Teochew | Lingua Franca by Thomas Liew

Lingua Franca can be defined as a "bridge language that is used among people who do not share a mother tongue". As the gradual replacement of dialects by Mandarin takes place, are we perhaps also losing a 'bridge' to another generation?
A good command of language allows access to social groups. It is also an essential part of understanding cultures. In speaking through dialects, we also communicate a part of our heritage.
In 1979, the 'Speak Mandarin' campaign was launched by the Singapore government to encourage the usage of Mandarin as a common working language amongst Singaporean Chinese. It sought to achieve three goals:
1) Simplify the language environment,
2) Create a Mandarin-speaking environment in support of the national bilingual policy,
3) Improve communication among Chinese Singaporeans from various dialect groups.
As dialects were considered vernacular, and perhaps seen to have polarising effects on the Chinese community, the purpose of the 'Speak Mandarin' Campaign sought to united the Chinese through Mandarin as Lingua Franca. This campaign was evidently successful, as the usage of dialects at home among the Chinese resident population in Singapore dropped from 81.4% in 1980, to 19.2% in 2010 and the usage of Mandarin increased from 10.2% in 1980 to 47% in 2010.
This project seeks to interview young Singaporeans who have grown up post-campaign, but still retain the ability to converse in dialects. Apart from recording their interviews, other youths are also approached to translate the interviews into subtitles. Through the process of speaking and translating, I hope to reveal the relationship between the command of language (in particular, dialects), and access to our heritage.

[@sonnenblume_dreamer]

As a teochew person, born in France, watched this video makes me feel really sad. It realizes me how is important to keep speaking our langage and I feel guilty to less speaking teochew with my family... Here I understand the majority of the video but if there wasn't the subtitles, I'd probably not understand all of her speech :( (I'll try to listen without the sub !) Sorry for my english, I'm french-teochew :)

[@itsmezfl]

Ça fait plaisir de croiser une autre personne française d'origine teochew sur KZbin :) Et en effet, c'est assez dommage, notre langue se perd :(

[@neothypp]

Il faut juste s'organiser, la prochaine génération en France ne le parlera sans doute plus... il y a le groupe teochew connection sur FB, N'hésitez pas à partager. Teochewnan, gaginan.

[@jecreangesutka8140]

hi, i am teochew from malaysia. i am looking for somebody to practice my teochew.😃😃

[@Gryfder]

Hey, don't be sad, i can help you! 😁

[@kevinyudystira1259]

Wo_ow Teochew nang u tok Paris, France? I m so proud brother :) we chinese overseas can find all around the world. Greetings from Indonesian Chinese. Keep our culture and language

[@andybanh9089]

Who is Teochew here?

[@cclianar9344]

Me two

[@itzdavidhc22]

I am Cambodian Teochew

[@KLP36912]

Me

[@user-tz1mc9xf2r]

I am teochew in thailand

[@rickyperwiratanzil]

me indonesian teochew

[@movlim8765]

I feel so awkward, because I'm the only Teochew in my school, its very nice to hear someone talk in my language.

[@phuongmacinnis3769]

I'm glad you are continuing the tradition. I cant speak Teochew but my ancestors are Teochew

[@kat49924]

Same. I literally feel like me knowing teochow instead of mandarin makes me feel like I have the most useless language in my dictionary cause no one speaks it.

[@gracedixey3335]

Same 😔

[@doobeone]

same here. your not alone. just far away from us.

[@naitrate]

Eh me also I also only teochew in school I can understand but can only speak a bit

[@lsh2364]

我是泰国潮州人您說潮州語我很高兴現在海外很多潮州人子孫不会說潮州話真實感動您不忘潮州文化 謝謝您

[@em-rr9bg]

我希望你能学会自己的话

[@JonMawPAUL_ANKA]

現在潮州的小朋友都越來越多不會潮州話了。

[@gregoriusjason7261]

You should come to West Kalimantan, Indonesia. There still a lot of people who can speak this Teochew, and I'm proud of it!

