Penang Hokkien On Life Support
By Ooi Kok Hin, Julia Tan
May 2017 COVER STORY
Alarm bells are sounding that Penang Hokkien will be forgotten in a generation or two. Should we be concerned?Step into a market, any market, in Penang and there’s a high chance you’ll hear people speaking – sounding almost as though they’re singing – in the distinct northern-accented Hokkien. Tradesmen, regardless of race or background, hawk their wares and bargain with shoppers in the singsong dialect. You know you’re not in KL, or Kota Bahru, or Miri. You know you are...
Ooi Kok Hin
is an INTP who lives to write and writes to live. Follow him at https:// www.facebook.com/ ooikokhin.
Julia Tan
went to primary and secondary school at Convent Pulau Tikus before continuing sixth form at St. Xavier’s Institution; any other school was out of the question. She misses the fried rice at the school canteen, and laments the passing of the wan tan mee lady.
