Learn to speak Hokkien like a true Penangite

Hokkien for everyone: Timothy posing for a photo during the launch of Penang Hokkien Dictionary in Penang. ­– CHAN BOON KAI/The Star

THOSE wanting to learn Penang’s unique Hokkien dialect can now do so with the help of a dictionary which was launched on July 5, reported Sin Chew Daily.

With the help of an online community, author Timothy Tye managed to collate and define some 6,000 Hokkien terms over the last 10 years.

His efforts culminated in an online dictionary which can be accessed for free.

Users would only have to enter a Hokkien term on the website and be presented with definitions in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese. The website also has audio recordings of each term so that users would be able to learn how to pronounce them.

According to Tye, he started lexicography, the activity of compiling dictionaries, in 2013. He managed to compile 6,000 commonly-used Hokkien terms with the help of an 8,000-member Penang Facebook group, and added that he will continue adding new words into the dictionary in hopes that it will help those interested in learning the dialect.

The website can be accessed via www.timothytye.com/dictionary, www.timothytye.com/zidian or www.timothytye.com/kamus.

> Hong Kong superstar Louis Koo is rumoured to have gone under the knife after he was spotted having extremely pronounced eyebrows, leading many to call him “Angry Bird”, reported Sin Chew Daily.

The 52-year-old actor recently attended the premiere of The White Storm 3, in which he starred, wearing a black-and-white striped shirt.

However, fans noticed that Koo bore a severe expression at the event.

His eyebrows appeared to have been pulled to the sides of his face, with fans commenting that he resembled the mascot of the popular video game Angry Birds.

Many suspect that it was the result of a facelift, which is a cosmetic surgery to lift up and pull back the skin to make the face tighter and smoother.

“He’s become China’s version of Michael Jackson,” one netizen wrote, comparing him to the late King of Pop who had been speculated to have undergone extensive cosmetic surgery throughout his life.

● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.