[@fradesjo]

I'm Hainanese but speak fluent Teochew as well. The spoken Teochew here is nearly 100% similar with the one spoken in Pontianak (坤甸), Indonesia, where I'm from

[@trawmmwart8149]

Iam fron pontianak too.. lol My grandgrandfather is a hainanese too. Sometimes my grandfather speaks hainasese with their brothers/sisters..but its a long long long time ago..

[@liongkienfai104]

@@trawmmwart8149 you guys should join the hainanese indonesian association / Perhimpunan Hainan Indonesia / 印尼海南总会

[@felixlim6544]

not 100% , there are some differences like pronounciation, intonation and some words. btw wa pun si khuntien ei tiochiu nang.

[@fradesjo]

@@felixlim6544 No, not 100% of course and that’s why I said “nearly” lol The words are pretty much identical, actually. Her words are actually very common words of Tiociu but they may sound weird or unheard of due to they are rarely spoken by us in Khuntien. Rarely spoken because most of us are “uneducated” in 中文, unfortunately We borrow too many Indonesian words in daily spoken Tiociunese. Sigh ...

[@felixlim6544]

@@fradesjo but u said 100℅ lol, i live with them about 5 years, the percentage of similarity wasn't that high. In indonesia there are 2 kinds of tiochiu dialect. Not only in khuntien, i also have so many tiochiu friends from Kepri (batam, Tj. balai n tj. Pinang), all of them use a similar tiochiu like in this video. As i know, they also borrowed many words, even the intonation from hokkian dialect. No wonder, its because in kepri hokkian was the majority, same as like in singapore. But in khuntien, I dont think we have got much impact from hakka, its totally different. N from bahasa melayu, its only a few of words bro. So overall n in my opinion, i think maybe our mother language from khuntien still closest to the genuine one.

[@DragonGodOFAndy]

I'm teochew person born in Canada. Speak fluently it is important to be able to speak the mother tongue language!

[@freshics4740]

I’m Canadian teochew too

[@wilson.7239]

Ducoup tu c'est parler français ?

[@freshics4740]

No

[@silverflamez]

Same, canadian teochew too. =) also... je ne parle pas français... well maybe une petit if i reallly try

[@KLP36912]

Your proud and happy Teochew family from Indonesia.

[@KangAri99]

Kosakata di video ini sama ga bro?

[@felixlim6544]

@@KangAri99 85% sama, cuma pronounciationnya ada yg berbeda. Dialect tiochiu mreka sama dengan tiochiu yg ad d riau dan kepri.

[@user-tc8pc4xl3e]

@@felixlim6544100%sama kyk kami di batam

[@Cys62]

Nice... cheers to all fellow overseas teochewnese. I am a full blooded overseas teochewnese, residing in Jakarta, Indonesia, speaks fluent teochewnese.

[@ongsoohock6635]

潮汕话（包括 客家话 上海话 广东话 闽南话 福州话 莆田话 海南话 广西话 江西话 湖南话 温州话 苏北话）一定要保留下来，我们必须尊重和爱惜语言，潮汕话是很优 秀很优美动听 的语言，如果潮汕话要保留传承延续发展推广下去，潮汕区和海外潮汕人一定要像香港和台湾一样，学校教学或会馆或民间团体或有心人在网上教学，网上做潮语节目，电视台要有潮语节目，潮语播报新闻，拍摄潮语广告，拍摄潮语电影，拍摄潮语连续剧，拍摄潮语偶像剧，创作潮语文学，潮语流行歌曲，还有潮语创作流行歌曲，当然潮语区人一定要团结，跟家人跟子女跟同籍贯的人要坚持讲潮语，若有人想学那麽就热心去教，给予鼓励和纠正错误，千万不要讥笑对方的发音不标准，这样潮语才能发展起来。如果那么好听的语言失传了，跟着潮汕文化，潮剧，正音戏，白字戏，潮州音乐，弦诗乐，外江乐，潮州佛乐，潮州道乐，潮汕流行歌曲等也会消失。那就太可惜了！许多人都爱学什麽日语韩语法语德语西班牙语等，其实跟自己的文化没什麽关系，偏偏就不学好自己的母语。语言是平等的，不要太过崇拜普通话和英语，试看今天的英语德语意大利语西班牙语法语葡萄牙语能够独立发展就是最好的例子，这些外语过去是不起眼的方言，在罗马时代，拉丁语是欧洲的普通话，可是今天的拉丁语却变成小语种了。

[@kathee288]

I speak teochew at home but my family was born in vietnam, who else?

