Zhangzhou dialects in the context of Amoy

Taiwanese kana (タイ𚿳ヲァヌ𚿳ギイ𚿰カア𚿰ビェン𚿳, tâi oân gí ká biêng, [tai˨˦ uan˨˦ gi˥˩ ka˥˩ biɪŋ˨˦]) is a katakana-based writing system that was used to write Taiwanese Hokkien (commonly called "Taiwanese") when the island of Taiwan was under Japanese rule. It functioned as a phonetic guide to hanzi, much like furigana in Japanese or Zhuyin fuhao in Chinese. There were similar systems for other languages in Taiwan as well, including Hakka and Formosan languages.

The system was imposed by Japan at the time and used in a few dictionaries, as well as textbooks. The Taiwanese–Japanese Dictionary, published in 1931–32, is an example. It uses various signs and diacritics to identify sounds that do not exist in Japanese. The system is chiefly built for the Amoy dialect of Hokkien spoken in Taiwan, with some consideration for the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects of Hokkien also spoken in Taiwan as well, which descendant speakers of all three of the historical major dialects of Hokkien thrived, developed, and intermixed in Taiwan for centuries producing modern Taiwanese Hokkien and its own specific regional dialects throughout the island (Formosa) and nearby smaller islands (e.g. Pescadores).

Singaporean Hokkien is a local variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively in Singapore. Within Chinese linguistic academic circles, this dialect is known as Sin-ka-pho Ban-lam Gu. It bears similarities with the Amoy dialect in Xiamen and Taiwanese Hokkien in Taiwan.

Hokkien is the Southern Min pronunciation for the province of Fujian, and is generally the term used by the Chinese in Southeast Asia to refer to the Quanzhang dialects. Singaporean Hokkien heavily views the Amoy dialect as its prestige, and its accent is predominantly based on a mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech, with a greater inclination towards the former instead of the latter.

Southern Malaysian Hokkien (simplified Chinese: 南马福建话; traditional Chinese: 南馬福建話; pinyin: Nán Mǎ Fújiànhuà; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lâm-Má Hok-kiàn-oē) is a local variant of the Min Nan Chinese variety spoken in Central and Southern Peninsular Malaysia (Klang, Melaka, Muar, Tangkak, Segamat, Batu Pahat, Pontian and Johor Bahru). Due to geographical proximity, it is heavily influenced by Singaporean Hokkien.

This dialect is based on Quanzhou-accented varieties of Min Nan, including the Eng Choon (Yongchun) dialect. It is markedly distinct from Penang Hokkien and Medan Hokkien, which are based on the Zhangzhou dialects.

Medan Hokkien is a local variety of Hokkien spoken amongst Chinese Indonesians in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. It is the lingua franca in Medan as well as the surrounding cities in the state of North Sumatra. It is also spoken in some Medan Chinese migrant communities such as in Jakarta. Medan Hokkien is a subdialect of the Zhangzhou (漳州) Hokkien, particularly of Haicheng (海澄) subdialect. It borrows heavily from Teochew, Deli Malay and Indonesian.

It is predominantly a spoken dialect: Vernacular Hokkien, including Medan Hokkien, is traditionally passed down orally and is rarely transcribed in written Hokkien. Moreover, Indonesia's New Order Era imposed martial laws to suppress and ban display of Chinese characters and Chinese tradition in public. However, with the rise of social media, Medan Hokkien is often transcribed in EYD, ignoring tone markings altogether.