SINGAPORE \u2013 When Eldred Wee started learning Hainanese at the Hainan Hwee Kuan in December 2025, the 34-year-old had practically no grasp of the language despite both his parents\u2019 strong fluency.<\/p>\n
His parents, who are both Hainanese, divorced when he was around nine, and he grew up speaking English with his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dialect and culture were never handed to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am choosing as an adult, for myself and for my son, to rebuild a generational link that was broken,\u201d said the entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
Wee wants his four-year-old son, Eden, to know Hainanese. At home, he makes it a point to use simple Hainanese phrases like \u201cboh gai dit<\/i>\u201d (thank you).<\/p>\n
\u201cMy motivation is identity, intergenerational bonding and belonging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The film\u00a0Dear You<\/span><\/a>\u00a0may have sparked renewed interest in Teochew and dialects in general, but clan associations across Singapore told The Straits Times their dialect classes have become more popular in recent years.<\/p>\n Learners, who used to be mainly middle-aged and older, have become much younger, with many in their 20s to 40s.<\/p>\n Teacher Henry Lau conducting a Cantonese class at Kong Chow Wui Koon on Aug 31. The cultural association\u2019s advanced Cantonese classes doubled in size between 2022 and 2026.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n For instance, Kong Chow Wui Koon\u2019s (KCWK) advanced Cantonese class sizes doubled between 2022 and 2026, while the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan (SHHK) Cultural Academy has seen participation for its Hokkien classes jump about 15 per cent over the past three years.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Char Yong (Dabu) Association started its Hakka class in April, with 19 students. Its second run has been expanded to 26 students, and there are three people on the waiting list.<\/p>\n Veteran radio newscaster Nigel Lim, who has been teaching Teochew at the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan since 2003, noted the rising enrolment and the clear demographic shift.<\/p>\n \u201cChina has grown stronger, and more are seeking roots. Many are realising that speaking their dialect helps them connect with overseas relatives and even Chinese business partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For 20-year-old Joshua Loh, it was a Hakka song sung by a musician in a Shanghai cafe that inspired him to take up lessons at the Char Yong (Dabu) Association in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cHe (the musician) told me something that really stuck: If you speak Hakka, you unlock your DNA. Learning Hakka has given me a sense of grounding, and I hope more young people get to experience that too,\u201d said the polytechnic student.<\/p>\n He also hopes this can strengthen his relationship with his grandparents, whom he visits every other week.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would correct me if my pronunciation was different from what they grew up with,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has become a nice bonding ritual between us.\u201d<\/p>\n Lim, the Teochew instructor, said the Government\u2019s recent easing of its policy on dialect content is actually good for Singaporeans\u2019 use of Mandarin.<\/p>\n In his Mandarin speech at the National Day Rally<\/span><\/a> on Aug 23, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that there would no longer be a cap on the number of screenings of dialect films, as long as a Mandarin-dubbed version is available.<\/p>\n He also spotlighted clan associations\u2019 efforts to promote dialects here through classes and cultural activities, and said the Government will continue to support these efforts.<\/p>\n While the Government previously discouraged dialects to streamline communication across diverse Chinese groups, Lim believes dialects have the ability to unify, rather than fragment.<\/p>\n \u201cLearning a Chinese dialect can actually boost one\u2019s Mandarin, as mastering a dialect\u2019s complex tones and structures makes Mandarin easier to grasp,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n There are also students like Tan Song Ya, whose interest in Cantopop and Hong Kong dramas prompted her to enrol in a Cantonese class at KCWK in July.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps I should be learning my own dialect, Hokkien, after this,\u201d said the 34-year-old engineer, who grew up speaking English and Mandarin.<\/p>\n A budding interest in one\u2019s dialect can also become an abiding interest in Chinese history and culture, noted Kong Chow Cultural Centre head and Cantonese instructor Wong Chee Meng.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the class in Chinese history and culture, many students enjoy learning classical poetry, especially Tang poetry, in Cantonese, because the richness in rhymes and tonal patterns often cannot be replicated in Mandarin,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n Clan associations here said they are experimenting with different ways to build on this momentum of interest in dialects.<\/p>\n For instance, the central plot device of Dear You is qiaopi, <\/i>which were letters sent home by overseas Chinese along with remittance money. The letters were written with Chinese ink and traditional script, which flowed vertically from top to bottom.<\/p>\n SHHK has since incorporated this into its dialect programmes. It also organises intergenerational activities where youth and seniors are grouped together to make traditional food such as bak chang (glutinous rice dumplings) and to learn classic Hokkien songs together, said its marketing manager Jeremiah Soh.<\/p>\n Beyond conversational Hokkien lessons, Jeremiah Soh of Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan Cultural Academy incorporates intergenerational activities through music and movement.<\/p>\n PHOTO: SINGAPORE HOKKIEN HUAY KUAN CULTURAL ACADEMY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Tapping into Singaporeans\u2019 gastronomic obsessions, many of the lessons also touch on the dishes unique to each dialect group.<\/p>\n \u201cFood is especially effective because it brings people together. We discuss dishes such as Hainanese chicken rice, kaya and <\/i>yi bua, a Hainanese glutinous rice snack,\u201d said Hou Wenxue, a teacher at Hainan Hwee Kuan.<\/p>\n \u201cThese dishes give students a way to understand the history and environment behind the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, KCWK\u2019s elementary-level Cantonese class focuses on phrases for real-life situations, such as ordering food in a restaurant.<\/p>\n Lim said dialects also offer a stress-free way to access and appreciate one\u2019s culture and traditions as there are no exams.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are also no strict standards to follow, as Singapore\u2019s dialects are not \u2018pure\u2019 and have been influenced by other languages here.\u201d<\/p>\n Hakka instructor Wong Chin Fee agreed. \u201cEven in Dabu county, there are variations of the same Hakka dialect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI always tell my students: Just speak up and don\u2019t be afraid of making mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n Students told ST that besides tapping on food, music and pop culture, what will sustain interest in dialects here is having more opportunities to use these languages in daily life.<\/p>\n This can include having more events where everyone attempts to speak in the same dialect, whether they are karaoke and movie nights or cooking classes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf dialect becomes something that we encounter more naturally in our everyday lives, I think more young people would be curious enough to give it a try,\u201d said polytechnic student Alexis Foo, 18, who is learning Hakka.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, preserving a culture starts simply by making it easier for people to participate in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 When Eldred Wee started learning Hainanese at the Hainan Hwee Kuan in December 2025, the 34-year-old had practically no grasp of the language…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
Accessible routes to cultural roots<\/h2>\n
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