[@harry9790]

kathy. Can you teach me some Teochew ?

[@kat49924]

My family too! lol i asked how they knew teochow yet all they said was “cause our family is smart” my family’s super bilingual tho. They speak teochow, Vietnamese, mandarin, Cantonese, english

[@charlesmartell2396]

I speak teochew mix w mandarin too at home, we are indonesian chinese.

[@thedessertsnax1196]

Bangkok, Thailand

[@Moniroth1000]

Yes I do support her idea, we have to conserve our dialect. From Teochew in Cambodia

[@mamamememoo]

I really love that I can speak dialect because it allows me to speak to the elderly. But it is regretful that my kids have not been able to pick up Mandarin or Dialect easily.

[@tinatina3725]

很棒的传统，谢谢你的分享

[@babanhuang]

你讲得真好。看了我也很开心。谢谢daisy。

[@sweeyeo9330]

Definitely Sinchew dialect...coz Ah ma( lower octave) = qua-mak,...pak (mid -octave)~dad=thei (/pek)(diaspora~accent(gier`) Bravo as longasit remains the most polished diction of the most scholastic clan since the Ming Dynasty.❤ It ! Very polite!

[@woongwink1894]

I somehow watched this video and It remind me of my late grand mother. I’m Teochew on both sides of the families, and she was the one who taught me Teochew. I didn’t realize until my granny passed away how important it is to remember the roots, remember who you are and where your ancestors came from. I able to speak 3 languages quite fluent but unfortunately Teochew is not one of them. I missed a chance to learn more abt my roots. :(

[@silverflamez]

Same. My grandma passed away 10+ years back, but listening to her speak reminds me of my grandma. I understand teochew but I don't speak it besides a few words here and there (I speak Cantonese instead).

[@beverly693]

this language series is great & i agree with her! i'm born in canada but my parents raised us speaking cantonese and mandarin (:

[@kevinyudystira1259]

Greetings from Indonesia bro/sist. Wa teochew nang gak. Keep our language and proud of chinese culture :)

[@dwang599]

I’m teochew，I am born in Shantou city

[@hankl8730]

I am Teochew but the pronunciation here for some words is very different.

[@tsyngiautan5201]

It is mixed with a lot of hokkien

[@marktan8074]

@@tsyngiautan5201 And Malay too... I keep hearing suka which is Malay for like. I guess we in this region has lost some pure dialect works like the above and also 'soap' which is mistakenly pronounced as 'sabun' which is another Malay word

[@serena13100]

There are min 6 types of teochew: teo yeo潮阳,teo ang 潮安, deng hai澄海,lao ping 饶平,poh leng普宁,gei yeo揭阳, so some pronounce different.

[@serena13100]

Example: to sleep, in common teochew pronounce as "wood", but in gei yeo(揭阳), pronounce as "nee". Umbrella - (hou jia) or (hou shua).

[@catfat3291]

@@serena13100 karung guni "anthem" : kah long boh tut, cha meh boh wood (karung bottle, 昨夜冇睡。。😁

[@JeremyGraceffa]

Cambodian currently speaking teochew as well with my parents

[@Barrafishing88]

i'm teo chew nang from tanjung leidong - indonesia

[@ringo2140]

Multi Comp wa si pontianak,Indonesia kai nang

[@jecreangesutka8140]

hi, i am.teochew from malaysia

[@rickyperwiratanzil]

i am form teochew riau indonesian

[@KangAri99]

Paham video ini 100% gak bro?

