Local name: 闽南语 / 閩南語 (bân-lâm-gí / bân-lâm-gú)
Language family: Sino-Tibetan > Sinitic > Chinese > Min
Native speakers: ~ 47.5 millions (Ethnologue.com)
Script: Han script (i.e. Chinese characters), a modified Latin alphabet (esp. in churches)
Official in: Not official.
Spoken mostly in: China (esp. Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi), Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines

Min Nan Chinese is a dialect group of Chinese languages, which can further be divided into several subdialects: Hokkien, spoken by many communities in southern Fujian and Taiwan, as well as in Chinese communities in Southeast Asia; Teochew, which is also found in southern Fujian and forming the majority of Chinese speakers in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand; and Hainanese, traditionally spoken on the island of Hainan, but also in Singapore.

The varieties of Min Nan don’t enjoy official status in any of the places where they are spoken, and Standard Mandarin is the official language for most of its speakers (in China, Taiwan, and Singapore). In the last decades however, the status of Hokkien has been raised in Taiwan, and can now be studied at schools on the island.

There are several ways of writing Min Nan. It can be written using Chinese characters. New characters are developed for the many words and morphemes in Min Nan that are not reflected in the common Chinese character set. Another way is romanization, where POJ, developed by Christian missionaries in the 19th century, should be the most spread one. Another Romanization system used officially in Taiwan since 2006, Tâi-Lô, is based on POJ. A third method is mixing these systems by using Chinese characters for those words that have an established character, and use romanization for the rest of the words. This method is called Hàn-Lô.

Taichung Hokkien: “Pak-hong kah lı̍t-thâu
Speaker: Monica (莉芳) Age at recording: 27 (2011) Geographical reference: Houli, TW (Google Map) Writing system: Hàn-Lô (Han script + POJ romanization) Transciption scheme: POJ


有一擺,北風kah日頭 leh諍誰khah強。
In tú仔好看著路裡有一個人行過,彼個人穿著一領雨幔。
In就決定,誰會當予彼個人褪掉彼領雨幔,就算誰khah厲害。
自按呢,北風就拼性命leh吹。
想bōe到,伊吹甲愈厲害,彼個人就愈用雨幔將家己包甲ân-ân。
最後,北風沒法度,只好放棄。
續落來,日頭出來kā彼個人曝甲真溫暖,伊就隨kā雨幔褪掉。
自按呢,北風只好認輸,承認日頭khah厲害。

ū chı̍t-pái, pak-hong kah lı̍t-thâu leh chiⁿ siáng khah kiông.
in tū-á-hó khòaⁿ-tio̍h lō-lih  ū chı̍t-ê lâng kiâⁿ-kòe, hit-ê lâng chhēng-tio̍h chı̍t-niá hō͘-moa.
in tō koat-tēng, siáng ē-tàng hō hı̍t-ê lâng thǹg-tiāu hit-niá hō͘-moa, tō-sǹg siáng khah lī-hāi.
chū-án-ne, pak-hong tō piàⁿ-sìⁿ-miā leh chhoe.
siūⁿ-bōe -kàu, i chhoe-ka̍h lú lī-hāi, hit-ê lâng tō lú iōng hō͘-moa chiòng ka-kī pau-ka̍h ân-ân.
chòe-āu, pak-hong bô-hoat-tō͘ , chí-hó hòng-khì.
sòa-lo̍h-lâi, lı̍t-thâu chhut-lâi kā hit-ê lâng pha̍k ka̍h chin un-lóan, i tō sûi-kā hō͘-moa thǹg-tiāu.
chū-án-ne, pak-hong chí-hó līn-su, sêng-līn lı̍t-thâu khah lī-hāi.

Taipei Hokkien: “Pak-hong kah lı̍t-thâu
Speaker: Jack (冠儒) Age at recording: 26 (2010) Geographical reference: Zhonghe, TW (Google Map) Transciption scheme: POJ


ū chı̍t-pái, pak-hong kah lı̍t-thâu tī-leh chiⁿ siáng khah-kiông.
in tú-á-hó khòaⁿ-tio̍h lō͘-lí ū chı̍t-lê lâng kiâⁿ-kòe, hit-lê lâng chhēng-tio̍h chı̍t-niá hō͘-moa.
in tio̍h koat-tēng siáⁿ ē-tàng ho͘ chit-lê lâng thǹg-tiāu hit-niá hō͘-moa, tō-sǹg siáng khah-gau.
chū-án-ne pak-hong tō piàⁿ-sìⁿ-miā lê chhoe siūⁿ-bōe-kàu.
i chhoe-ka̍h lú lī-hāi chit-lê lâng tō lú iōng hō͘-moa chiòng ka-kī pau-ka̍h ân-ân.
chòe-āu pak-hong bô-hoat-tō͘ , chí-hó hòng-khì.
sòa-lo̍h-lâi, lı̍t-thâu chhut-lâi un-lóan-á chiàu chit-lê lâng, i tō sûi-kā hō͘-moa thǹg-tiāu.
chū-án-ne, pak-hong chí-hó līn-su, sêng-līn lı̍t-thâu khah lī-hāi.