Lessons

Hoisanva 台山話 occupies a unique position in Chinese dialects. According to Professor Horowitz, a visiting professor of Chinese Classics in Columbia University in 1958, it is probably the only dialect that is very close to the dialect that was spoken during the Spring and Autumn period in Chinese history, about 2,500 years ago. Other dialects, such as Mandarin (Beijing) have changed drastically or Cantonese (Guangzhou), which has not changed as much. The final consonants k, p, and t are entirely lost in Mandarin, although they still exist in Cantonese and Hoisanva.

The raison d'être for this site is primarily to preserve the sounds of this language before it is lost forever. It was the lingua franca of all overseas Chinese from the early 1800s to early 1970s. Another reason for the site is to have language aficionados feedback their remarks on areas I have erred.

Hoisanva is a spoken language. Some spoken words do not have corresponding written characters as it does in Mandarin. Hoisanva is the native language of about one million people who live in the Taishan District (now known as Taishan City). It is also spoken by over one million overseas Chinese who emigrated from Taishan or are descendents of these emigrants. See the Taishan Site for more information.

Variations in pronunciation do exist within the Taishan District. The Hoisanva used in this site is spoken by the natives of the capital of Taishan District (Taicheng in Pinyin) or Hoiseng (in Taishanese). The capital is located approximately 62 miles southwest of Guangzhou and 87 miles west of Hong Kong.

Please e-mail any suggestions concerning this site to genechin718@aol.com.