Upon closer inspection, she realised her father had been meticulously documenting the family’s mother tongue, Melaka Portuguese, while also curating topical lesson plans to teach it.

“I was like, why am I going to throw this away? Let’s not waste it,” the 54-year-old teacher told FMT.

So in 2012, she began holding weekly classes at her home here in the Portuguese Settlement, where children spend an hour learning to speak their native language.

Melaka Portuguese, also known as Papia Portugues di Melaka or Papia Kristang, is a creole language spoken by descendants of Portuguese settlers who arrived in the region in the 16th century.

The language has a largely Portuguese vocabulary with a grammatical structure similar to Bahasa Melayu (BM). It is centuries old but not taught in schools.

Santa Maria said some of the children could not speak the language prior to attending her classes while others were worried about being mocked for mispronouncing certain words.

After all, Melaka Portuguese would not be most children’s first language since they spend the majority of their day at school and at home speaking in BM and English.

But after attending her classes as well as participating in her dance troupe, she said all of them can now speak some Melaka Portuguese.

“Even to me, they will try to speak a few words, especially when we are outside performing and there are many people around, so they try to keep things secret,” she said, with a cheeky smile.

Reaching out to those beyond the settlement

Thanks to technology, Santa Maria has been able to teach Melaka Portuguese even to those outside the settlement.

She said her online classes on Google Meet have been a joy to native speakers outside Melaka as they now can communicate with others in their native language.

Santa Maria added that she even goes live on Facebook and TikTok during her online classes to provide students with more avenues to learn the language.

She said she was happy to report that some of her online students are those of other races who are learning to speak Melaka Portuguese just for the fun of it.

“They have friends or significant others who are Eurasians, so they want to learn the mother tongue,” she said.

Similarly, Marina Danker, president of the Portuguese Settlement Residents Association, said even those of other races who visit the settlement regularly, speak Melaka Portuguese fluently.

“We have a (Chinese) lady whose parents started a small coffee shop and she speaks Melaka Portuguese fluently,” she said.

Danker shared that the uniqueness of the creole language has also earned the admiration of Portuguese tourists.

Their fascination, she said, stems from the fact that a large majority of Melaka Portuguese words are derived from older variations of the language which are no longer used in modern Portuguese.

Hopes for the preservation of Melaka Portuguese

Given how enthusiastic people from all walks of life are towards the language, there is now more reason to believe that Melaka Portuguese will be preserved.

But people like Santa Maria and Danker are still counting on the younger generation to carry on speaking the language as it is part of their identity as descendants of the early Portuguese settlers in Melaka.

“People will know us through our language,” Santa Maria said, adding that it was “really a big shame” if you don’t speak the language of your ancestors.

“Learn the language and don’t let it die. Speak to your younger generation, speak to your brothers and sisters, speak to your children, your grandchildren.

“’Nang desa nos sa lingu pedrei de mund’. That means don’t let your mother tongue disappear from the face of earth.”