As a kid, I used to want to be Hokkien. Not that I hated being Foo chow. There was nobody else speaking it at school.

The only place I spoke Foochow was at home with my family. I felt like an alien. I didn’t want people to find out I was Foochow.

As I grew up, I started to realize how beautiful speaking a dialect like Foochow is. There is so much history behind the dialect itself. We have our own kinds of food, culture… as with any dialect.

These days, hearing Foochow speakers give me the feeling of home, especially if it’s the Gu tien dialect.

I’m making an effort to improve my Foochow every year, and if I have children in the future, I would love for them to learn Foochow and speak to me in Foochow too.