Rebecca Lim Cursed In Hokkien For The Audition Of Ch 8 Dialect Drama Eat Already 4

“This is my first dialect drama, and hopefully not my last after people see my performance. When I went for the auditions, they asked if I could speak Hokkien. I told them that the smoothest phrase I can say in Hokkien is something vulgar, and they asked me to say it. So I did, and I got the part. They probably assumed I can speak very good Hokkien after hearing it but that’s really all I can say! (Laughs) I’m Hokkien but I don’t speak it at all. After getting the role, I went to my grandparents’ place and asked them how to pronounce each word ’cos I wanted to impress everyone. However, when I went for filming, the crew told me that the Hokkien I spoke was wrong! You see, my grandma is from Indonesia and my granddad from Penang so the Hokkien they speak is very different from the way people speak it here. I went back and told my grandparents they taught me the wrong thing and they found it hilarious. I obviously didn’t think it was funny ’cos I had to correct every line (guffaws).”

“This is my second time acting in the Eat Already? series, and although I wouldn’t say that I can speak Hokkien very fluently now, I’m definitely a lot more relaxed. When I was filming the first season two years ago, I was very stressed and had to go for many ‘tuition lessons’ with the EP before going on set. This time round, I could read the script and pronounce the words in Hokkien on my own. The funny thing is, I’m particularly good when it comes to scolding people in Hokkien (laughs). If I have to read a whole chunk of lines where I have to scold my co-stars, I somehow become a lot more fluent!”

“In this show, I speak Cantonese and it was quite easy for me. Actually, I can speak all the dialects except Hakka. I’m Teochew ’cos my dad is Teochew, but I’m more fluent in Cantonese ’cos my grandma speaks Cantonese and I grew up with her. I can speak Hainanese quite well too as my mum and granddad are Hainanese. In the ’80s, when we first started filming local dramas, most of our directors came from Hongkong so I spoke a lot of Cantonese then too."

“My mum is Hokkien and my dad is Teochew so I speak a mix of both. However, when I spoke in dialect on set, the crew felt that my pronunciation and tone were off. I grew up in Kuala Lumpur, and I’ve watched Hongkong dramas since I was young so I can speak Cantonese quite well. In the end, the director told me to say my lines in Cantonese as it sounded more accurate. I play Rebecca’s childhood sweetheart in the show and yes, she’s the biggest NG queen (laughs). That said, it must have been very stressful for her ’cos she kept getting corrected by the EP and the director. But I think she did pretty well on her first try.”

"I grew up in China where I learnt Teochew in primary school. When I moved to Singapore, I read the news in Teochew on radio for over 18 years. In fact, I hope that there will be more dialect shows on TV so that Singaporeans can understand more about the culture of the different languages. Thanks to this series, which I’ve starred in for three seasons, I’ve gotten a few gigs to host birthday parties for elderly people in Teochew!”

"I’ve been wanting to act in this series since season one but I didn’t get to until now. For me, speaking Hokkien is like drinking water. However, the script was unexpectedly challenging as my lines were super long. I play Elvin’s future self who returns to nag at him so we exchanged chunks of dialogue. Trying to remember all the lines was the most difficult (chuckles).”

“I’m Hainanese but I had to speak Hokkien in this drama. It wasn’t too difficult for me though, ‘cos back in the days, I had many Hokkien friends and we spoke to each other using Hokkien. Even when I was in army, most of the soldiers talked using Hokkien in camp. This is my first time doing a dialect drama after so many years of acting. There’s a scene where I had to act with Gurmit Singh, and we conversed in Hokkien, Malay, English and Mandarin. It was very interesting and fun.”