Hainanese Basics Part 1

My first recording!

In this 1-minute video, I have put together some basic terms like 'I, you, he, hello, thank you' etc.
My recording was done based on how Hainanese is spoken in my family and tried to use mainly hanyu pinyin for the pronunciation. However, because pinyin was designed for Mandarin, I could only do a 'best-fit'. It is important to note that the dialect has evolved over the years, resulting in different expressions being used by overseas Hainanese vs those living on Hainan island, Additionally, there are differences even amongst different parts (technically known as administrative divisions) of the island.

In fact, to completely confuse everyone, my mother, with ancestral roots to Qionghai, claims that her accent is different from that of my father's family, who hailed from Wenchang. Obviously our forefathers have come by sampan to Malaysia and Singapore respectively a long, long time ago. Plus the fact that my parents are 2nd/3rd generation overseas Hainanese, made it pretty challenging for me to come to terms that such a wide spectrum exists.

I am pretty sure Hainanese is spoken slightly differently in other families. So if you have seen my video, please leave a comment and share how Hainanese is spoken in yours!

Credit goes to Mr Chen 陈老师 from Hainan Hwee Kuan who clarified the variations of 'wa' and explained the origin of 'bo gai'.