Kristang is a language spoken in Malacca, Malaysia and Singapore. But with almost 10 times as many speakers in Malacca than Singapore, how do things differ for the language in both cities? Find out in this episode of Language Stories.

Why Kristang?

Back when I was wrapping up season one of Language Stories and requesting suggestions for interviewees for season two, a handful of suggestions came in for the same person: Kevin Wong, founder of Kodrah Kristang in Singapore. So that interview was always going to happen. But would it be part of the Singapore episode or its own episode?

As I researched more, I learnt that the city of origin of the language, Malacca in Malaysia, has around 1,000 speakers mostly geographically concentrated compared to Singapore’s estimates of 100-200, mostly since Kevin’s classes. I knew I had to find someone to tell the Malaysian side of the story. At risk of sounding like a clickbait headline, what happened next will surprise you…

The Video

The Podcast

Featuring

(in order of appearance in the podcast)

Sara Frederica Santa Maria
Sara teaches free classes in her home for groups of local children in the Portuguese Settlement in Melaka, Malaysia. She also co-authored the book Beng Prende Portugues Malaká.

Philomena Singho
Philomena shares daily videos on Facebook teaching Kristang and co-authored the book Beng Prende Portugues Malaká.

Michael Singho
Michel is the head of the Malacca Portuguese-Eurasian Association and co-authored the book Beng Prende Portugues Malaká.

Kevin Martens Wong
Kevin started Kodrah Kristang in 2016. He teaches free classes in Singapore for locals to learn from scratch.

Melissa De Silva
Melissa De Silva is the author of ‘Others’ Is Not A Race, a powerful book about the Eurasian experience growing up in Singapore.

Further Reading + Resources

Papia Kristang: The Creole Portuguese of Malacca and Singapore – Kreol Magazine – Great introductory article to the language.

Understanding the Culture of Malacca’s Kristang Community – Destinasian – Another introduction to learn more about Kristang.

How to revive a 500-year-old dying language – BBC – Article from the BBC about Kevin’s efforts to revive Kristang in Singapore.

Malacca Portuguese deny Kristang language is dying – Malay Mail – A response in part to the BBC article above.

Our Sponsor

A huge thank you to Lingora for sponsoring season 2 of Language Stories!

Lingora is a new online language community where you can share written and spoken practice in the language you’re learning and get real feedback from the community. What’s great about Lingora is that they help to eliminate the “umms” and “ahhs” by giving you prompts for your writing and speaking. And the really great bit? It’s 100% free. Yup. Totally free feedback on your language practice.

But there’s more to Lingora. You’ve also got the option for free lessons, live chat, and paid for lessons with tutors. Basically, all bases are covered.

You can support Language Stories by signing up for free to Lingora at elingora.com.

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Share Your Story

This is the final episode in season two! My plan for season three is…The United Kingdom!

It seems appropriate after two seasons exploring far away to come home for this season, especially with Brexit looming, to take a closer look at languages in the UK.

If you have a Language Story from the UK you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.

I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.