About me and my language community

Name: Jiamin Ruan (阮嘉敏: jyun5 gaa1 man5）
Contact: jiaminr

Mentor Name: Evelyn Fettes
Contact: efettes

Mentor Name: Johnathan Wong
Contact: yellowphi

Hi! My name is Jiamin Ruan （阮嘉敏：jyun5 gaa1 man5）. I was raised and born in Shaxi Town, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. Shaxi town is part of the region of Longdu.  In Shaxi Town, locals speak a Chinese dialect, which is called Longdu dialect. It is a southern Min dialect. People often call it as Zhongshan Min. I have learned this dialect from my grandparents, parents and local people around me since I was a baby.  Every day, I speak Longdu with different local people in Shaxi. This is a dialect to make me connect with my family, people, identity, and culture.   I moved to Hawaii with my family when I was 16 years old.  Luckily, there is a big population of Longdu speakers in Hawaii so I can speak my dialect often with other Longdu speakers. Now, I mostly use Longdu dialect when I speak with my family and family’s friends only. I don’t speak as much as when I was in Shaxi town. Also, sadly, even though there is a good population of Longdu speakers in Hawaii, the population of Longdu speakers is decreasing in Hawaii and Longdu due to language ideology in the areas.