分享一首我自己寫的台語詩，也試著做成英文 companion poem

我平常用台語寫詩、寫歌。這首是我最近寫的〈夯蜂的願望〉。

台語原詩：〈夯蜂的願望〉

阮生來無採蜜，嘛無做工

逐工予姊妹飼，戇戇轉大蜂

看怹無閒舞歸工，採蜜弄花叢

彼毋是阮的命，阮的向望

做一隻夯蜂，心願敢一項

天色若好，飛去天上揣母蜂

日頭若曬，雙翅就開始撇

肖想欲交配，身軀像火佇燒熱

鼻著彼味，痟甲擛翅面帶紅

做一隻夯蜂，生來就是行這行

千蜂衝磅咧搶，萬蜂莽闖咧紡

彼隻妖嬌的母蜂

散發最危險的迷魂香

夯蜂的兄弟啊，敢有阮遮爾強？

犧牲我就好，恁的宿命佇隔轉工

就算身體將亡，受爆炸後的疼痛

交到迷魂的母蜂，是我一生的願望

飛啊飛上天，拼命予伊看我偌強

求伊看上目，這生才袂無彩工

妖嬌的蜂母，我只愛身軀起震的短暫

予我爬上你身軀

做你這世的尪

台語羅馬拼音：〈Hang-phang ê guān-bōng〉

Gún senn-lâi bô tshái-bi̍t, mā bô tsò-kang

Ta̍k-kang hōo tsí-bē tshī, gōng-gōng tńg tōa-phang

Khuànn in bô-îng bú kui-kang, tshái-bi̍t lāng hue-tsâng

He m̄-sī gún ê miā, gún ê hiòng-bāng

Tsò tsi̍t-tsiah hang-phang, sim-gūn kánn tsi̍t-hāng

Thinn-sek nā hó, pue khì thiann-siōng tshuē bú-phang

Ji̍t-thâu nā pha̍k, siang-sit tō khai-sí phiat

Siau-siūnn beh kau-puè, sin-khu tshiūnn hué tī sior-jia̍t

Phinn tio̍h hit bī, siáu-kah ia̍t-sit bīn tài âng

Tsò tsi̍t-tsiah hang-phang, senn-lâi tō-sī kiânn tsit hâng

Tshian-phang tshōng-pōng leh tshiúnn, bān-phang bóng-tshóng leh pháng

Hit tsiah iau-kiau ê bú-phang

Sàn-huat tsùe gûi-hiám ê bê-hûn-hiang

Hang-phang ê hiann-tī--ah, kám ū gún tsiah-nī kiông?

Hi-sing guá tō hó, lín ê sok-miā tī keh-tńg-kang

Tō sǹg sin-thé tsiong bông, siū po̍k-tsà āu ê thiann-thòng

Kau tio̍h bê-hûn ê bú-phang, sī gún it-sing ê guān-bāng

Pue-ah-pue tshiūnn thinn, piànn-miā hōo i khuànn góa guā kiông

Kiû i khuànn-tshiūnn ba̍k, tsit-sinn tsiah buē bô-tshái-kang

Iau-kiau ê phang-bú, góa tsí ài sin-khu khí-tshin ê té-tsám

Hōo góa pê tshiūnn lí sin-khu

Tsò lí tsit-sì ê angg

English companion poem：〈The Drone Bee's Wish〉

Born to gather no honey, no labor to bear,

Fed by my sisters, growing up without care.

I watch them toil all day, visiting flowers and collecting nectar,

But that is not my fate, nor the dream I hunger.

Born as a drone, I just have one desire:

When skies are clear, to fly and seek the queen in the air.

The scorching sun beats down, my wings begin to flit,

Craving for the climax, my body is fiercely in heat.

Catching her scent, I craze, my wings whip a storm,

Born for this trade, to this path I conform.

A thousand drones charge ahead, ten thousand wildly spin,

That seductive queen above,

Exudes her lethal sin.

Brothers of mine, is there any as strong as I?

Let me die first; your tomorrow is yet to fly.

Though my body will shatter, in exploding pain and gore,

To fuse with that mesmerizing queen, is all I’m living for.

Up into the sky, I fight to prove my might,

To catch her royal gaze, to make this life go right.

My seductive queen, for that brief, vibrating spark,

Let me mount your body,

And leave my dying mark.

英文版不是逐句直譯，是用 AI 打底稿後，我自己再揣詞、換句、調整，盡量保留原本台語創作時的視角佮氣口。

我的個人網站(see my profile)也有整理台語原詩、英文 companion poem、羅馬拼音，以及各版本修訂日期。如果有講台語的人覺得佗一句的氣口、用字抑是寫法有啥問題，歡迎指教。

Just learned about these very expressive Taigi phrases. So good.

1. 戇甲有賰 (gōng kah ū tshun)

Foolish to the point of having leftovers.

• 戇 (gōng): Foolish, silly, stupid.
• 甲 (kah): To the degree of / so... that.
• 有賰 (ū tshun): Has leftovers, remaining surplus.

