Speak Mandarin Campaign
Encyclopedia
The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC; ) is an initiative by the government of Singapore
to encourage the Singaporean Chinese
population to speak Mandarin
, one of the four official language
s of Singapore. Launched on 7 September 1979 by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
and organised by the Promote Mandarin Council, the SMC has been an annual event promoting the use of Mandarin.
with the support of leaders from the Chinese community. The decision to launch a campaign of promoting the use of Mandarin came about after a formal evaluation of Singapore’s bilingual education policy in 1978 showed that the policy was a failure. The Goh Report, an evaluation of Singapore’s education system by Dr. Goh Keng Swee
, showed that less than 40% of the student population managed to attain the minimum level of competency
in two languages. It was later found out that the learning of Mandarin among the Singaporean Chinese was hindered by the home use of non-Mandarin Chinese languages
, better known as 'dialects' in Singapore (principally Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka).
To reinforce the importance of knowing the two languages learnt in school, namely English
and Mother Tongue depending on the student’s ethnicity, the SMC was launched to rectify the problems facing the implementation of the bilingual education policy.
spoken at home for the bilingual policy to be effective. The cultural argument was that speaking Mandarin will ensure that Singaporeans remain rooted in their Asian heritage
even as they compete globally because Mandarin encompasses a cultural repository of values and traditions that is identifiable to all Chinese. The communicative argument was that having Mandarin could serve as the lingua franca
amongst Chinese in Singapore, and Mandarin is more useful outside Singapore.
Although it was initially envisioned to be a ten-year plan, the campaign has continued to be an annual event till this day.
Lee Kuan Yew
. The motivation was to discourage the use of various non-Mandarin Chinese languages
by Chinese Singaporeans and to encourage the speaking of Mandarin as a common language among the Chinese population. The campaign aimed to:
The initial goal of the campaign was for all young Chinese to stop speaking dialects in 5 years and in turn establishing Mandarin as the choice of language in public places in 10 years.
From 1979 to 1981, the Speak Mandarin Campaign was targeted at Chinese Singaporeans, in particular, specific groups such as hawkers, public transport workers, white-collar workers and senior executives, to encourage them to speak Mandarin instead of non-Mandarin Chinese languages so that they could better communicate with each other, especially among various dialect groups.
The Campaign continued in the 1990s as the country's second generation leaders, led by Goh Chok Tong
, took over the government.
In 1983, the promotion of Mandarin moved to the markets and food centres, closer to the heartlands. Between 1983 and 1987, Telecoms also offered ‘Dial for Mandarin Lessons’ services on a 24-hour basis every day. Peak-hour called averaged about 40,000.
“A need for common language between different ethnic Singaporeans or effective communication of thoughts” and to “preserve cultural roots by learning written Chinese and speaking Mandarin, since culture is transmitted through written words”, were some highlights of the campaign launching speeches in 1983.
The official speech during the launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign 2000 was given by Mr. Mah Bow Tan
, Minister for National Development. In the speech, he gave credits to the SMC for successfully establishing Mandarin as a principal language of communication amongst the Singaporean Chinese, but says that a higher standard of spoken Mandarin needs to be achieved. Having a good command of Mandarin exposes people to culture and heritage, as well as facilitating dealings with Asia
's potential economy powerhouse, China
. The community and schools have new roles to play to increase and improve the use and standards of Mandarin in Singapore.
The official speech during the launch of the campaign was given by Mr. Wong Kan Seng
, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs at the official launch. The message for that year was for “Singaporean Chinese to use Mandarin not in place of, but in addition to English as Mandarin adds so much to our cultural and personal enrichment and business effectiveness. Together with its partners, the Promote Mandarin Council is now encouraging Singaporean Chinese to go beyond just seeing Mandarin as hip or cool, but also to deepen their knowledge of the rich heritage.”
2006’s theme of the campaign is '华语 COOL', with the goals of making people deepen their appreciation of the Chinese heritage and to be able to communicate in elegant Mandarin in addition to English. The Campaign uses a lifestyle-oriented approach, revolving around movies, music and metaphors, extending the theme of “华语 COOL”. Some examples of resources of the Movies, Music and Metaphors include:
The theme song for the campaign for that year is 《我想听你说》 (wǒ xiǎng tīng nǐ shuō) by Singaporean singer, Joi Chua
.
Some of the other partners include ComfortDelgro, Lianhe ZaoBao, Mediacorp TV, STOMP, Tong Shui Café and the SAF Music & Drama Company.
For a period of 12 months starting from 5 November 2007, the campaign featured a series of fun and engaging programmes and activities by its partners. Key strands of SMC 07/08 are Sports, Culture and The Arts, Design and Lifestyle.
SPORTS
During the official launch of the campaign on 5 November 2007, Mr. Lee Swee Say, Minister in Prime Minister’s office, announced the partnership between the SMC and various sports organizations. The sports partners for 2007’s campaign include the Singapore Sports Council
(SSC), Football Association of Singapore
, the S-League, and The Cage.
The Straits Times
and STOMP! also launched a new initiative- ‘On Your Marc, Get Set, Go!’ with The Straits Times’ correspondent, Marc Lim on his Mandarin-learning journey as he picks up pointers from national athletes.
