Hi Matthias!
You’re correct. ‘Tse’ and ‘He’ should be in their original tone 1 and in black. Thanks for pointing out the error!

Hi John!
We’ve added the characters! Please note that because of browser display issues, we’ve used “怹” as an alternate character for “in (they)” here and also left “tshit-thô (play)” in its Romanized form. Happy tongue-twisting!

We’re so glad to have you as a listener! Keep up with the podcasts and you’ll be sure to pick up more than just a little bit Ka-iû！加油！You can do it! Tainan is a wonderful city. Hope you’ll have a chance to come back for another visit soon!

Chinese characters for all vocabulary used in the episode are provided in our workbooks. In addition, our workbooks offer more related vocabulary, grammar points, and cultural explanations. For a free sample, download Chapter 1 of either our Newbie or Elementary level workbooks

Download link has been updated. Thanks!

Yes, the same special rules apply to á 仔 even when it is part of a compound, and the á 仔 will then undergo normal sandhi rules. So, 戇仔鯊 gōng-á-sua should have the following tones: gōng7-á1-sua1.

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your suggestion! This was actually a topic we were going to cover in about 2 more episodes, but we went ahead and moved it up ; ) We do have a plan for which topics we’re going to cover this season, but we’re flexible and open to hearing from our listeners about what they’re interested in learning. So, if you have other ideas, please feel free to let us know, and we’ll see if we can work them in! Hope you enjoy the episode!

Hi Pav,

Thanks for your message! We’re so glad to hear that you enjoyed the episode! We’re actually close to releasing a pronunciation “cheat sheet” that will help our listeners break down all the different sounds found within Taiwanese. We agree that just listening can only take you so far (especially as adult second-language learners), so our “cheat sheet” will provide english approximations, IPA, examples, and links to audio clips. We’re also exploring putting together a pronunciation guide in print with a more rigorous treatment, but this idea is still under development. For now, we hope our “cheat sheet” will be enough to get you started on practicing speaking. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter, so you’ll be notified when this comes out!

I believe it is much more useful to master the phonetics and understand which sounds correspond to which letters/combinations of letters in TLPA (or whatever system you prefer) before actually practicing speaking (even on the “newbie” level). Otherwise, if one doesn’t know e.g. that the Taiwanese “o” is not the English “o”, they may be tempted to substitute it with the English “o” when reviewing your notes from the Newbie series. Just mimicking native speakers is not enough, one should actually understand how to make each sound.

So I really hope you will make podcasts on the phonetics of Taiwanese. I’d like to learn Taiwanese, but I’m afraid learning how to speak without knowing the phonetics may be harmful in the long term because one may get used to the wrong pronunciation without realizing that their pronunciation is wrong.

Thank you for your work!

Hi Caroline!
We’re so glad to hear that our podcast is making it fun to review, and that it’s even helping you pick up a few new things you didn’t already know! You’re not alone in hearing “guá 我” as if it were “wa”. In fact, this also happens with a few other sometimes hard-to-hear sounds like words beginning with “ng-”. So, “ngiú 扭” which means “to twist, tug at, or sprain” often gets heard as “giú”. This also happens at the end of syllables. For example, the “-m” in “im-ga̍k 音樂” which means “music” often gets heard as “in-ga̍k”. Now that more people are learning to use a Romanization system to write Taiwanese, these little discoveries about their own pronunciation are happening all the time!

Hi L,
We’re so glad to hear that you’re enjoying our podcast! Great observation about how “Lí-hó” is primarily heard when meeting for the first time. It’s still used among young people, but perhaps another way to look at how it’s used is that it’s reserved for when there is still a polite distance between people. So, even after a first meeting with someone, if the relationship doesn’t develop any more deeply (acquaintances, neighbors, shop keepers, clients, etc.), “Lí-hó” can still be used as a greeting.

If the relationship does develop, then often a standard greeting is done away with altogether. So, instead you might say, “Lí lâi–ah!” (Oh, you’re here!), or the conversation just continues from where it left off the last time you saw each other. Basically, there’s no longer a need for formalities.

You’re the first to suggest that! We’ve also heard some think our logo reminds them of Fallout, lol

I’ve always heard “Bua̋-kín” too! I also only just realized that “Guá” technically starts with a “g” sound – I always heard it as “Wa”. It’s awesome to review and re-learn the language this way!

Hi Al!

Thanks so much for leaving a message! It means a lot to hear back from our listeners. We don’t have a donation page set up yet, but we will soon. We appreciate your support. Please stay tuned…

Sorry for the delayed response. Pháinn-sè. It’s been a crazy week!

Hi Ed!

“Bua̋-kín” is actually the contracted form of “Bô iàu-kín”. The little squiggly mark over the “a” means it has a special mid rising tone that sometimes comes about from the tones of the two syllables merging. There are regional differences for this phrase, too. Instead of “bô” you might also hear “bē” or “buē” in its place. Since we can’t get to everything in the podcast, we do try to include more detailed explanations like these in the workbook. If you find it interesting, please check it out!

Thanks for your message! Sorry for the delayed response (it’s been a bit hectic the last few days–but, a good hectic ). We’re so happy to hear you’re enjoying our podcast, and that you’ve been sharing Taiwanese with your kid–this is so important to keep the language alive!