We are an educational and cultural organisation dedicated to preserving our intangible heritage in the form of our ancestral Chinese languages, or grandmother tongues, better known as "dialects". We were founded in 2019, by Ben Tan (then a 14-year-old student), with the goal of being a one-stop platform for Singaporeans interested in their roots. But of course, we welcome people from all corners of the globe.

"Dialects" or Languages?

The term "dialect" as the equivalent for the Chinese term 方言 is misleading in suggesting that Chinese variaties like Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese are inferior subvariants of Mandarin (which we usually simply call "Chinese" in Singapore). In fact, all of these "dialects" are mutually unintelligible and separate languages in their own right. Despite this, the most common way to refer to 方言 in Singapore is, nevertheless, "dialects", thus we will use this term for the sake of familiarity and consistency.

Reviving Dialects

The immense cultural value they hold is worthy of being preserved, to be transmitted to the generations to come. The nursery rhymes, the operas performed in their ancient voice, and the Rediffusion storytelling sessions, all in their original tongues, are something to remember, and perhaps, to revive. This is what we are all about.