Celebrating 50 years of SBS Radio

I was recently spoke to SBS Cantonese about my experiences as a long-time listener.

If you are a Cantonese speaker, you can listen to the podcast and read the article here.

I was asked about my first memory of SBS Cantonese and it's something I can't actually recall. The Cantonese program has been listened to daily at my family home ever since I was born, and my recent stint in Hong Kong helped to re-activate the parts of my brain familiar with the sounds of the language.

I've grown up speaking a dialect called Taishanese and the town of Taishan is within the Guangdong (Canton) region of China. Cantonese is a similar language but the two are not always mutually intelligible.

My parents were both able to learn Cantonese after moving to Guangzhou and Hong Kong, before migrating to Australia. SBS Radio helped them to stay connected to their culture and the talkback element is personally my favourite part of the program.

In the interview I spoke about how the medical segment, in particular, is often unexpectedly entertaining.

Cantonese as a language is slowly declining over time but when asked how SBS Cantonese could appeal to people in the future, I suggested finding ways to making the language cool again. I believe the internet is pivotal in attracting interest in other languages and cultures and the role of social media, and even memes, can help preserve the Cantonese language.

Thanks to SBS and Gloria Lau for the write up and interview.

A snippet of the article accompanying the podcast.