Here’s a social campaign to teach dialects, this time supported by the G’ovt From 1979, Singapore had a Speak Mandarin campaign — in line with the bilingual policy — to improve communication between the dialect groups and take up Mandarin in place of their dialects. Chinese dialects such as Hokkien, Cantonese, and Teochew were eschewed for Mandarin, in an effort to unite the Chinese community in Singapore. As a indirect or direct result of this campaign, there was a decrease in the number of predominantly dialect speaking households. In 2014, Society of Social Work Students from National University Singapore (NUS) launched an initiative to teach dialect classes to social work students. However, this activity was not government-backed and came and went with little attention. 36 years after the Speak Mandarin Movement, My Father Tongue, a social campaign to “revitalise the use of dialects [Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese] amongst Singaporean youths”, was launched. This time, with the backing of the National Youth Council (NYC) and People’s Association, My Father Tongue wants Singaporeans to rediscover the magic of forgotten dialects. So we’re learning dialects again? My Father Tongue comes in three parts: online learning, offline learning through classes, and an application of knowledge via a final event. The social campaign was founded […]
8 years ago
