Kodrah Kristang’s Kevin Martens Wong shares how the movement he founded in 2016 has made headway in its bid towards preserving the Kristang language in Singapore
Kevin Martens Wong first discovered Kristang, the creole language of his Portuguese-Eurasian heritage, in 2015 when he was working on a story about endangered languages in the region for the linguistics magazine he ran with friends. “I was fortunate that the Kristang‑speaking community in Singapore has remained relatively tight‑knit over the years, and I was able to find 14 speakers of the language still alive and willing to speak to me,” Wong explains. A year later, the linguistics graduate set about to revive the language—which has evolved since the Portuguese rule of Malacca in 1511—through the Kodrah Kristang (Awaken, Kristang) movement.
Today, Kodrah Kristang has made great progress in its ambitious 30-year revitalisation plan for the language in Singapore. Besides developing the first structured Kristang curriculum, taught in a 160-hour series of modules at such locations as Cairnhill Community Club, it also organised Singapore’s first-ever Kristang Language Festival in 2017. An English-Kristang board game and an online dictionary followed later. The Eurasian Association, which is celebrating its centennial this year, is inviting the wider Singapore community to explore the vibrancy and richness of the Eurasian culture through its language, with a series of activities including the opening of the newly revamped Eurasian Heritage Gallery next month.
According to Wong, the Kristang classes are key to ensuring that the language is being continuously revived. “Our first class of learners to complete all eight of our Kodrah Kristang modules graduated last November, with our second group on the way. Most importantly, we’re seeing a lot more autonomous interest in Kristang, especially by students who were part of Kodrah, who have initiated their own projects related to Kristang.”