FASTFORWARD TO 2026.

2026! It is now! So many years since my last blog post. I will post more. Coming soon!

Every Tech, Everywhere, All at Once - 2023

This is Christmas eve and this is my first and probably the last blog post for 2023. The year passed quickly and then I realised that I have not blogged for the whole year. I only checked the blog after someone I met at the Asia TV Forum (ATF) 2023, asked about it. 

I am surprised. I stopped writing because I thought very few people, if any, read blogs these days. Instead Tiktok videos are all a rage!

This is My TikTok.

But I am glad that somebody remembers me because of my blog. Well not quite really, as I also learned that she also happened to promote the short film "Gift", which went viral in 2014. So, a good film does  hangs around in people's minds for a very long time,

A video/film is remembered because it tells a story that makes profound emotional connections with the audience. These days with the Internet, videos can go viral worldwide instantly.

The persistence and wide reach of Youtube also means it is now difficult to estimate the loading fees for commercials. As once online, the commercial technically has a global reach and unless it is taken down, it will be online perpetually. I believe this has caused some downward pressure on an actor's loading fees.

Also these days, talent can also be discovered online via social media. Granted that not every online celebrity has the desired acting abilities or of be of commercial material, the Internet does cast the net very wide. Thus thrusting more potential talents to the front of the camera. I cannot complain about this, as I was too talent scouted online via social media 14 years ago. Though not an influencer, I was picked up out of the blue and thrown into the deep end of acting. The rest is history.

So much so that actors are now expected to have some social media presence. However, not much is done to educate them about how they should go about with this new avenue of self-promotion. Many actors formerly protected by their managers are now thrown into the wild wild world of social media. 

Social media can be a double edged sword. Wrongly applied, it can ruin the online persona and branding of the actor. It can also overexpose the actor.

Also these days, some businesses use online influencers, instead of actors, to promote their products. Usually, this results in more casual production quality and possibly risking the desired perception of the brand name.  However, such promotional videos are likely to be cheaper to produce and they usually work well with brand names that have less snobbish requirements.

In some instances, businesses have also done away with human actors/models/influencers entirely and  use Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated avatars. These avatars are sculptured to look picture perfect and will never age a single day from the first day you use them. Besides, they are also free of scandals. These avatars have been applied with some success in the US and China, even though the followers know that they are not real.

As a learning exercise, I have used AI to generate a dialogue, fictitious faces and animate a 2 minute video recently. Here it is:

AI will continue to make onslaughts into film production and acting. At the lower end of corporate videos, businesses may not need a human to illustrate their product. For instance, if it is a video to illustrate the instructions to use a microwave oven, human emotional connection is less important, but rather,  clear and explicit graphics are crucial. I have given a talk to film makers, technologists and artists about this. See here.

Over time bad actors, that is, those that are unable to deliver the necessary human emotional connections will be replaced by photo-realistic avatars in lower end spectrum of instructional videos. 

Conversely, actors that can deliver strong emotional bonds with the audience and turn them to be loyal following, will get more work despite and because of AI. So, now AI can make the actor look younger, or older, to suit the story. In the case of a story where there is a character that goes from youth to old age, the same actor can be cast.

I believe that with technology, there will be more videos/films made, because it will be cheaper to do so and also that it will be cheap enough to create content that cater to niche interests. Though, the audience will still expect quality productions. The lousy ones will still be ignored, unless it is so bad that they attract a cult following. :)

As we speak now, more and more tech is seeping into film production. Besides the well known AI-enabled deepfakes, LED backdrops, robot rigs...etc, there is now automated product placements. So, it is now even possible for product placements to be automatically inserted into the film during post-production. This saves time, effort and money, compared to placing products during production. Besides, product placements inserted during post production can be geography, culture, context and time driven.

Where will this all stop? I don't know. But I know that we can all make the best of it, if we continue to improve our craft. Yes, I believe that spontaneous human analogue delivery will still count and be here to stay.

I have now been in the media industry for 14 years, mostly as an actor, but recently also into screenwriting, producing and directing my own content. To date, I have won 2 acting awards, have 2 short films gone viral, and recently, also had a film that I produced, "WFH - Worry From Home", won a best film award. 

In the last 2 years, I have also appeared as the main antagonist character in "Titan Academy", a uber viral webseries with very young fans, probably from 4 to 16 years old. Each of these episodes garner upwards of 2 million views. So if I do get recognised in public these days, it will most likely be from a child or a teen. The fans have even set up a fan page for me. Thank you so much guys! 

