Anna Evtushenko

Class of 2017, Tònes’ first Editor-in-Chief

Tònes is a multilingual magazine of Yale-NUS College.

In Spring 2016, I went to Yale for study abroad. There, I found out about Accent, Yale’s multilingual magazine. It came out every semester; each issue features a theme; prose and poetry entries in all languages were accepted, and selected submissions were printed in both the original language and in English translation. I thought that was a great idea, submitted some of my work (and got published), and also joined the club itself.

One of my goals in going to Yale was to see what club ideas could be brought back to Singapore. A multilingual magazine seemed perfect since most of our students spoke languages besides English. In May 2016, I talked to the current Editor-in-Chief of Accent and aimed to reuse most of the club’s successful practices. Yihao Xie ’17 was at Yale with me and hopped on board (thanks Yihao!). Both of us would both be graduating soon, so in the spirit of making something to last, we immediately sought a younger student to join in and found Minsoo Bae ’20 in Fall 2016.

We decided to name the magazine Tònes in a way that echoed Accent’s universality and diversity. The mark over ò is a literal “tone” from Mandarin Pinyin (at least insofar as I understand it with my one semester of Mandarin).

Fun fact(s) about issue #1: The cover of the first issue was initially a regular computer image. Then I had the idea of cutting things out and taking a photograph for the cover. It doesn’t really fit the theme of “eat,” but it looked cool. The cutouts are still in my possession somewhere…

Fun fact(s) about issue #2: The cover of “dual” is a scanned film photograph of jellyfish from the Singapore Aquarium. I took it when I first visited Singapore in May 2013 (for my own EYW of sorts). The magazines were supposed to be A4, but for some reason our publisher printed A5; we got them very shortly before the launch party… They looked cute and funny and Yihao liked them but I thought we absolutely needed to get them replaced. Still, we had a launch party with the bite-sized versions. I believe we gave all of them back to the publisher, so nobody should have that rare print.

Yihao and myself saw two issues to production and Minsoo confidently led the team into the post-Spring-2017 era. Now, Minsoo has graduated too. But I’m very happy that the magazine is still being produced. The current board members and authors may have never met us, but hey, they are using our cover style and such! That feels special. Even more special is the unique things future generations bring, like exhibitions, newsletters, and making an Instagram!!

In the end, to me Tònes is about empathy. I may not understand the Tagalog poem in front of me, but through the translation and seeing the original, I can connect to the author’s Tagalog identity. And it’s my hope that other readers would feel the same.

Xie Yihao

Class of 2017, Tònes’ first Managing Editor

In the spring of 2016, while on study-abroad at Yale, my classmate Anna approached me and asked me if I had seen the Yale undergraduate multilingual magazine, Accent. It was a publication where Yale College students would write stories, essays and poetry in a language of their choice, accompanied by the English translation. Anna thought we could bring the magazine to Yale-NUS. It would be a good medium to encourage writing, promote language studies, and celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of our community. The idea of Tònes was thus conceived.

The viability of Tònes wasn't always obvious to me. While there weren't many bureaucratic or financial hurdles to set up a new student organization (faculty supervisors and Dean of Students office were enthusiastically supportive, and we only needed funding for printing and snacks at launch parties), the senior year schedule was relentless, and the school already had a pile of other student publications competing for both writers and readers. With our college days at Yale-NUS ticking down, Anya and I were also pressed to find fresh blood to pass the baton to. Thankfully, we recruited Minsoo Bae '20 who took over and oversaw the next several issues of Tònes.

As we began to pitch ideas and make concrete plans for the inaugural issue, I discovered that even when the idea of a multilingual magazine sounded appealing to many, securing a final draft proved to be tricky. Time was a limited resource for us and for our writers, editors, and graphic designers, so there were late meetings, and postponements in the magazine's release -- all part of running a student organization from a slim operation of three over-committed people. But like many things in the early days of Yale-NUS, we pulled through and made it happen.

The biggest milestone was the launch of our first issue, "Makan". Echoing the theme, we prepared international snacks and tea, and had an intimate reading session with readers and authors in the Elm common lounge. Holding the first issue of the one and only multilingual magazine at Yale-NUS, fresh off the press, was a special moment in my college life.

Fast forward to 2021 after Anna, myself and Minsoo have all left, I saw an Instagram of Tònes, with new content and refreshed formats. I realised that the vision for the magazine had survived - and thrived - even after our departure. I've left my legacy at Yale-NUS College.

Tricia Wee

Class of 2025

Tònes was formed to celebrate the diversity of the YNC community, with the aim of providing a creative space for people to express themselves, and celebrate their diverse backgrounds. Each issue is unique and every submission provides eye-opening, personal insights into the writers’ interpretations of the theme. Our end-of-semester launch parties hold special significance, as writers and designers have the chance to share their inspirations behind their creative pieces with the school community.