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In traditional romanized orthographies for Taiwanese, it’s common to see the letter “o” in words like “hó (好)”. The correct pronunciation is not like the “o” we have in most European languages, instead it’s much closer to an English schwa (ə).

In the Campbell Universal Pinyin romanization system, I use instead an umlaut over an “e” to indicate the middle of the mouth pronunciation of ”eh”. An umlaut normally centralizes a vowel and this gets pretty close to the Taiwanese pronunciation.

But not close enough.

The ë in Taiwanese is somewhere halfway between ‘ö’ and ‘ë’. In order to pronounce a good ‘ë’ in Taiwanese, it’s going to take some practice. Try to copy the recordings as best you can.

Note: these lessons use Campbell Universal Pinyin which I use for transcribing all Sinitic languages-there are only a few changes from Mandarin Pinyin.

I’m starting to study Taiwanese this month.	ggua jit-gë-ggueh kai-xi ëh dai-ggi	kai-xí = 開始 start, ëh = 學 study
I’m going to Taiwan next month.	ggua au-gë ggueh bbeh ki dai-wan
when?	xiaN-mih xi-zun
get up	ki cng	起床
sleep, go to bed	kun	睏
take a nap	kun diong dau
get there, arrive	gau
take a test, a test	kë-qi	考試
have a birthday	gue-seN-lit	過生日
What time are you going out?	li xiaN-mih xi-zun bbeh cut-kiº
Going out in a little while.	xië-dan dë bbeh cut-mng-aº	xió-dán = 稍等 in a little while / wait a little
When are you coming back?	lí xiaN-mih xi-zun dë dng-laiº	dò dńg = 倒轉 come back
Probably around 7	dai-yok qit-diam
What time do you get up in the morning?	li zai-ki xiaN-mih xi-zun ki-cng?
I get up around 7.	ggua dai-yok qit-diam ki lai.
What time do you get up?	li xiaN-mih xi-zun ki-cng?
What time do you go to bed?	li xiaN-mih xi-zun bbeh kun?
When do you have a vacation?	li xiaN-mih xi-zun hong-ga?
When do you arrive?	li xiaN-mih xi-zun e gau?
When are you getting married?	li xiaN-mih xi-zun giat-hun?

Note: these lessons use Campbell Universal Pinyin which I use for transcribing all Sinitic languages–there are only a few changes from Mandarin Pinyin.

buy groceries	bbe-cai	買菜
attend a wedding	lim hi-jiu	lim = drink, hí-jiú = 喜酒
study English	oh ing-bbun	學英文
learn how to paint	oh ue-do	學畫圖
learn calligraphy	oh xiá mo-bit-li	學寫毛筆字, xiá = write, mơ̂-bit = brush, lī (jji) = word/character
learn computers	oh dian-nau	學電腦
Are you free this Saturday?	jit-e le-bai-lak li gam-u ing?
There are two days off this weekend (Saturday)	jit le-bai-lak xi jiu-hiu nng-lit	jiu-hiu = 週休 weekly rest day (=day off), nn̄g-lἰt = 兩日 two days. In many of the Chinese languages, there is another word for two, similar to ‘a couple’, that replaces two when counting things.
Let’s go to a department store, ok?	zë-hue ki bah-hue-gong-xi, hë bbëº	bah-huè-gong-xi = 百貨公司 department store
Ok, I haven’t been there in such a long time.	hë aº, ggua jin-gu bbë ki aº	jin-gú = a long time, bbô kì = haven’t gone
Today’s Sunday.	gin-a-lit xi le-bai
We get tomorrow off.	bbin-a-zai u hong-ga
The day after tomorrow is for hiking.	au-lit ki be-suaN, hë bbëº
I ran into Ms. Li yesterday.	za-hng ggua du-dioh li xië-jia	dú-dio̍h = 遇著 meet/run into
I’m going to go buy groceries in the morning.	ggua zai-ki bbeh ki bbe-cai laº
It’s probably going to rain in the afternoon.	e-bo kë-ling e loh-ho	lo̍h-hơ̅ = 落雨 fall-rain/raining
It’s very hot during the day.	lit-xi-e tiN-ki jin luah	日時的天氣真熱
I’m going to a wedding this evening.	am-xi bbeh-ki lim hi-jiu	àm-xî = 暗時 evening/night
It’s very cold at midnight.	buaN-mi-xi tiN-ki bien lieng	bièn líng = 變冷 become/get cold, puaN-mî-xî = 半暝時, add xî (時) after a time to indicate something happening at that time.
I was very busy last month.	ggua ding-gë ggueh jin bbë ing

As in the last lesson, this lesson will review the Korean vocabulary from previous lessons before introducing the new vocabulary. Remember just using your ears helps more than reading along. Actually saying aloud each Korean word as it’s said greatly enhances your ability to remember the words. As words get reviewed over several days you’ll remember them even better.

In this lesson’s MP3, we first review the vocabulary from lessons 1 and 2 before going on to the new material. Try not looking at the words for maximum memory enhancement.