This contrasts a lot with the mainstream media in Singapore, which I estimate probably gets 150k to 350k for each of their drama episodes. I believe this is the same for all free-to-air TVs around the world. This is confirmed by a few random media professionals I met during the recent ATF. 

In fact, I was once corrected by a young chap that I shouldn't use the term "mainstream media" to refer to free-to-air TV (or TV), instead, "mainstream" ought to refer to the the Internet. He then suggest that I refer to free-to-air TV as "legacy media". I find it hard to debate that, especially while still reeling from his harshness!

That said, this is Christmas and we should also give thanks to the legacies that have propelled us this far. Many artistes and talents have spent a lot of their waking hours honing their skills and craft to entertain and inspire all of us all these years. 

Thus Channel News Asia (CNA) has now made a 3-part mini-series called "Untold Legends", to remember some women who have contributed to the arts in Singapore.

I was interviewed in the episodes that featured Doris Young, who was the lead actor in the Cleopatra Wong movie series in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They interviewed me about my part working with Doris in Reel Frenz, a hobby film making group and as the lead actor in the feature film Certified Dead.

Tune in CNA at 9pm, 31st December 2023 for the episode "Untold Legends: Doris Young".

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are living in exciting times!

A Seat At the Table Podcast

 

This is an interview by Jane Singer, a Hong Kong based American podcaster, about how I got started in the film industry and the struggles and joys that came along.  

I have worked hard, but I think have been lucky as well. Now after 400+ gigs and 11 years later, there are no regrets having taken the plunge into a road less traveled of part fantasy and part real life.

Should you take such a plunge yourself? 

Listen in here and find out.

 

Anita, the movie - Review

 

 

"Anita" the movie is beautifully made, complete with 1980s fashion chic and scored with several of Anita Mui's hits in that era. It chronicles her singing for a living from a very tender age of 4, leading to her superstardom in adulthood. Yet, like many superstars, she dwell in loneliness much of her life, as she had never seen her father, had several failed relationships and was never married. All these probably culminating in her succumbing to cervic cancer and her eventual demise. 

Watching it in Cantonese allowed all the little nuances of her life to be felt more closely, something that would be lost in the Mandarin version. In Singapore, we managed to watch the Cantonese version only after an online petition to the government, but even with that, only a limited number of screenings were allowed and only in one theatre. Quite expectedly tickets sold-out in no time. Isn't this telling of what the people really miss deep down?

I managed to get one of the last tickets for a seat right in front. I had to tilt my head as much as I could to capture the entire screen within my peripheral vision. Luckily, I don't need the subtitles, otherwise my eyeballs would have had a hectic workout. 

There were happier and lighter moments in the movie of her performing on the small stages of community theatres and nightclubs in the 1980s. Then, she sang HK Canto pop songs, many of which were heavily influenced by their Japanese counterparts at that time. 

The later parts of the film are more emotional - of her relationship breakups,; her brush with a mob boss, that drove her to take refuge in Chaing Mai, Thailand; her losing her sister to cancer; and then her own battle with the same disease and death. 

I was living in the West and was absent from HK pop fandom in the 1980s and 1990s. We didn't have the Internet like now, so I listened and watched Anita's music and concerts from CDs and VHS cassettes; and eventually on Youtube and TV from the 2000s till 2003 before she died. 

"Anita" the movie, fills a bit of the cultural blackhole I missed as a result of living  in the West for a long time. In that sense, it feels like a  home coming for me. 

This is her last concert:

 

Influencer Cheat Sheet

 

Transcript:

That is how you can cheat your way into influencer super-stardom. Well, it still takes a lot of hardwork and time, but here is a formula:

1. Influencers must add value to their audience and build communities and then monetise.
2. The days are over when influencers are just people who look good.
3. Post your content consistently, then you will build followers.
4. Don't worry about people not following. They will, when you show your sincerity and authenticity.
5. Different influencers go along with different followers. So, there will be some that will follow you.
6. Ignore the haters or those that will discourage you. There are far more supporters than haters. Don't allow them to pull you down into the Imposter Syndrome.
7. Your content is likely to be something you have always wanted to talk about for a long time.
8. Work out a systematic way of creating your content. eg. Create 10 min youtube videos, that can be easily formatted into a podcast; bite-size video clips; transcribed blog posts...etc. Organise one day a week to do enough content for the entire week. That way, you won't have to worry about content every day.
9. There are software platforms that you can subscribe to for a fee that will do all the laborious 'sales funnel' work for you. Eg. Sending out emails at allocated times, reminders,...etc.

