Minority languages make voices heard

SINGAPORE - Kevin Martens Wong reels off sentences in Kristang, which is among several minority languages in Singapore enjoying a new lease of life after a decadeslong drive to encourage the use of English and Mandarin.

"Teng bong, ozi nus prendeh sorti-sorti di tempu," the linguist told his students in the 500-year-old mishmash of Portuguese and Malay - a greeting, and information that the class would be about the weather.

A former British colonial trading post that has long been a melting pot of different cultures, Singapore has an ethnically diverse population whose ancestors mostly came from across Asia, principally China, India and the Malay archipelago.