*You did it! We've reached our fundraising goal! Every extra dollar pledged beyond our goal will go towards making the app even better and potential expansion to iPad and Android!* (see Update #5 for more details)

CHECK US OUT ON FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/WhatTeochewSay

Help us make history!

What's Teochew? (Dee-aw jee-oo 潮州話)
Spoken by an estimated 20 million people worldwide, Teochew is a Chinese language originating from eastern Guangdong province, otherwise known as Chaoshan (Diosua:). Outside of the homeland, Teochew people live in places as far-flung as major cities of China (like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, etc.), across Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia), Australia and New Zealand, in Europe (France, Belgium, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, etc.) and here in North America (US and Canada). Teochew language preserves lots of interesting aspects of older forms of Chinese that other languages like Mandarin have lost. Nowadays though, outside of Chaoshan, Teochew is gradually being lost by the younger generation and with the language goes a big part of the culture and heritage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teochew_dialect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teochew_people

What's "What Teochew Say?"
We are creating the world's first Teochew language dictionary and phrasebook iPhone App! Anyone who would like to learn or improve their Teochew will have access to:

• 4000+ word entries and sound files
• Dictionary word search tool
• Chinese characters, Teochew peng-im (romanization), English
• 15 phrasebook categories
• be able to look up that word that you forgot or just don't know and be able to pronounce it because there's a sound file (that's gold right there!)

The app name is a play on words... "What did you say?", get it? :) We plan to continue updates on the app with more entries, sound files, fixes, and new features. It's going to be rad!

Why should you help?
Help us bring Teochew into the mobile computing age. Help us if you believe in supporting endangered languages, and if you're curious about learning the language. Help us if you're a Teochew speaker or grew up in a Teochew family so you can improve your Teochew or if you're fluent, help us improve app content for future updates.

How will the money will be spent/what are our plans?
We started working on the app back in March of this year and spent all that time planning, producing content, and prototyping an iOS app. Your contribution will help us release this app in earnest and pay for rewards. It will help us pay for all the associated costs of getting things started. It will help us spread the word, as well as continue to add enhancements and support the app. We hope to officially release the app to the Apple appstore by some time in July.

Who are we?
We're Ty Lim and Khiem Lam. We're both native Teochew speakers and both really want this project to fly!

Ty Lim: I'm currently living in San Francisco, CA. Back in 2005 I co-founded a nonprofit called Gaginang that promotes everything Teochew and I'm still active with this organization, also a quick plug for my Teochew-themed blog: Teochew Know. My background is in instructional design (think e-learning, online training modules, etc.) so this app is right up my alley. When I met Khiem, the pieces fell together! Let's do this!

Khiem Lam: I'm based out of Cary, NC. Being a software engineer, I've always had a vested interest in creating a mobile app that's one of a kind.  When I met Ty in 2010 and was introduced to his dictionary, I knew then that this was the best means of preserving our language.  Not only did he come up with a pronunciation system that's catered to English speakers, but he was passionately involved in growing the database of words. 

Both of us: And so it occurred to us that we needed to make this knowledge accessible to everyone so that Teochew language could be part of our everyday life and continue to grow. Awesomeness!

A BIG JOISIA (Thank You) FROM US IN ADVANCE! :)

CHECK US OUT ON FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/WhatTeochewSay