Dwell deep into yourself first. Its often about understanding oneself first. :)

Kid Hero

 

Kid Hero, written and directed by Andy Hui, is about a kid's fantasy about his superpowers and his mini roadtrip adventure to look for his father, who is his idol and hero in his life. I enjoyed working with the very talented actors Ricky Lo and Estovan Reizo Cheah; and Esther Leong.

Here is the film:

https://www.viddsee.com/video/kid-hero/zyv8p

And here are some behind-the-scene photos:

The Will To Wheel

The Will To Wheel is a short film based on a true story of wheelchair bound food delivery lady in Singapore and her will to be a useful member of the society.

"Sure, you could say that we should treat the disabled no different than the able-bodied. But folks are finding it inspiring that even someone with limited mobility would (be) willing  to go beyond what was expected of her and find work that involves traveling distances to pick up and distribute food orders." 

- Yahoo! News 23 November 2018

The film is directed by Florence Look and produced by a bunch of students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Film Sound and Video School (FSV) which I have acted for in many of their films over the last ten years.

The Will To Wheel has also been shotlisted by ciNE65  for the Favourite Actor, Favourite Actress, Best Sound Design & Best Cinematography awards!

If you like to vote for us, click here.

Note: 

1. The Favourite Film Voting Page appears

2. Vote one you deem fit from the drop-down list. 

3. The Favourite Actor and the Favourite Actress Voting Page appear.

4. Vote for Michael Chua and Agnes Goh ☺

Thank you in anticipation. ☺

 

The awards ceremony will happen on the 15th June 2021. I supposed the winners will be announced then. Will keep you posted.

ciNE65 is a an annual short film competition that explores the Singapore Identity and expresses what Singapore means from the perspective of the film makers. It is supported by Nexus, a Singapore Government initiative.

Here is the film:

.

.

Behind-The-Scenes...

With Agnes Goh.

For all the cINE65 videos that I have acted in over the years, including this one, click here.

Titan Academy

At the time of writing, this episode of Titan Academy has hit 1 million views, 71k Likes and 14.5k comments, barely 48 hours from being released online. From their recent track record, the viewership will likely grow to 3 million hits by the end of its 4th week. These numbers are music to the ears of advertisers and the Titan team.

JianHao is currently the number one Youtube channel in Singapore, with a subscriber base of 4.7 million and growing. It is likely that their subscriber base has already extended beyond Singapore, to include Malaysia, India and other English speaking countries.

Perhaps it is time to consider creating content for the Chinese market and distribute it via  iQiyi, QQ and Youku. It is a vast market waiting and the Chinese are curious about how life in Singapore is like. Singapore is to China, what Australia is to Americans. Same same, but different. The latter is evident in 1986 when the Aussie movie Crocodile Dundee took America by storm.

Currently, JianHao's channels comprise mostly listicles, but we may see more short film style episodes in future.

This is my second time working with JianHao and his company Titan Digital Media, but my first in a Youtuber style video. 

My first time working with them was in a short film called "Majid The Legend", commissioned by 15 Shorts. In that short film, I acted as Singapore's football legend and coach Uncle Choo Seng Quee, in Pulau Ubin, an offshore island of Singapore. 

In this short film episode "Welcome to Titan Academy", I played the corporate raider that buys over the school to run it ruthlessly for profits. 

Compared to my first time working with them 18 months ago, they have made impressive strides forward  in film making. There is now a lot more focus, precision and efficiency. The team's youthful enthusiasm and energy are also a breath of fresh air.

Most of the cast you see in their videos play multiple roles in front and behind the camera. So the girls and guys you see on screen, will also be running around adjusting lights, supervising scripts, setting up props,  buying lunch,...etc, when they are not in front of the camera. Even the camera guy appears in some of the videos. But most of all, it is JianHao, who writes, produces, directs and acts; and I guess, runs the company too. How does he ever find such time and energy?

TRIVIA: 

Did you know that Titan Digital Media's 

real-life accountant also plays a 

reel-life role in Titan Academy?

This is the kind of efficiency that mainstream media companies will find hard to fathom, let alone catch up with. In some jurisdictions, such flexibility in labour deployment may not even be permissible, as the unions will come down on you like a pile of bricks.

