Intro to Hmong words
Notes Tips, and advice
Some people find the hmong language to be difficult because it does not translate into english verbatim.
A word can mean one thing when it is used alone, but when the word resides next to another hmong word it can alter the meaning slightly or completely.
The key thing to remember is to pay attention to how the word is being used with the surrounding word and what words reside next to it within the sentence.
As an example : the words which means "have, to obtain"
In the sentence "kuv tau ib khov khoom noj " translates to "I have one item to eat"
In this sentence "Koj puas tau xaav moog tsev" translates to "You want to go home or You ready to go home"
tau next to xaav together is its own definition : want to or ready to
word information, complications in the language
There are some words that do not use the traditional hmong alphabet and in order to produce the proper sounds for the word you must combine exiting consonants or vowels together.
For example the word (definition : to join together). You will noticed that in the Hmong alphebet there is no consonant DLH. This is an example for combining a few consonants together to produce the proper word.
As you get deeper and deeper into the hmong language you will also discover that there are some words that bascially can not be written down using the current hmong alphabet. For example the word (definition : easy)
Lastly, you will notice that there is no alphebet character for the sound
,
the sound that is similair to the short i vowel in english. For this sound is use the .
To me, the combination of these two vowles makes the most sense in producing this sound.
Similairly there is also no charactor for the sound
the sound is similair to the long o sound in english. For this sound it makes the most sense to use
Example the words :
,
and
.
Here are some references in which you may find very useful.
http://hmongdictionary.us/
http://www.hmongdictionary.com/
Apple App to read Hmong Words. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nyeem/id919656970?mt=8