Singapore’s Chinese dialects, including Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese, face a steep decline in usage following decades of language policies that prioritized English and Mandarin. Launched in 1979, the Speak Mandarin Campaign successfully established Mandarin as the common tongue among Chinese Singaporeans but marginalized regional dialects. Today, a growing movement of youth and cultural advocates is actively working to revive these languages through digital media, classes, and community projects to preserve their ancestral heritage and bridge the communication gap with older generations.
- The adoption of the Speak Mandarin Campaign in 1979 aimed to unify Chinese Singaporeans but led to a rapid decline in the use of regional dialects.
- English and Mandarin have become the dominant languages in Singaporean households, leaving younger generations with limited to no dialect proficiency.
- Language barriers have created a communication gap between younger Singaporeans and their elderly relatives who primarily speak dialects.
- Grassroots groups and content creators are leveraging social media, podcasts, and informal classes to revive interest in ancestral languages among youth.
- While policy shifts have relaxed slightly to allow limited dialect broadcasting for the elderly, advocates argue more systemic support is needed to ensure long-term survival.
Based in Singapore, CNA (Channel News Asia) covers global developments with an Asian perspective, with correspondents based in major cities across Asia, including Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing, as well as in New York, Washington D.C. and London.
Official website: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/
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Our dialects are a priceless heritage passed down by our ancestors. Looking at countries like Japan, South Korea, and India, they deeply cherish and actively use their regional dialects and languages. It is a vital part of who they are. Dialects connect us directly to our history, our culture, and our roots. Singapore should embrace and bring back this crucial piece of our identity before it fades away entirely. Let's preserve our native tongues for the generations to come.🎉❤
Without the old generation n the root of old traditional people .
There will not have any new system
Singapore will become Roja very soon.
It’s not like switch that can be turned on or off as you please or command 😅. for generations pushed people to adopt English or perish. Now suddenly want them to respect and support dialects 😅. Too late…
I am a HONG KONGer, married to a Chinese Singaporean 🇸🇬 ( with parents who were of Hokkien background ), but because we live in Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR, my wife has lost almost all of her Hokkien dialect.
Steps should be taken to preserve Chinese dialects before they vanish completely. Dialects are part of the culture. We have no problem with movies in French, Korean or Japanese. Why when it comes to Hokkien, Teo chew or Cantonese; it becomes an issue?
The Shanghai dialect is ONLY a spoken dialect and cannot be written. And even people from different regions of China 🇨🇳 have their own regional dialects. My grandparents, from both sides of my parents, are from different dialectal regions of China 🇨🇳.
Government never says you cannot speak dialects privately. So I don't understand the hoo hoo ha ha over a film speaking dialect. There are obvious reasons why Mandarin like English is important for the country
I am glad there is Internet where I can still learn Cantonese on YouTube.
Some people said their mother tongues are dialect. Not Mandarin (National Language of China)
why dont you just step out of your studio and goto the coffee shop? everyone is speaking dialects here.
If you're not a real Chinese, then you won't understand the significant of Chinese dialects. Teoh Chew, Hokkien, Cantonese etc etc are far more advanced languages than English. The latter is in need of serious reform. 50% of the graduates from the NUS and NTU are illiterates. This is the result of Singapore's English system.
Ha ha ha!
You Singaporeans are living in a country where scholars grew up watching Japan Hour on the mini-BBC. You Singaporeans have been made to become illiterates. Did you know that angmohs spent the first 300 of the past 500 years, copying and learning from the Chinese?
Ha ha ha!
Facts, the dialects we speak in Malaysia and Sillypore sounds different from those in China
The most overrated content creator
Why not dialects as govt should recognise the culture and cultural links. But strange the govt can allow its even ministers to ideal in Teochew during election in Hougang ??? Do we Sisi want to stop dialects like what the govt did many years ago to extol people to Stop at 2 children and now what happens – our birth rate is way below replacement level !!
to the sillypore citizaen, its a mother tongue, dont have dont have lor. And for chit chatting on the streets/void deck level. Dont get swayed by China
Dialects is just a small entanglement Chinese Singaporeans have to sort out. Are you a user of Excel? Gregorian calendar? No it is Chinese calendar. Lunar New Year? Yeah, jia kantangs would want all Chinese Singaporeans to celebrate this more inclusive 阴厉新年. The culture genocide by the ruling class has divided Chinese Singaporeans, the community is not divided like a sliced-up pizza, they are shattered like a broken mirror. I am sure that you have met some English speaking Chinese Singaporeans who think they are more high-class than those Chinese who don't speak good English.
China is probably going to stay at the top of the world in the next 300 to 500 years, nobody across the world will care whether Singapore is going to last for another 50 years. If Singapore can last longer, then further Chinese Singaporeans are going to face a huge identity crisis. It is not as simple as chanting we are all Singaporeans.
Cheem lah! No time to talk more about this deep deep topic lah!
Ha ha ha!
last fun fact, ppl from China Taiwan and hongkong keyboard type chinese sentences faster than Us. my response is Like that loh
i text in hokkien using english alphabets every now n then hahahaha! i guessed d govt has reasons for us to be able to use good english and mandarin to communicate lah … it does not really matter . dialects or not, to me, they are just interesting to know. but proper languages help in our work n that is what matters most .
perhaps you should interview TCS Actor Christopher Lee, presently based in Taiwan i think. and get his view on mother tongue
The success of the movie is about the method of communication between the people in Nanyang and China. That communication, in this case, is in Teochew! If China, who are all mandarin speaking allows the screening with no restrictions, what moral authority does tiny SG have in restricting some good hearted entertainment?