JianHao and several other celebrity-influencers in Singapore are chipping away at advertising revenues that traditionally went to mainstream media companies like Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Mediacorp, in the context of Singapore.

SPH's revenue has dipped so much, that their media arm is now hived off to form a non-profit charity organisation that will tolerate losses, even huge ones, as they will be propped up by government funding. See SPHMedia. In other words, they have surrendered.

Let's see what will happen to Mediacorp in a few years' time, as it is also suffering from sharp falls in revenues. Will they be restructured into an entity insulated from the harsh competition of the real world too?

Here is the episode:

If the video does not appear, click https://youtu.be/sciKJUWCrI8

This is the third video I have acted in 

that has hit or crossed 1 million views.

Find out about the other two videos below...

The morning after the episode was released, I woke up with a lot of new followers on my Instagram account MichaelChuaActor.  I didn't see that coming, as I don't get new followers at all on my social media platforms when Mediacorp TV programmes that I am in, got broadcast. 

JianHao's subscribers are young (18 to 35 years old), thus inferring that in future, this may be how content will be created and distributed.

Traditional free-to-air TV will continue to struggle to stay relevant and respond to their viewers' changing tastes, interests and demands; and also the disruption by yet more cheaply available new technologies. They will face rapidly declining viewership and advertising revenues that will eventually compel them to transform into the new media or face their own demise.

Behind-The-Scene pictures:

Follow me on Instagram at MichaelChuaActor

Note:

This is the third video I have acted in that has hit or cross 1 million views. The other two are:

Hentak Kaki (estimated 1 million hits). For more info, click here.

Gift - (estimated 30 million hits). For more info, click here.

Finding The Perfect Language

 

This is a documentary about the 'Perfect Language' for humans. I was there because I speak Teochew.

For the documentary, I was asked to bring an item that is symbolic of the language. It was hard to think of something, so I asked around. Unsurprisingly, all my Teochew friends came up with something to do with food. lol 

Eventually everyone agreed on the Teochew Glutinous Rice Cake mould.

Can you think of something else symbolically or uniquely Teochew?

Anyway, here is the documentary...

https://youtu.be/38RUMJSCZTY

So what is the Human Language?

For more posts about languages in this blog, including this one, click here.

9 Nyawa - 9 Lives

9 Nyawa (9 Lives) (2016), written by Christopher Yeo, is a Mediacorp Suria TV police and crime drama series. Chris is also the writer and director of "A Land Imagined" (2018) that won the Lugano International Film Festival's prestigious Golden Leopard Award. 

You can watch 9 Nyawa for FREE, here .

I played the factory supervisor of a glue factory, incidentally also called "Mr Chua". 

There was supposed to be a stunt double for the dunking and drowning of Mr Chua, but he turned out to be a lot shorter and smaller build than I am, so it did not work. As the show had to go on, I did the stunt myself.

This is what appeared in the final cut:

This (below) is the behind-the-scene shot. It wasn't as difficult as it looks, as there is a method to the struggle. The difficult part was when I had to remain totally motionless in the water while playing dead. Then, the water rushed into the nose along with the piercing and stinging pain. It probably only lasted for about 15 seconds, but it felt a lot longer. Such a relief when I heard 'cut'.

We did about 3 takes and it was done. We got it. It actually felt quite relaxing after that, just like how it feels after a good swim.

 

To check out the Malay shows I have been in (including this post), click here 

My Film Journey - Past, Present and Future

Some of the movies that I have acted in have done famously in the theatres and are now screened on Netflix.

While others are less successful in their distribution routes.

Yet others only need Deep Fake inserts to look like I have acted in them. This one is from Spiderman. It couldn't quite fit my face into the Caucasian face structure. Not so convincing.

This one is better and even synchronised the lip movements quite convincingly.

This one fits my face more seamlessly because I cleaned up extraneous facial lines in my input image. It seems that the app is not capable of rendering shadows cast by facial features.

This one is very well done, as it morphed my face very well into both the characters and also lip-synced the dialogue neatly.

Makes me wonder what the future of cinema and films will be with this rapid advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. 

Will actors be still needed the way they are now?

I have also posted about the future of TV and Films in this blog in the past, if you are curisous, click here.

Keeping Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese - PART 2

This is a continuation of the earlier post Keeping Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese.

