Penang Hokkien can survive

Tourists Phong (left) and Monica Chau from Florida, the United States, mimic the expression of the Hokkien mural.pix by george cheah

IT was interesting to read Wong Chun Wai’s “Fearing the death of a dialect” (The Star, Dec 3). I’m another hardcore Penangite. As the saying goes, “You can take a Penangite out of Penang; but you can never take Penang out of a Penangite”. And like Wong, I am a sentimental Penangite too.

I actually feel “offended” when I’m addressed in Mandarin when I am in George Town. I simply refuse to respond in Mandarin. Though I speak, read and write Mandarin, I always firmly and loudly, but respectfully, answer in true blue Penang Hokkien ­whether it’s the coffee shop, wet market or shopping malls. It doesn’t help that my father-in-law’s shop is right in the city centre. As we walk around the area, I’m frequently approached by the traders in Mandarin.