' Surrendering to the u.s. now, would be the least costly option for your government. ' – u.s. pivoting asia policy 2011
The speak Mandarin policy is certainly outdated for achieving it's original intent. In fact, now it is English that is competing with Mandarin. Singapore has not organized any speak Mandarin for many years, used to do it yearly, so in effect is dead. So why keep it when it is dead n irrelevant now. With school now are more multi racial. It will be odd to have speak Mandarin campaign in schools when there are multi races in class. So, it should be changed to speak mother tongue compaign.
its about time to tell the truth about Singapore – or at least this is what I intend to do !
If u treat dialect as a language, why would it be OK to watch train to Busan in Korean, but not OK to watch a teochew movie in teochew?
Use it or you lose it.
Most of the vulgarities we use among friends are from dialects and many words also contributed to Singlish.So yes surely has a place.
Our dialect must know , if you can’t speak at least you must understand what they say . I went to Bangkok yaowarat, the shop vendor I interact with them in Teochew or Hokkien . So they and i understand each other. If you go Penang even their local Indian can also spoke Cantonese Hakka Teochew Hokkien and even some speak Hainanese .sure you must keep your dialect. At least you understand what they say .
True, dialects will die a natural death in 10-20 years' time. Those who converse in dialects only would at least be 70 yo now.
"Would you teach your children?" Of course, but would they want to learn where there is no environmen for the use.
So glad to see yiting getting interviewed on this topic. Seeing the youth falling back in love with our roots and mother tounges is great❤😊
Malaysia still produces and enjoys dialect movies, yet Malaysian Chinese speak far better Mandarin than us. This proves that preserving dialects doesn't hurt Mandarin proficiency-it enhances it by providing a stronger cultural foundation and in fact enhances interests in Mandarin Chinese.
While LKY's Speak Mandarin Campaign made sense for the political and social climate of his time, we are now living in a completely different era. Continuing that old policy today is outdated and ineffective.
Dialects representing your roots?
To me, Singapore is a country of dialects. While English and Mandarin may be widely spoken, they’re not spoken fluently.
I discovered this comment by @BenLough-9c on "The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen" YouTube channel.
(The title of the video is: Is Vietnamese Just the New Chinese Language? Part 2 AMA Double Down with Prof John Phan".
———————–
Dear, John and Kenneth. Listener from Australia here – thank you so much for covering these topics and sharing your knowledge with everyone.
This is a bit personal, but I've always felt alone as a 90's born Overseas Vietnamese person learning Vietnamese history and Han-Viet/Nom and being told by friends that it's a pointless pursuit.
Thankfully my elderly father (born in the 1940's) passed on his knowledge to me since a young age and I can still read Chinese characters pronounced in Vietnamese and it gets me excited every time I can understand some Nguyen-era documents and also see a connection between the Vietnamese language and East Asian languages when travelling.
For instance, I recall the train carriages in Japan having seats labelled 優先 (yuusen) which reads as gibberish chinese symbols to the common vietnamese person but those characters actually read as ưu tiên in Vietnamese (i.e. – priority seats for the elderly/pregnant women/children etc).
Another interesting time was when my Hakka-speaking father-in-law said the word "nyet nyet" when the weather was hot and I learnt this was the Hakka pronunciation of the character 熱 which is pronounced as nhiệt (i.e heat) in Viet.
Having also attended a hospital in Japan, I saw the word 病院 (byo-in in Japanese and byeong-won in Korean) which reads as Bệnh viện in Vietnamese. The list goes on!
I hope discussion of this topic sparks more interest amongst Vietnamese across the globe and knowledge of Sino-Vietnamese Han-tu eventually becomes the norm because I often see misuse of Sino-Vietnamese words and it allows Vietnamese to build deeper cultural connections with others in the east asian region who are often oblivious about our cultural similarities.
Kenneth and everyone on these podcasts are an absolute treasure to the Vietnamese community.
Please keep it going, sir!
For the two hosts, 三里不同调, 十里不同音, means " Every few miles the dialect changes, and with it the tone"
They are not dialects , they are languages with an etymological basis as rich, if not richer than Mandarin. In any event , it shouldn’t be for the government to decide what languages people speak.
Of course of course there is room for dialects.. the last i checked your minister tan see leng was not shy to use cantonese on his opposition parliamentary colleague asking a legit question!
So Singapore preserves heritage buildings but not the dialects that laid the foundations of those buildings. Sad.
i saw people online blaming late mr lee for that policy, also blaming him for closing down the old nang yang university.
What's the big hoo haa. There's nothing wrong screening dialect movies or airing dialect songs. They are aplenty on line. It's some of the top ppl in government that are ignorant and insensitive to culture and just follow rules blindly. I still remember the comedy movie "Just Follow Law". Our late Mr Lee KY spoke dialects too.
All Singapore Chinese must be able to speak their own dialects and not control by the Government. We must freedom to choose our Dialects and Mandarin.
Reject mandarin. Use Cantonese only.
In psychology, the loss of cultural identity is often understood as becoming detached from one’s heritage and struggling to maintain a sense of belonging, a process that can gradually diminish self-esteem.
Losing the ability to speak a dialect can feel like losing a part of one’s cultural identity.
I think we should take some time to reflect on this statement more carefully.