochew cuisine like cold crab, suckling pig, braised goose and of course steamed promfret!

Other than the dialect and the food, I have largely lost the essence of what it means to be a Teo Chew Nang...

I remember the teochew opera my grandparents used to watch daily...it used to bore me badly back then...

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qedcwc Newbie

qedcwc

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Am of both Teochew and Hainanese blood.

Loved Teochew steamed pomfret, chwee kuih, rice kuih, and yam paste!

But dun like Teochew porridge though, preferred Cantonese porridge

But then, i also like Hainanese chicken rice balls and Hakka lei cha....

Am i tainted? :P

"You like who you like lah. Who cares if someone likes the other someone because of their race? It's when they hate them. That's the problem."

Orked (acted by Sharifah Amani) in SEPET (2004, directed by Yasmin Ahmad)

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slackerj Newbie

slackerj

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Lol, my grandparents came from shantou, so I'm considered 2nd generation born Singaporean. My mom is cantonese, I prefer salty food, so I take it that I'm more leaning towards the Cantonese side.

I'm like my grandma, a teochew that don't really like to eat muay... I like teochew porridge, but I always have it with rice instead... Super scared of eating yam paste, it's so sweet that I urrgh... Need alot of chinese tea to wash out the taste.

Don't ask me to speak teochew, but I can understand abit of it.

成熟不是心變老，是淚在打轉，卻依然還能微笑。

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sphere Grand Master

sphere

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Well, my both sets of grandparents (hence both my parents) are/were all Teochews.

I like the Teochew tone than the Hokkien's, less "vulgar" when it is in spoken language.

Used to like the Teochew opera shows when I was younger, but now I hardly speak the language, just understand a little bit of it. Haha...

Happy - is what we should be, always.

 

Notice: I DO NOT use the Chat Function in this Forum - this has always been written in my profile (and I don't read it too).

{it is unfortunate that this new Chat Function does not allow users to turn/switch off in mobile phone}

 

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hotf_ck Newbie

hotf_ck

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the teochew porridge shop at amoy street and hong lim food centre, both named teo heng, are favorites of shenton way-types.

... and on a different note, i like to have sex talk (in teochew) with whomever i'm with once i know that he's from the same dialect group. adds to the intimacy methinks.

I once met this older guy in a sauna and played with him. Turns out he's Teochew too. I'm not very good at it, but we started conversing in a mix of Teochew and Mandarin after playing. It was kinda fun. :)

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windanseaguy Newbie

windanseaguy

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Wo si teo chew nang. :)

@Windanseaguy, you can try Chui Hua Lin at Newton or Swa Garden at Macpherson. Both serve authentic, delicious Teochew cuisine like cold crab, suckling pig, braised goose and of course steamed promfret!

Yes I have tried Swa Garden and its good :). I like their cai po omelette...totally yummy. Hmm must try chu I Hua Lin next. Thanks. :)

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Guest Glyph

Guest Glyph

Posted
Posted (edited)

i get mixed up between teochew and hokkien dialects. dunno which is which.

Just remember 2 bucks.

Hokkien: l-ng khor

Teochew: gnor kou

My 2 bucks worth. o.O

Edited by Glyph
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HendryTan Experienced

HendryTan

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Today just had another Teochew tradition. Eat "七样菜" on "正月初七"

http://www.chaofood.com/culture/culture_detail.asp?sendid=297

“人节”食七样菜

正月初七本地风俗，有食一种叫七样菜的习惯。传说正月初七是人的生日，据传：女娲氏开天辟地，第一日作鸡、二日作狗、三日作猪、四日作羊、五日作牛、六日作马、七日作人，因而把初七称为人日。

人日必须食一种用七样青菜作成的饼食，往后没作那些饼而直接食七样菜。

潮汕地方把七样菜在锅中煮熟后于中午吃，称“七样羹”。这七样菜一般取萝卜、厚合菜、葱、大蒜、韭菜、芹菜、春菜。因为萝卜取“清白”；韭菜俗称久菜，与春菜一样取“长年回春”；葱取“聪明”；芹菜取勤劳；大蒜、厚合取“诸事合算”。在吃前长辈总要说：合家清清白白，新年回春，聪明勤劳，诸事合算，百事无忌。

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HendryTan Experienced

HendryTan

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1. Tonight (初七) I will be going out to buy 潮州鱼生 (Teochew Raw Fish).

The 魚生 commonly served in Singapore is the Singapore Cantonese version which has the tossing tradition.

The Teochew version uses vegetables and 西刀鱼. These are dipped into sweetened 梅膏酱.

2. All Singapore Teochew Restaurants serve this popular dish during CNY.

3. I buy mine from this Teochew Fish Porridge store at ToaPayoh served by an old man, his wife and sister.

During the CNY period, they will exclusively sell 潮州鱼生.

Address: ToaPayoh #01-12 Lorong Seven Hawker Centre.

Price is $10,15,20 per plate.

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Guest Guest

Guest Guest

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Yes my mom used to make this dish. It's delicious and i miss it :(.

U miss it cos u are overseas or. ........? Did u learn how to make it, i see that u hv talent in making food!

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abang Newbie

abang

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I visited 讪头， 潮州 last August.

Both places are about 5 to 6 hours (by bus) away from Guangzhou and gladly, they still retain their 古早味。

Although I am more conversant in Cantonese, I do understand and speak Teochew.

When I was very young, there were songs like 门脚一桩梨 (men ka qi zhan lai) and that singer, 梨川。

She performed nightly at a Chinese restaurant in Kiliney Road before moving to Royal Hotel.

Teochew food ... 芋泥 (the really sinful yam paste) is still my favourite.

I have to go on the threadmill for half an hour after just a spoonful of this yummy dish.

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