The video that I voiced-over in Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese for the Ministry of National Development Singapore is now on Youtube.

I dubbed the voice of this gentleman in the video:

Here is the original video in English:

... and this in Mandarin...

This one in Hokkien:

... in Teochew

... in Cantonese:

For those of you who understand all the 4 Chinese languages, does each language give you a different feel and vibe?

For other blog posts on Chinese Regional Languages, click here,

Interview: Meditation, Healing and the Arts

This is a summary of a 4-part series interview by the Self Awareness Society Singapore in November 2020. We spoke about how meditation has helped me in healing, acting and writing over the last 20 years.

I participated in the Self Awareness Centre's 7-Day Transformation Journey (7DTJ) programme in the year 2002 and have benefited from it immensely. Therefore I am sharing this here, so that you too may benefit from it. The 7DTJ is a time-tested and money-back guarantee programme. Over 40,000 attendees have benefited from the programme over the last 26 years.

See Soar Above the Clouds.

This is the playlist:

PART 1:

- What is your aspiration? Is it very different from what you are doing every day? - How does meditation help you in acting? - What is success to you? - When you quit, that means that your passion is not strong enough? - Street fighting analogy to fearlessness.

PART 2:

My novel "Maid In Singapore"

- Writing it amid the silence of the Covid-19 Lockdown.

- The inspiring maids behind the story.

- Why it is written as a romantic comedy, instead of a social realistic drama.

- The difference between a novel and a movie in storytelling.

- 1 in 5 homes in Singapore has a maid - very alien to US, Canadian and European cultures.

- The difference between a theatrical release and a video-on-demand drama series.

See the concept video trailer is at Maid In Singapore trailer.

To buy a copy of "Maid In Singapore", go to Facebook Maid In Singapore Group.

PART 3:

The 7-Day Transformation Journey Programme

- That leap of faith.

- The mental growth by multitudes of intellect.

- The heart feeling light like a feather

- The beautiful aura after the programme.

How I heal my excruciating chronic back pain through meditation.

- Coping with life in pain

- Encounters with charlatans, conmen, quacks and naysayers.

- How I could possibly have forgotten about pain during a TV shoot.

Also see How I Overcame my Chronic Pain.

PART 4:

- Why I have meditated regularly since the year 2002.

- Why busy people need to meditate more.

- Why we should always be vibrating at the highest level even in the bleakest of times.

- How meditation keeps you looking young. - Meditation helps me to get into character more easily in acting.

- How I navigated myself in the TV and film industry.

I have also appeared in other interviews in the past. Click here.

THE SELF AWARENESS CENTRE (SAC), since 1988, is an institute for Human Resource Development and Spiritual Upliftment. It is a non-religious, non-communal and non-political organisation. SAC conducts transformational, motivational and spiritual programmes. The core to its programme module is the 7-Day Transformational Journey (7DTJ).

http://www.selfwareness.com.sg

Self Awareness Society (SAS) Singapore is formed since 1996 to support the attendees of the programmes conducted by the Self Awareness Centre (SAC).

2020 - No Regrets?

To many, the year 2020 passed quite painfully amid a pandemic, lockdowns, faltering businesses and a reduced income. Yet, were there things that you felt that you should have done?

Do you have any regrets? 

Are you a man with no regrets? 

Watch this video I acted in for a friend and very creative film maker Mr SK Ting...

The man who has no regrets will always regret that he should think that he has no regrets. 

Live not with your regrets but learn to live within your regrets. 

Search not for regrets to cease but understand that each regret will make you a better man. 

The better man is not the man with no regrets but the man who can understand the power of each regret in his life.

- the Wandering Wonder 流浪奇人.

Keeping Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese

 

I have just finished a voice-over gig in Mandarin (普通话), Cantonese (粤语 / 广东话), Teochew (潮语 /潮州话) and Hokkien (Minnan, 闽南语)  to dub over a government video that is in English. 

Note: Cantonese , Teochew  and Hokkien are Chinese regional languages, but are erroneously translated into and referred to by Westerners as 'dialects'. There are commonalities among the languages, but they are not variants of Mandarin, the national common language in China. The written characters however were standardised 2,000 years ago in China by the 1st Emperor of Han China Shih Huang Di (18 February 259 BC – 10 September 210 BC).

Southern Chinese languages are hardly spoken in Singapore nowadays following the Speak Mandarin Campaign in 1978. Instead, a confusing cocktail of Mandarin and English, spiced with Chinese regional languages and Malay is spoken in a single dialogue.