[@chenxiongxiong6778]

@@ringo2140 khuntiennnnnn

[@kevinyudystira1259]

Greetings wa teochew nang from Khun Tien (Pontianak, Indonesia) :) Thats right we should teach our dialect to next generations because this is our proud asset. Teochew, Hokkian, Hakka, and Canton we are Chinese in different face but still one culture and Proud

[@herewego9939]

pleaseeeee. more of these videos with english subtitles. im a teochew american trying to learn this. i already got basics down!

[@wowwee5356]

Ok here are two more

[@mynameismarvin]

It seems like for a big chunk in the middle, she switched to Hokkien. It's too Hokkien to be Teochew.

[@anameidonthave7957]

It's teochew

[@kat49924]

It’s teochow

[@raymondhhsu]

Sometimes they’re exactly the same

[@mamamememoo]

Teochew and Hokkien have similarities but she is right that Teochew is more genteel in intonation whereas Hokkien is more guttural. =)

[@2010whatif]

I'm a local, but now I'm working abroad. Watching this video makes me miss my hometown so much. :-( 我想内了，我想转厝

[@Gryfder]

Singapore's teochew is a bit mixed with hokkien ^^"

[@jeremyooi1996]

Deficere X annd a little malay words

[@Yohohohou]

Teochew Indonesia here...

[@limweb2515]

真好

[@TChing-gf3wl]

Good👍

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

wow as someone who grew up listening to hokkien from my parents but know zero teochew, it was fairly understandable enough especially with the english subtitles confirming what was said. there sure are a lot of hokkien in singapore teochew or idk if those are still same as in teochew

[@benjaminseing1727]

this is impressive

[@nutwit3152]

Good. Verygood

[@jameslam4913]

我是本土潮州人，我是潮阳的， 语言一定要保留好，在广州深圳长大的潮州孩子很多人不会说潮州话了

[@wowwee5356]

那在广东省哪里还有到处都讲潮州语的吗？

[@UnknownUnknown-zj8kj]

+Wow Wee 你这是英式中文吗？ 潮州汕头揭阳这三个城市就是完全讲潮州语的，现代潮州人普遍移民到深圳广州，尤其集中在深圳，在家里讲潮州话，在外面讲Mardarin，也懂讲点白话，这就是现状。

[@user-qp9nl3rr5i]

确实，即使是在潮汕大地长大的孩子，也不那么精通潮汕话了，在学校全都要求普通话

[@tinatina3725]

杨濠锴 普通话可以在外面学习到，先教孩子潮汕话吧

[@gracelin5489]

我是深圳长大的潮州人，弟弟已经不会讲潮州话了，我自己潮州话也不好，平日普通话和粤语比较多。这个视频的女主讲得比我还好，觉得很亲切。

[@Pik871229]

I am Teochewese from Hong Kong desperate to learn, any approach except traveling to Swatow or talking with parents?

[@silverflamez]

I ended up looking up stuff from singapore. accent is a bit different, but you can get more stuff on youtube.

[@Kianglekable]

To forget Teochew is to kill the soul of a Teochew

[@silentwatcher1455]

Many words of Teochew language is similar to Hokkien . Some words are Hokkien that are pronounced differently and with some accent included.

[@ongsoohock6635]

Teochew is a beautiful language! Recommend the song, opera and music of the Teochew: 我是潮汕人=李绪杰=中国。 俺潮汕人=吴森丰。 走仔=周洁娃。 茶语= 黄瀚。 可有可无=潘琼林=中国揭阳。 潮剧，正字戏(正音戏)，白字戏，西秦戏。 潮州音乐，潮州佛乐，潮州道乐。

[@desfianurardhidesfianurard1393]

I'm 50% teochew from my mother side. My father is huan nang

[@SuccessforLifester]

My problem now is that I don't have chance to use teochew with anyone

[@1234456devcdeve]

Use with me

[@SuccessforLifester]

@@1234456devcdeve jiat bah buay?

[@1234456devcdeve]

@@SuccessforLifester jiam jiat hor

[@1234456devcdeve]

Use "Jiat peng bouy" is better

[@1234456devcdeve]

Ler tor kor, lai pi kor?

[@merryrosy]

Any advice on learning Teochew? If only I could contact Daisy, if she's willing to teach me!

