About Ask Ama

Most recordings are made in a recording session. One person sits with the speaker, goes through the phrase list and records each phrase in turn. Before starting, the speaker agrees to be recorded and to have the recordings shared here, and we note when and how they agreed.

Families can also send a recording from the contribute page, after confirming that the speaker agreed.

Each recording is trimmed at the start and end, and its volume is levelled so the phrases play at a similar loudness. Then someone listens to the whole recording before it goes on the site.

Each recording shows whose voice it is, using the name the speaker chose, such as Ah Ma or Mrs Tan, and where they're from. A recording sent in by a family is credited to the name given on the form.

A speaker can choose not to be named. Their recordings then say “a speaker who asked not to be named”.

The recordings are shared under CC BY-NC 4.0. You can use them for free in anything non-commercial, such as a lesson, a school project or a family video, as long as you credit the speaker and Ask Ama. What the licence means

Each phrase is written in Chinese characters and in Peng'im, the standard romanisation for Teochew. The Teochew text only appears once it has been checked while listening to the recording.

Until a second native speaker has also checked the Peng'im, the phrase page says “Unverified romanisation”. The Cantonese and Mandarin are there to compare.

A speaker or their family can ask for a recording to be taken down at any time, without giving a reason. Use the removal form. Anyone can also report a problem with a recording from its phrase page.

Ask Ama is open source. The code is on GitHub.