Penang Hokkien For Beginners

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Hello and welcome to Penang Hokkien For Beginners!

Welcome to your free, interactive self-study course designed to help you learn Penang Hokkien at your own pace. Penang Hokkien has been the lingua franca of the Chinese community in Penang since the founding of the settlement in 1786. However, in recent decades, the language has become increasingly endangered. The growing use of English and Mandarin among Penang’s Chinese population has reduced the role of Penang Hokkien, while the absence of a standard writing system has made it even harder to preserve and teach the language.

Although Penang Hokkien can be written using Chinese characters or established Hokkien writing systems such as Pe̍h-ōe-jī and Tâi-lô, each of these poses challenges that have limited their widespread adoption. To address this, a new writing system was developed in 2013 specifically for Penang Hokkien — Taiji Romanisation. It was designed to align with native speakers’ familiarity with English, Malay, and Mandarin. The system mirrors English and Malay spelling patterns and uses Mandarin tone markers, allowing speakers to grasp pronunciation and tones almost intuitively. In 2023, the Penang State Government officially introduced the system through the Penang Hokkien Dictionary and the Learn Penang Hokkien writing system.

This course uses Taiji Romanisation to teach Penang Hokkien and includes on-demand audio for pronunciation practice. Many words and examples feature an audio icon that you can click to hear the correct pronunciation. With this feature, learners can study comfortably at their own pace, without the need to attend physical classes.

Penang Hokkien for Beginners (AI generated on 31 October 2025)

In these lessons, we get to know Alex, an American expat in Penang and his friend Hock Seng. Alex learning Penang Hokkien from Hock Seng, and as he learns, you will learn along.

Penang Hokkien for Beginners Lessons

• Lesson 1: Greetings
• Lesson 2: What is your name?
• Lesson 3: Intonation
• Lesson 4: What is your job?
• Lesson 5: Where do you live?
• Lesson 6: Tone Sandhi
• Lesson 7: How do you come here?
• Lesson 8: Counting from 1 to 100
• Lesson 9: Counting money
• Lesson 10: How much is this?
• Lesson 11: What time is it?
• Lesson 12: How long does it take?
• Lesson 13: How far is it?

Have a question?

If you have a question about Penang Hokkien or this lesson, pose the question in the Learn Penang Hokkien Facebook Group and I will answer you there.

Page Details

This page was created on 13 October 2025. Hi, my name is Timothy and created it from my research, for my own entertainment, knowledge and to satisfy my curiosity. I am providing the information to you in good faith and hope it is useful. I try to get the details as accurate as possible. I also try to update the page whenever I stumble on new details. So this and all my other pages are perpetual work in progress. If you discover any error, please politely inform me, pointing out where the error lies, and I will correct it as soon as possible. Your helpfulness will keep this page accurate, relevant and helpful to those who need the information.

Penang Hokkien Resources