[@baronknox2309]

I miss my granny TT

[@wks2291]

as a third generation Singaporean, my Teochew is really bad compared to my grandparents (and an Uncle from China when he visited) but after seeing this video I feel better cuz my Teochew level is on par with Daisy.

[@JoaoKho]

completely understand :D simple horr

[@user-ne3kq4um2j]

你个 Teochew 话好正

[@amandalee3229]

This language feels so nostalgic to me haha

[@86Hengli]

holly hell so hard tu understand all!! but good to try to learn thx

[@zhangruyi3153]

1:05 She said 代誌 tāi-tsì to mean 事情 and in Teochew we say se6 事 1:10 She said 細漢 sè-hàn to mean 年幼 and that is Hokkien and Teochew we say 細時候 soi3 si5hao7 or in this particular usage Teochew would say nou5gian2 孥囝 I use Taiwan iTaigi to help me translate the Hokkien words from Mandarin.

[@phasanvinuoiluon8061]

wo hen gao xing ting ni shuo chaozhouyu, wo ye shi chaozhou ren , xian zai wo zhu zai yuenan

[@SuccessforLifester]

Hello. You are living in Vietnam. I can understand the hanyupinyin

[@MrLue9]

needs more learning material for teochew language

[@petervik5849]

Hello, Can anyone translate " People's Republic Of China" in Teochew Language/dialect? Please spell it out in English words.Thanks in advance.

[@timothykwok1435]

chong hua ming guo

[@wasinopereng4771]

tong hua nang min kung hwe kok

[@marktan8074]

@@timothykwok1435 The PRCs would be furious if they see this... :))

[@MisterB7917]

Gaginang here. I understood her without reading the subtitles.

[@JG-gp9yh]

Technically she's speaking 70% teochew and 30% fokinese. This is a distinct feature of southeast asia teochew and it may sound a bit hilarious to the china born teochew. For example she said "Gin goy" for “pretty easy” while a typical local teochew would say “hog goy” or “guey foy”, “Gin” is very fokinese term, teochew rarely use it in daily speaking.

[@suphotmeanchaipiboon4775]

Seann Huang Can i ask what is fokinese? I've never heard of it before. Maybe you are right about the words that are different from the mainland, because my mom understood all of her speaking and we're living in thailand.

[@JG-gp9yh]

sorry I mean Hokkienese, like Taiwanese. Teochew is to the south of the Cantonese boarder with Hokkien. Teochew ancestors were mostly immigrants from Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou so Teochew is like a sub dialect of Hokkienese. While the locals can tell the difference with Hokkienese, Teochew people and their descendants in Southeast Asia seem to have blended the two dialects into a uniquely "new" dialect. Still, it is pretty amazing when hearing people from another country speaking our dialect and especially so when I realize they simply leant it by the daily conversation with parents at home~

[@lennysusanty]

Husband.. its Ang.. not Da pou nang?

[@user-uj5dy5mp7v]

It's sounds like Cantonese, mandarin, and hokkien all mixed together

[@Kirnale]

Somehow it sounds different than I know it.

[@sharonluu00]

there's multiple dialects of teochew, I only understood a little bit because of the different dialects

[@user-zq4lz7xi3d]

你好。我是本土潮州人。現在生活在廣東潮州、汕頭兩地來往。 看到你說的潮州話，我只能說，還行，聽得懂。但是跟本土潮州話還是有點區別。 就跟 廣東人說 粵語 和 香港人說 粵語一樣。還是有點點差別

[@UnknownUnknown-zj8kj]

+JBHD Mr. 不会啊，我觉得99%一样，只有个别字不一样，比如说“猴”。

[@BLustER502]

how is Teochew written?

[@user-gp1hv9fr5l]

Since it was a branch of Chinese language, it's written in standart chinese writing (hanzi) with a few change on grammar. Or it can be written in latin (白話字 "peh oe ji"). But Teochew is usually a spoken language, so theres only a few written one.

