The Importance of Language
When I came up with the concept for Melingo, it wasn’t just a portfolio project or a case study I conjured up for the sake of learning emerging tech - most of the motivation and inspiration came from my cultural ties to Cantonese and Toi San Wah (台山話), the language of my mom, her parents, and my maternal lineage.
I was born in America (colloquially known as an ABC or American Born Chinese) and so was my mom. Driven by an inherent need to communicate with our parents (my dad being an immigrant from China with limited English), we learned and retained our languages just based on sheer necessity. But as I get older, I can see the steady decline of not only my use cases and opportunities to speak Cantonese, but my time hearing Toi San Wah so regularly will eventually disapate. To put things in a universal context, many of us grew up listening to certain songs on the radio when we were kids on long, weekend car rides - I grew up listening to my grandparents talking to my parents in the car. Like how a song comes on and you have flashbacks to a specific memory, hearing Toi San Wah is my trigger. They talked politics, current events, family plans, and criticisms of the dinner we just ate. These conversations made up 95% of my life and Toi San Wah is no longer just a language to me - it’s become a part of my identify.
Where your family is “from” within Chinese culture is dictated by your father’s lineage. My dad is not from Toi San, therefore, I can not officially claim I am Hoi San Ngin (台山人). It’s something I have battled with and later come to terms in my own way. Reality is, no social construct can tell me that I’m not and if someone asked, I will at least say I’m half.
So how does this tie to Melingo? Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of mainstream media usage of Toi San Wah - but if there’s anyone that can relate to learning Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, or any other language for that matter through music, I would hope I can at least create a concept to let people know that they are not alone in their journey to reconnect with a part of their own identify. Personally, I feel massively blessed to retain the Cantonese I have through the cultural relevancy Cantonese has within Chinese and Cantonese diaspora communities. Perhaps if an opportunity presents itself, I’ll use this bit of motivation to help others connect with themselves through language.