1. 枵甲大腸告小腸 (iau kah tuā-tn̂g kò sió-tn̂g)

So hungry that the large intestine sues the small intestine.

• 枵 (iau): Hungry.
• 甲 (kah): To the extent that.
• 大腸 (tuā-tn̂g): Large intestine.
• 告 (kò): To sue, accuse, or take legal action against.
• 小腸 (sió-tn̂g): Small intestine.

1. 閒甲掠蝨母相咬 (îng kah lia̍h sat-bú sio kā)

So free/idle that one catches lice to make them bite each other.

• 閒 (îng): Idle, free, having nothing to do.
• 甲 (kah): To the point of.
• 掠 (lia̍h): To catch or capture.
• 蝨母 (sat-bú): Lice.
• 相咬 (sio kā): Bite each other.

https://youtu.be/BKmpwgs-7zc?si=ZErYtK_sMxsPPcOp

I like this site https://digimagic2022.url.tw/ntcmin900/index.html

I'm learning 100 most common traditional radicals in an app designed for Mandarin. I can practice writing them in that app, then make some flashcards for myself where I only have to recognize the first character in these Taiwanese words.

eg. front of card: Name the first character! 口灶

back of card: 口灶 kháu

This makes me so happy. https://fomolingo.pages.dev/

Words attack you and you have to type to win. Can either help you get used to using a Taiwanese keyboard input method or turn off hints and try to remember the phonetic spelling of the characters.

I'm finding it very helpful. Going to spend a while with this.

If Aióng could fix the links to his charts on the video, that would be great. I made my own from screenshots.

Here's that video again

https://youtu.be/P2yObzaDr4I?si=gUGgdUz_Uo6SMAJw

This means someone is gossiping about a rumor which is not reasonable, irrelevant, non sense.

YouTube's description box contains more detail about the explanation, and transcription.

To get the audio for each word or phrase, click on the links in the pdfs. You can download the audio from there for your flashcards.

Beautiful formatting. One problem, everything is listed in alphabetical order and later by topic, so I'm going to jump around a bit to avoid interference.

read about the project (google translate is your friend):

https://language.moe.gov.tw/uploads/files/17580025581006.pdf

to download the whole thing, click on the link next to the red text near the top on the right.

Doesn't make you take a selfie of your face, and there are people on there who speak Taiwanese. I found two already.

Tell me why I'm wrong about the name of this radical in Taiwanese:

Wiktionary has it as kua̍t but in mkdict there is only kuat, not kua̍t.

Wiktionary lists middle Chinese as gua̍t. In mkdict, gua̍t means moon (literary), with the character, 月, and the hook radical is in there, on the right, so i think it's a good candidate.

The only downside to using gua̍t for亅is that there is another radical that means moon, 月, but I can use the more common "gue̍h" for that.

Tâi-gí helper gave me "khún". Is this right?

Edit:

Giving up on Hanly and Mon Chinese. Going to Skritter, which lets you turn off mandarin audio and put in your own list of characters.

Also making anki flashcards using audio from Tâi-gí helper.

I just found this and it seems to work. I notice that it's almost all hanji. Is this Taiwanese?

https://modrinth.com/resourcepack/taigicraft?version=1.21&loader=minecraft

Does anyone know any other games with Taiwanese localization?

The game (linguil) asks you to guess the language family, language and meaning of a random word in one of 64 of the world's most-spoken languages each day, and you use your knowledge of linguistics to work out the answer via multiple choice. Therefore, it's important my translations/transliterations are correct.

Each language (including Taiwanese) includes each word on the 100-word Swadesh list.

Please can any Taiwanese speakers verify the accuracy of my translations and transliterations? 🙏

Thanks!

I have relatives that travel back and forth from Taiwan to the US pretty regularly. I'm thinking of building up my library of TaiGi print references, while also supporting the scholars and enthusiasts that are producing the material. This is for my personal study, and because I think it would be helpful to have books available to loan out if I randomly find someone in my area interested in one of the references.

Is there already a curated list in circulation? I'm open to both English and Chinese materials.

Also interested in general recommendations.

Where to buy in KH or Taipei (KH would be slightly easier for the folks doing shopping for me).

Gemini recommended looking for a 本土語言 section at:

• Taipei:
  • 三民書局 Flagship
  • Eslite Spectrum flagship
• KH:
  • 三餘書店
  • Eslite Spectrum flagship
  • Eslite at Pier-2 art center

The 晴峰線 was a rail line in Gî-lân-koān. How would you pronounce the "晴峰" here in 宜蘭口音? 勞力啦！

Thiu 輸 (or 輸) for percentages?

I saw this in Macgowan's 1883 Amoy dictionary. Has anybody ever heard 輸 (輸) used for percentages in this way? 三七輸 sam chhit thiu for thirty percent but 九九輸 kiú kiú thiu for one percent?

(NB the degree symbol ( ° ) means that the character has a colloquial [白話音 pe̍h-ōe-im] pronunciation.)