September 4, 2026
I've recently started attending weekly Teochew practice sessions with my sister and cousins. (Okay, really, it's just one cousin that's engaging in the Teochew conversations. But it's still cool that the other cousins come to hang out) At this point we're mostly teaching my sister things, but sometimes we mention some words that are either new to me or at least not in my site yet! So here are some translations I've added from our most recent lesson:
- half an hour
- to plant
- stupid
- ribs
I still talk mostly in English to my family, but it's good to be able to say little bits in Teochew. I guess it's easier to start with my sister and cousins than it is to speak with the older generations, but I hope I'll get there too one day.
September 2, 2026
I have been vey inconsistent about whether I announce the new words I add. For a while, that was all that I was putting in these updates, and it seemed kind of like a chore to even post that. So I stopped doing that and now I...sometimes put a list of the new words in these updates. But I don't really like how inconsistent that is. So, I'll probably just include all the new words I add in each update, but I'll hold off on posting if I don't have anything else to say besides that.
Anyway, here are the words I've added since the last update!
- tiger balm
- to spit
- clam
- blue crab
The word I know for "clam" is ham1. But apparently ham1 only refers to ark clams, which I think are found in the ocean. We went clamming at a lake this year, and those clams are not ham1. I don't know what they're called though! We just kept referring to them by the cambodian word, លៀស
Umm, I'm only like 50% sure that's correct, and you'll have to find the pronunciation yourself :P
I also learned that there are multiple ways to say "crab" in Teochew. I'm used to always saying hoi6, but that's only for big crabs! Blue crab is chih8! Does that mean the fish-prawn-crab game should actually be called heu5 he5 chih8? Nah, that doesn't roll off the tongue like heu5 he5 hoi6
August 31, 2026
Last night I worked on a few small UI tweaks to improve some things on the site that have been bothering me for a while. When viewing the site on a large screen, the navbar at the top was always just a little too tall for my liking, and I realized it's because of the settings cogwheel, combined with the fact that I added some bootstrap class to it to give it extra padding. Well, I removed that class and then added three other classes to it, which felt kind of hack-y, but it worked.
I also noticed that the headers on the category pages had a weird amount of left padding, but only when viewed on "small" (not extra small!) screen sizes. Now they should be always be properly left aligned with the rest of the content on the page.
I do reference these pages of word lists a lot, and it was getting annoying to always have to scroll down to find the category I wanted. So I added some links at the top of the category page so it's easier for me to jump to the specific category I want.
Even though bootstrap is kind of weird, it is nice to work on something that is less modern! I don't know, it's easier for me to make old technology do what I want it to do. And it's so nice to be able to make changes quickly without me wanting to pull my hair out.
Besides all that, I've added three words today!
- in front
- at the back
- the most...
August 30, 2026
Last week, I was talking to my cousins when suddenly my mic stopped working. I figured it was just my computer being weird and that a reset would fix it. Well, the next day I tried to record another audio clip for this site, and it turns out my headphone mic was completely broken.
But I have a new pair of headphones now, and the mic works, and since I went a few days without posting any updates, I decided to add a bunch of new words today!
- hearts
- diamonds
- spades
- clubs
- peach
- plum
- to take someone somewhere
- Chinese barbecue sauce
I learned the different card suits while I was visiting family and we were playing Cắt Tê. And since I've added those, I figured it would be good to add a new category for games and sports words.
August 26, 2026
Today I added the words first doi(7) ek4, second doi(7) yi6, and third doi(7) san1, and I could keep going but I think it's obvious enough what the pattern is there.
While looking up the doi6(7) syllable, I noticed that some sources actually nasalize this word, so it's doin6. Was I wrong about how this is pronounced? After scouring the discord, it seems like some people nasal this and some people don't. I'm always a bit unsure about what to do in these instances (it's like this with the word for fruit as well!), but I default to not-nasalizing things just because it seems easier. Not like I can tell the difference usually anyway.
I also realized that I already had an entry for "first", but it's like, a different meaning of "first" that means "beforehand". Like, telling something to "wait first" or "I need to pee first" before doing something else. So this actually revealed a bug in my script for adding new words that I still need to fix.
And "second" has multiple meanings as well! It could mean the length of time second! And that made me realize...I don't know how to say that kind of second. I've probably heard it at one point, but unlike the words for "minute" and "hour", I guess I've never had it to say it in my every day speech.
Older >>