Listen to Podcast | Teochew: How Do You Say “No Problem”
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New Words
| English | Teochew | Formal Romanization | Our Romanization |
|---|---|---|---|
| No problem / No questions | 无问题 | Bho mung doi | Bor bung doi |
Podcast Transcript | Teochew: How Do You Say “No Problem”
Hi everyone! My name is Eugene and once again, welcome to Teochew – How Do You Say Podcast on LearnDialect.sg. In today’s podcast, we will be covering a useful Teochew phrase for daily conversations that has dual meaning. This Teochew phrase is 无问题. Once you learn how to pronounce this phrase, you can either use it to express “no problem” or to indicate that you have “no question”. Talk about killing 2 birds with 1 stone!
Now, let’s start by learning how to express “no problem”. For example, if I wasn’t able to help you buy fishball noodles, but yet you are totally fine with it, this is how our conversation would sound like,
I’ll say 对唔住，我无买你要食个鱼圆面.
You’ll say 无问题!
Well, by now, you should be quite familiar with this word – 无 – as I’ve taught it a couple of times. 无 means “no” and 问题 – the new phrase today – refers to “problem”. So 无问题 literally means “No problem”.
Or the next time someone tells you that he/she is running a little late but you are ok to wait, you can practise saying 无问题!
Besides referring to a problem, another meaning for 问题 is “question”. So sometimes, you may hear someone saying 有问题无? This translates into “Any questions?” If yes, you can respond by simply saying 有. However, if you have no further question, you will say 无问题.
So how? 有问题无? I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Teochew – How Do You Say Podcast. Feel free to share with us your thoughts by leaving us a comment. My name is Eugene from LearnDialect.sg and see you the next week!
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Our Philosophy for Learning Teochew in Singapore
While we include formal romanization for Teochew words, we are advocates of easy learning. Hence, we encourage you to form your own phonics so that you make an association with these Teochew words quickly. To illustrate, the formal romanization of “Teochew” is “diê ziu“. However, in our ”Can You Teach Me” podcast transcript, you’ll find that we use “teo chew”, which we think relates to us better. That said, you may use other romanization (e.g “dio chew”, “dio jiu“, etc), as long as it helps you to make sense of what you hear.
Hi Eugene, very much enjoying your Teochew lessons! In my family, we tend to say “mm siang kang” for “no problem”. Is there a difference in meaning? Do you know the Chinese characters for that? Thanks!
Hi Vicki, thank you so much for your kind words and I am glad you like our lessons!
Appreciate your sharing and for your question, I would say the corresponding Chinese characters should be “唔相干”. If we were to interpret strictly based on the words, your expression would mean “no relation” or “not relevant”. That said, in Singapore’s context, the meaning has expanded to imply that, “It’s ok and not a problem because there is no relevance”.
Hope the above helps!