Hakka Language Guide

Also spoken in
Taiwan
Script
Han, Latin

Where it's spoken

Taiwan's Development of National Languages Act defines a "national language" as the natural and sign languages used by Taiwan's different ethnic groups, and says that all national languages shall be equal. The Executive Yuan states that the government declared Taiwan Indigenous Languages and Taiwan Hakka to be national languages and later stipulated that the natural and sign languages used by the different ethnic groups in Taiwan are all national languages.

Taiwan's Act of Broadcasting Language Equality Protection in Public Transport provides that, in addition to Mandarin, Southern Fujianese and Hakka should be broadcast on public transport.

According to a Legislative Yuan report citing Taiwan's population and housing census, 1.5% of resident Taiwan nationals aged 6 and over mainly used Hakka, compared with 66.4% for Mandarin. The share mainly using Hakka was 4.8% among people aged 65 and over and 0.3% among children aged 6 to 14. The same report says that more than 40% of residents of Hsinchu County and Miaoli County mainly or secondarily used Hakka.

The Ministry of Education's Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka covers six varieties: Sixian, Hailu, Dapu, Raoping, Zhao'an and Southern Sixian. An article in the dictionary's knowledge base says that Sixian is the Taiwan Hakka variety with the most users at present, found in the north, centre, south and east of Taiwan, and that Miaoli County is the largest area of settlement for Sixian Hakka people and so the centre of Sixian. A second article in the knowledge base lists Sixian among the varieties of Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli in the north, of Nantou in the centre, of Kaohsiung and Pingtung in the south, and of Hualien and Taitung in the east. Its author says that what one hears on buses, the MRT, trains and high-speed rail, and in public places, is Northern Sixian.

The Sixian article says that Sixian vocabulary compared with other Taiwan Hakka varieties is "mostly the same, with a few differences". One of its examples is "thank you", which is 恁仔細 in Sixian and 多謝, 感謝 or 打幫你 in Southern Sixian, which is spoken in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area.

Sources

Script & pronunciation

The Ministry of Education's Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka writes Hakka in Chinese characters that follow the Ministry's recommended characters for writing Taiwan Hakka, with one character per syllable as the general principle. Where the original character cannot be found, the dictionary uses substitute characters. The dictionary gives 𠊎 (ngai5) as the first-person pronoun, and this app's cards use it, as in 𠊎無預約 (ngai5 mo5 i3 iog4, "I do not have a reservation").

The dictionary marks pronunciation according to the Ministry of Education's Taiwan Hakka pinyin scheme (臺灣客語拼音方案), as revised and announced by the Ministry. It prints each reading in three forms: with tone marks, with pitch numbers, and with tone digits. For 恁早 these are anˋ zoˋ, an31 zo31 and an2 zo2. The romanization on this app's cards is the tone-digit form, as in 恁早！ (an2 zo2!, "Good morning").

Comparing the dictionary's pitch numbers with its tone digits for Sixian readings gives these pairs: digit 1 is pitch 24, digit 2 is 31, digit 3 is 55, digit 4 is 2, digit 5 is 11 and digit 8 is 5. For example, 多謝 is do24 qia55 in pitch numbers and do1 qia3 in tone digits, and this app's card 多謝 (do1 qia3, "Thank you") gives the digit form.

The dictionary also describes one tone-change rule in Sixian: a 陰平 (pitch 24) syllable changes to the 陽平 pitch (11) when followed by a 陰平, 去聲 or 陽入 syllable, as in 添飯 (tiam 24-11 fan 55).

Sources

Grammar essentials

Hakka has more than one word for "not". The dictionary lists 毋 (m5) as a word that expresses negation, and 毋係 (m5 he3) as "not be" alongside 係 (he3) as "be". It lists 無 (mo5) as "not have", the opposite of 有, and also as "not"; and 吂 (mang5) as "not yet". Examples from this app are 毋係 (m5 he3, "No"), 𠊎無預約 (ngai5 mo5 i3 iog4, "I do not have a reservation") and 你食飽吂？ (ngi5 siid8 bau2 mang5?, "Have you eaten yet?").

A yes/no question can be made by putting 無 (mo5) at the end of a sentence; the dictionary describes this 無 as used at the end of a sentence to express a question and gives 好無？ and 有無？ as examples. Examples from this app are 你會講客話無？ (ngi5 voi3 gong2 hag4 fa3 mo5?, "Do you speak Hakka?") and 你會講英文無？ (ngi5 voi3 gong2 in1 vun5 mo5?, "Do you speak English?").

The question word 麼个 (ma2 ge3) is glossed in the dictionary as "what". An example from this app is 你來个目的係麼个？ (ngi5 loi5 ge3 mug4 did4 he3 ma2 ge3?, "What is the purpose of your visit?"). The dictionary glosses 个 (ge3), which appears in it, as a particle corresponding to 的 and gives 佢个書 as an example.

The dictionary gives 分 (bun1) the senses "give to" and "by (passive)", among others. An example from this app is 𠊎个護照分人偷忒。 (ngai5 ge3 fu3 zeu3 bun1 ngin5 teu1 ted4., "My passport was stolen").

Sources

Politeness & etiquette

The dictionary glosses 恁早 (an2 zo2) as a greeting used when people meet in the morning, and this app's card translates it as "Good morning"; the card notes that it is fine for teachers, elders and family alike. The dictionary glosses 食飽吂 (siid8 bau2 mang5) first as "have you eaten yet", asking whether someone has taken a meal, and second as a greeting on meeting, equivalent to "hello". This app's card 食飽吂？ is translated "Hello (lit. Have you eaten yet?)", and its separate card 你食飽吂？ is for really asking whether someone has eaten.

For thanks, the dictionary glosses 多謝 (do1 qia3) as "very grateful" and glosses 恁仔細 (an2 zii2 se3) as an expression of thanks that is generally used alone, with no object after it; it lists 多謝 among the words similar to 恁仔細. This app's card 多謝！ (do1 qia3!) is translated "Thank you".

For apologies, the dictionary glosses 失禮 (siid4 li1) in its second sense as "sorry", a polite expression for showing that one has not been courteous enough, and glosses 壞勢 (fai2 se3) as "sorry, excuse me" and lists 失禮 as a similar word. This app's cards translate 失禮！ as "I'm sorry / Excuse me" and 壞勢！ as "Sorry / I apologize".

Sources

Browse all TravelPhrases languages