http://youtu.be/xBZNqqa_qts
By Dan Bloom
CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan –In many countries, languages ebb and flow as generations replace generations and new words replace old words. In Taiwan, where 23 million people live on a tobacco-leaf shaped island where several languages mix on a daily basis — from Mandarin Chinese to Hoklo Taiwanese to Hakka and over 12 Aboriginal languages dating back 10,000 years or more — one word that has disappeared is the Hoklo term “lo lat.” It means ”thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your hard work and time and energy”. Something like that.
It is spoken today by almost no one under the age of 60. Most children and teenagers have never heard the word. Yiddiish is often called a dying language, a dead language. The same is said for many other dying and almost-dead languages in Asia. So I decided to try to do something creative to try to bring back an old word that has been more or less retired on this colorful, chaotic and wonderful island nation — start a public campaign to revive the word “lo lat” in Taiwan!
Okay, I admit it, I am eccentric Westerner who washed up on the island’s shores some years ago and has since learned to appreciate the various cultures of the Taiwanese people, even though by my own candid admission I still cannot speak the language – any of the languages or dialects here! I am an old man, my brain is losing brain cells daily. I speak French fluently. That’s enough for me. I can still read and write Hebrew, quite a feat for a 62-year-old bar mitzvahed boy like me, 50 year after Sunday School classes taught me the Aleph Beth.
So when in June I overheard some elderly people saying “lo lat” to each other in my neighborhood park, I asked them what the word meant and why it has mostly disappeared. And this did my personal search for the origins and meanings of lo lat began in earnest. I recently appeared on a national TV show as a guest to talk to well-known show host Mr. Ju Ger-Liang, who is a cross between Jackie Gleason and Moe. Mr Ju is not Jewish, of course, but with a name like that, who knows?
So here I am in Taiwan, going by the nickname of “Mr Lo Lat” as some in the Taiwanese media have dubbed me. And just for few chuckles and laughs — and laughter is of course a global language — check out a video of my recent TV debut appearance on cable television in Taipei. Don’t worry, I am not about to quit my day job. Going on TV is not my cup of tea. I prefer typing on a keyboard in a quiet room with nobody watching!
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Dan Bloom is Taiwan bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World, as well as our virtual globe-hopping cyber correspondent. He may be contacted at dan.bloom@sdjewishworld.com