About
As Mandarin becomes the standard, many regional dialects of Chinese are fading away.
This project started because Fuzhounese is the dialect my grandmother natively speaks. My goal is to help preserve the language by digitizing it with an emphasis on authentic voice recordings and geographic diversity.
The dictionary is the only one of its kind with English and Mandarin translations. Its key features also include Fuzhounese romanization (Bàng-uâ-cê) and community contribution. The site is completely free to use.
There is an old Chinese saying that if you walk ten kilometers in Fujian, the language changes. Fuzhounese, too, varies from place to place. That's why this site encourages multiple recordings and meanings for words, each tagged by location.
Where Fuzhounese is spoken
About ten million people speak Fuzhounese, primarily in eastern Fujian, around the city of Fuzhou. Over the last century, Fuzhounese speakers have built communities overseas, most visibly on the East Coast of the United States, in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan.
How the dictionary works
- Words come from speakers, and from publicly available and verified dictionaries and phrasebooks to give this project a base to build on. An imported entry links to its source in its notes.
- Every word and edit is read by an editor before it appears. Recordings go live straight away and an editor listens to them afterwards.
- Each contribution carries where the contributor's Fuzhounese is from, so a difference between districts is revealed and mapped.
- The project is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ways to help that aren't recording
- Vote for the words you want filled first on the Request page.
- Suggest an edit on any entry in the dictionary.
- Join the editors by emailing me your pitch.
Get involved with the Fuzhounese community.
Developer
Noah Lee
Noah started this dictionary in 2021 to help preserve the dialect his family speaks. Interested in collaborating or becoming an editor? Don't hesitate to reach out.