Therefore VO gigs in Chinese regional languages are messy, as we often have to sort out what is authentic and what is commonly spoken, but borrowed from Malay. 

Here are some examples: 

'Clever' in localised Cantonese is 'panlai', which is borrowed from the Malay word 'pandai'.

'To marry' in localised Hokkien is 'kowyin', which is borrowed from the Malay word 'kahwin'.

'Toilet' in localised Teochew is 'lianglang', which is borrowed from the Malay word 'jamban'. 

'Lianglang' is almost always used and understood by all local Teochew speakers, as opposed to 'cesou' (厕所), so we use that in recording, since it is a public service announcement video where colloquialism is tolerated, rather than an academic video where accuracy is prime.

However, for other instances, it is important to stick to the original as far as possible.

Unfortunately for regional language VO gigs, scripts are often translated by young people who have a superficial understanding of the languages and do not speak the language in their day-to-day life. As such, they rely on online translators, which can yield hilariously wrong results, as Aritifical Intelligence (AI) in its current state still cannot pick up context and nuances properly.

As a result, my previous Hokkien VO took 11 grueling hours and I needed two days after that to recuperate and rest my vocal chords.

Thankfully, we did this one in 1 hr 45 mins, wrapping 15 mins early. Bravo!!!

ONLINE RESOURCES:

The following may help you to improve your knowledge of the regional languages, but for professional media translations, do consult a human language specialist.

Among the Chinese regional languages, only Cantonese has an online translator, though without audio output.

CANTONESE TRANSLATION RESOURCES ONLINE:

https://www.stars21.com/translator/english/cantonese/

https://tradukka.com/translate/yue

"Dreaming" is translated into "發夢" which is correct as opposed to "做梦" in Mandarin.

Curiously, the Cantonese 'discover dreams' (發夢), while Mandarin speakers 'make dreams'  (做梦). Wonder why.

I also found a Cantonese online dictionary, but it is more complicated and less helpful when tested with the entry of "dreaming", as it gives a clutter of related texts. See http://www.cantonese.org

HOKKIEN TRANSLATION RESOURCES ONLINE:

There are also no online Hokkien translators online, but I found a useful dictionary instead, which yields satisfactory results. (http://niawdeleon.com/hokkien-dictionary/). The following is the result of translating the word 'dreaming':

There is also an online Penang Hokkien dictionary, but it could not translate the test input 'dreaming'.

TEOCHEW TRANSLATION RESOURCES ONLINE:

There are no online translators or dictionary online, but there is a mobile Teochew dictionary app WhatTCSay, that has audio outputs.

It could not translate my test input "dreaming".

But it does understand what is "dream".

I suspected that it did not understand verbs in continuous tense, but I was wrong, as it translated "eat" and "eating" correctly.

Now let's enjoy some songs:

Cantonese:

The older ones will love this song from Cantopop star Sam Hui. You know who you are. :) It is about life's journey and destinies.

Hokkien:

This song encourages unceasing hardwork. It is so popular that it is even sung in corporate team building activities in Singapore.

Teochew:

This one is about a Teochew emigrant reminiscing about his hometown.

Sadly as the older generations die, so will the languages and the cultures, as there will be less and less in the younger generation that will have the proficiency in these Chinese regional languages. 

See Can Singaporeans speak Cantonese?

Mandarin:

Lastly, this one is from Mandopop superstar JJ Lin, a proud Singapore son and one among the new Mandarin speaking generation.

I love working with Chinese regional languages as they remind me of my childhood and the multilingual environment in Singapore during the old days. I learned them before the age of six and therefore do not need preliminary translation from another language when spoken.

As a Teochew, it is easy for me to learn Hokkien, as they are from the same Min family of languages. I learned Cantonese (Yue language) from my neighbour which spoke the language though they are Hakkas.

I was gradually coming to grips with Hakka and Hainanese before, but lost them completely when I went to live overseas for many years. Now even my feeble abilities in French and German are probably better than my Hakka and Hainanese.

There are also the more obscure languages like Hockchiew and Heng Hua, which are Min languages, but are less intelligible to me. I suspect that some young Singaporeans today would not even know these languages exist, let alone understand or speak them.

I will post the dubbed videos later when they are released.

Also read: 

Hearing Voices.

Hokkien Voice-Over.