[@kddo9861]

Wa si dio jiu nang tang si ta sui diang chuk sae

[@xinwu7175]

i can understand you say everything ahaha

[@wawanggunawan945]

Wa ta tio ciu uwe ka' wa ma, ta indonesia ka' wa pa, ta Jawa uwe ka' wa ce,

[@08205ca]

JIEYANG

[@lennysusanty]

Soi hang?... its nou kia...

[@tinatina3725]

You can insist on Chaozhou education is great

[@khmer_sputnik]

Any Teochew here from Phnom Penh or Paris?

[@harry9790]

Khmer Protector I’m teochew but I can’t speak Teochew. I really want to learn this dialect but there is no resources at all. Very sad

[@chenzx4653]

My grandma speaks Teochew, and my grandpa speaks Hakka. Meanwhile, I speak Thai. 😅

[@pochen4092]

This is so similar to Hokkien lol

[@renishii6834]

yeah..like 75% min nan

[@jinzz9434]

Wa ma si teochew nang You dont say it like that , ma si means masih in melayu , thats nyonya nang liao 😳

[@trawmmwart8149]

Ma/mama : mama Ama : grandmother

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

Want to know what's funny about Teochew/Chaozhou? Give up? Italians would re-spell the Mandarin spelling of the name like "Ciao Gio." Wocka-wocka-wocka!

[@lexxypexxy2831]

I didn't understand this cuz im Cantonese 😁

[@coolhead8686]

Oh man.... I could understand about 90% of what she was saying. But I am not Teochew.

[@axelNodvon2047]

i cant understand ahaha :D

[@anonydf5969]

+fukerwolf 190 as a chinese person able to speak mandarin fluently, i can say that i cant understand it at all. This teochew language is practically vietnamese

[@axelNodvon2047]

Jason Yang im taishanese( cantonese) and i see way more similarities between mandarin and cantonese than this. This sounds like another Asian language

[@anonydf5969]

+cocoapenguins cool sorry about that. My mom was from the city of Shanghai China, and she can speak the shanghainese dialect. It's so weird ands sounds nothing like canto or mandarin

[@axelNodvon2047]

Jason Yang you said you're shanghainese, so how do you know cantonese sound like

[@liongkienfai104]

that's just because you don't know teochew at all and probably know at least some degree of mandarin so you're able to draw more similarities. i know teochew, cantonese and mandarin and i can say teochew and cantonese have more similarities. its mandarin thats more distant.

[@08205ca]

潮州人斯文啲

[@china.1]

嗨，我是黛西 我是潮州人 我是新加坡出世兮潮州人 我爸我媽嘛是潮州人 我當歲就會呾潮州話 我佮我嫲佮我家屬親戚 儂啊是呾潮州話 佮我爸伊呾紅毛 佮我媽伊呾華語 有可能是因為我當歲就會呾潮州話 對我來呾 潮州話盡易，𣍐艱苦 但是有欸同輩欸人 佮我同輩欸人、朋友 過呢完全𣍐曉呾阮家己個話 我有一個。。。。 一對。。。。 （阮/孥）囝 一個查埔囝 一個查某囝 我家己孥囝學家己欸話 是好欸事計 我個查埔人是福建人 我一陣啊 著教兩個細漢欸做下呾儂家己個話 。。。。。。。。。。。。。

[@cyrilbug7541]

looks like hokkien + abit of cantonese = teochew, looks abit hard to understand.

[@kevinyudystira1259]

Yes, because Teochew is a subgroup of Hokkien and mixed a bit from Canton. Other things, Hakka is the only different, its more same with Mandarin

[@san-ju30]

Teochew is not a sub group of Hokkien. She’s not speaking pure Teochew. She mixes it with Hokkien.

[@lennysusanty]

Its mixed with hokkien.. not really pure teochew....

[@lennysusanty]

Its teochew.. not teh chew.. its not Tai ji.. tai ji is hokkien...

[@yu5962]

WOw more civilized.lol

[@user-fo8td9pi4w]

追尋文化的起源，好像台灣民進黨與蔡英文，搞不好是潮州文化基於。

[@brandonkiong200]

Not smooth