Hakka phrases - Introduction

These pages feature a collection of spoken daily-use Hakka words and phrases, formerly known as Hakka Survival Pages. The pronunciation and tones follow the Sin-On (新安) Hakka variant, as spoken in Guandong Bao'an district (廣東寶安). This variant is very similar to those spoken in Hong Kong (香港), Shenzhen (深圳), Dongguan (東莞), and Huizhou (惠州). It is also spoken in overseas communities, such as those in Indonesia, Europe, and South America, where migrants originated from the aforementioned regions.

A distinctive feature of the Bao-On variant is that some words, which have a departing (去) tone in the Meixian variant, have evolved into a rising (上) tone. This gives the speech a lower overall pitch, which is why speakers of this variant refer to neighboring Hakka variants as "hard-sounding" (硬聲).

The phrases are largely based on Hakka Made Easy (J. Dyer Ball, 1896) and Hakka Dictionary (客家話大辭典, 陳志明, 2008). For more words and phrases consult the online 客家話大辭典 (寶安腔) or other Hakka dictionaries.