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ho-sè: 好勢               good; alright; going well

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jia-lat:                          very troublesome; serious; difficult

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sien:                               tired; bored; unmotivated

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geng:                             skilled; impressive; really good

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jior:                                 to call, to invite

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bô-piàn無變:         no choice; can't do anything about it

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chò   做                          to do 

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​All of these words are unique to Batu Pahat Hokkien!

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Learning objectives:

• greet a friend

• ask how someone is doing

• say that things are going well

• say that you are tired or bored

• ask what someone is doing

• say what you want to do

• invite a friend somewhere

• react when something is troublesome

• say that something is impressive

• say that you are lucky

• end a casual conversation

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Asking how someone is doing

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A conversation with a friend should begin with more than simply introducing yourself.

A useful expression is:

                                                            ho-sè

                                                           好勢

 

This means: good; alright; going well. It can describe a situation that is going well or is alright.

 

Think of it as something closer to:

“Good.”
“All good.”
“It's going well.”
“Alright.”

rather than one exact English translation.

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Low social battery? 

A  distinctly Batu Pahat phrase for feeling lazy, bored , unmotivated, tired (and everything in between) is: sien

For example: wa sien

means = I'm tired  /  bored / unmotivated.​

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Very useful phrase to use if you want to sound like a dissatisfied Batu Pahat local!

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What do you say when something is particularly troublesome?

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jiâ-làt

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It means: very troublesome, serious, difficult; succinctly summarized by “this is bad”

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This expression is particularly associated with Malaysian colloquial speech, and Batu Pahat documentation records it specifically as a Hokkien expression. 

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Imagine:

• you have three assignments due tomorrow

• your phone breaks

• you forgot your homework

• your exam was horrible

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You might react:

Jia-lat!

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Depending on context, this can mean:

“Oh no!”
“That's bad.”
“That's troublesome.”
“We're screwed.”

It is therefore much more expressive than simply the adjective “difficult.”

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How do you say something is impressive?

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Another Batu Pahat expression is:

geng

= skilled; impressive; really good

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How do you talk about what you want to do?

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You already learned: beh 欲 (want to)  and khì 去 to go

So we can build:

wa beh khì ...

= I want to go ...

The structure is:

wa + beh + verb

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wa beh khì ...

I want to go ...

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This is a good place to review the grammar from Lesson 1.

You don't need a separate English-style word for “to”:

want + go is enough.

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The star phrase​

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bô-piàn 無變

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= no choice; can't do anything about it

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Let's break it down:

bô = no / not have
piàn = change

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Mini conversation

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A: You don't want to go?

B: Bô-piàn.

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The expression is especially useful because it doesn't need a complicated sentence around it.

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Dialogue​

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Let's put in into practice!​

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A: Ler ho! (Hey!)

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B: Ho-sè! Ler? (I'm good! You?)

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A: Wa sien. (I'm tired.)

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B: Wéi xiā mǐ? (Why?)

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A: Wa beh chò kang-khò. (I have homework to do.)

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B: Jia-lat! (That's horrible!)

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A: Ho-sè lah. (It's alright.)

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B: Ler beh khì tó? (Where do you want to go?)

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A: Wa beh khì ... (I want to go ...)

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B: Jior wa! (Invite me!)

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A: Ho. (Okay.)

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