Friday, July 22, 2011

Teochew Medicinal Herbs in Tàigok


Fellow Gaginanger and staff member Du gave me a heads up on an article in the Bangkok Times about Teochew folks in Yaowarat (Bangkok's Chinatown) selling medicinal greens/herbs. The article is great because they specifically mention Teochew language, have the names of the herbs in Teochew, and have pictures of the Teochew woman who sells them. I've never heard of these in Teochew, but I've probably seen some of these before... like the Jui Dek Chao (probably 水竹草) looks awfully like Wandering Jew (Purple Heart). Also seems like a lot of these are just edibles that happen to have medicinal properties... awesomeness! If you ever wind up in Bangkok, you really have to go to Yaowarat - its huge, sprawling, and filled with Teochew people - you'll hear it being spoken especially amongst the older folks... me thinks the writer for this article must be Teochew heh heh.

I've tried to provide characters and English for the list they have at the end, can anyone help me finish it?
  • JUI TEK CHAO (水竹草?)  - lit. Water bamboo grass
  • JING JU CHAI (真珠菜)  - lit. Pearl greens
  • EAH MOR CHAO (羊毛菜)  - lit. Wool greens
  • KAO KI CHAI (枸杞菜) - Wolfberry/Gojiberry Plant  
  • SAI EAH CHAI (西洋菜) - Watercress  - lit. Western ocean greens
  • HUA SIA TAO CHAO (?)  - Pennywort, rau ma
  • HUE CHAI CHAO (?)  
  • POW TI KIM (?)  
  • TAO CHI CHAO (?)  
  • POR EAH (?)  
  • JIA TAE CHAO (?)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A Teochew Version of "The View"

 
Ah yes, "The View" - an American talk and variety show featuring the opinions of four women, including Barbara Walters, Whoopi, and Joy Behar, and others... well, Teochew people gots their own show with opinionated women! Check out 美女觀天下 múi nèung guang ti: é (literally: Beautiful Women Viewing Everything Under the Sky). One of the most interesting things I notice is how different their accents are. I like the host's accent the best - well, at least its easiest for me to understand, and also the one in red. Some of the others have weird tones, or pronounce things weird. Also I can tell one or two of them are making mistakes on some words, and also fill in their missing TC with Mandarin or even Cantonese occasionally. Anyhow, one interesting show is about "Growing Up With Teochew Parents" and "Teochew Guys and Male Chauvinism"... click on the picture then scroll down on the left to the top rated shows "嫁人要嫁潮汕男?" or "潮汕男人與大男子主義".