Review of Speak Mandarin Campaign and Stance on Chinese Dialects

Ms Eileen Chong Pei Shan asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether the Ministry’s assessment of the effectiveness of the Speak Mandarin Campaign includes any indicators of the campaign’s impact on the use and transmission of Chinese dialects; and (b) if not, how does the Ministry track whether dialects remain in active use, in view of the position that dialects are part of Singapore’s cultural heritage.

Ms Eileen Chong Pei Shan asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether the Ministry has reviewed if the Speak Mandarin Campaign framing remains suited to today’s conditions; and (b) whether the Ministry will evolve its approach so that promoting Mandarin no longer comes at the expense of preserving Chinese dialects as heritage.

The Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched in 1979. By promoting a common language across the Chinese community, it helps Chinese Singaporeans from different dialect backgrounds to communicate with one another and it preserves access to the Chinese culture through Mandarin, rather than through separate dialects.

By simplifying the linguistic environment, it also gives our bilingual policy the best chance to succeed. These objectives remain valid today.

The Promote Mandarin Council, which comprises distinguished private and public individuals across all different sectors who are volunteers, regularly reviews the campaign to keep its framing, approach and objectives relevant and meaningful in Singapore's multicultural context. It is important to do so as the language environment continues to evolve.

Singapore families are using English more at home and much as our young want to be better at Mandarin, the opportunities to do so may be insufficient. So, hence the campaign has evolved from promoting Mandarin as a common language, to strengthening their appreciation for our Singapore Chinese cultural identity and making the learning of Mandarin fun and enjoyable. Its current tag line, "讲华语，我也可以"，or "Speak Mandarin? Yes, I can", encourages everyone to learn Mandarin even as English becomes more dominant in daily life.

In education, the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Ministry of Education are setting aside more curriculum time to expose young Chinese students to Mandarin. For older students, we provide opportunities to those with the aptitude and interest to develop into bicultural talents. It is a challenging task and our Chinese teachers are working very hard. We will continue to do our best to continue to uphold the bilingual policy.

As the use of English continues to displace mother tongues, the use of dialects in Singapore, has continued to decline. We increasingly see dialect artistic materials, not as competing against the use of Mandarin, but as part of our heritage and cultural practices that deepen Singaporeans' appreciation of our cultural heritage. Hence, the National Arts Council supports arts groups that practises traditional forms of dialect cultures such as the Siong Leng Musical Association, which preserves Nanyin and Nam Hwa Opera, the Teochew opera group. The National Heritage Board recognises and supports practitioners and groups that transmit Chinese dialect culture. Clan associations, such as the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan or the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan and Hainan Hwee Kuan also conduct regular dialect classes for interested Singaporeans.

Our linguistic diversity and heritage are distinctive parts of Singapore Chinese culture. The Government welcomes ideas to preserve dialect cultures while upholding the importance of Mandarin. We will continue to take in feedback and we will work with the community to consider carefully what further steps are appropriate to support and to promote our distinctive Singapore Chinese culture within our multicultural society.