CULTURE
Going for a fresher look, the SMC’s promotional materials from outdoor advertisements to posters and collateral are designed with an edgy, vibrant and contemporary feel. Activists are also featured in the posters to encourage more Chinese Singaporeans to explore Mandarin together with them. The campaign’s theme song "挑战 (Challenge)" was created by two of the most sought-after talents in Asia’s Mandarin Pop scene - Eric Ng (composer) and Xiaohan (lyrics). The song was performed by Ngak, a good example of a predominantly English-speaking Chinese Singaporean.
Partners including Theatre Practice and Funkie Monkies Productions will be tapping on theatre and music to encourage Chinese Singaporeans to enjoy speaking Mandarin.
The Arts, Design and Lifestyle
Partners such as Night and Day – Bar+Gallery+Friends and 77th Street came together for the first time with some of Singapore’s ‘edgy’ designers to create an exciting initiative to promote SMC 07/08.
Theatre Practice also continued to make Chinese Theatre accessible to Singaporeans who are interested in Chinese Theatre and culture, thus, opening the doors to SMC’s target audience.
Other notable activities to promote Mandarin:
DADDY & MOMMY MANDARIN STORYTELLING COMPETITION 2008
Presented by Eduplus Language Centre and supported by Speak Mandarin Campaign and National Library Board
, the Daddy & Mommy Mandarin Storytelling competition is a unique opportunity for the whole family to learn, play and perform on the stage together! It was held at Woodlands Regional Library on 21 June 2008.
The 2009 SMC started with a series of videos on foreign children speaking correctly pronounced and fluent Chinese, showed that anyone can learn Chinese, that it is not something only the Chinese people can acquire. The video shows foreign children talking about either Chinese myths or other Chinese related culture. The Promote Mandarin Council is trying to alert Singaporeans to embrace Singaporean heritage and pass it on to the next generation.
Another purpose of these “Be heard in Chinese” videos was not to mock Singaporeans who are born Chinese but cannot speak Chinese Instead, to remind parents to create a learning environment for their children to get to know Chinese via culture and knowledge instead of seeing it as a tool to venture into the China market.
In the following year, the SMC started a series of promotion on “The Chinese Challenge”, whereby it moved to a wider audience and became more general. The main purpose of “The Chinese Challenge”, which is an online contest, is to provide an interactive platform to encourage Singaporeans and even Permanent Residents to enjoy and improve their Mandarin and deepen their knowledge of Chinese culture through experiencing the finest in Chinese culture and language. Therefore, it is not to just asking people to learn Chinese, but also to create an environment that allows them to learn Chinese effectively.
In addition, in order to attract more youths towards speaking and knowing Chinese, in 2010 “The Chinese Challenge” added the student category so as to reach out to more youths.
Initially in 1979, where the campaign first started, use of dialects was removed systematically from all public domains. Government officers including those in hospitals were not allowed to use dialects except to those over 60 years old. People in the service line were also made to communicate in Mandarin instead of dialects.
Excerpted from a speech made by Mr Lee Kuan Yew
in 1979:
The use of dialects in Singapore is also discouraged with the help of the censorship of movies and drama series. For instance, the membership board stopped authorising dialect films and videos unless they were dubbed in Mandarin. The use of dialects in local broadcast media is also banned although a few Chinese radio stations do have news in Teochew to cater to the older populations. These news however do not occupy prime time slots and only lasted a few minutes. Access to foreign media in non-Mandarin Chinese languages is limited and also difficult. In addition, in collaboration with Speak Mandarin Campaign, Golden Village has started to show more Chinese movies especially of local production to increase the awareness for speaking Mandarin.
One of the most influential implementations that the Speak Mandarin Campaign has used is The Straits Times. For instance, as part of the campaign to promote greater use for Chinese, the English newspaper would publish daily Mandarin vocabulary lessons in order to help Singaporeans improve their standard for Mandarin.
Other ways of encouraging people to learn Chinese is to sign up for speak Mandarin courses, listen to Chinese music, explore online resources and download audio lessons, which can be found in the official website of Speak Mandarin Campaign. Besides, in 2005, there were publications of CD-ROMs and tapes on Mandarin lessons, handbooks of English-Chinese terms as well as telephone Mandarin lessons to help people to learn Mandarin. Notably, in 2006, My paper
which was published by the Singapore Press Holdings became the first free Chinese newspaper to be given out in Singapore. In 2008, My paper
went from being a Chinese newspaper into a bilingual newspaper and the circulation rate hit 300,000.
Education is one of the most effective way to promote use of Mandarin. In year 2004, Singapore government specially set up a committee to review methods for teaching Chinese courses, whereby creative Chinese writing courses were set up in schools in 2005, as a way to intrigue and engage students in learning Chinese. Also, other education organizations such as Nanyang Technological University
has set up a Chinese faculty and even collaborates with Confucius Institute to help train teachers with regards to Chinese language, to improve the standard of Chinese education in Singapore and in order to influence people with regards to the use of Chinese.
Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
, a native English speaker who had learned Mandarin later in life, expressed his concern about the declining proficiency of Mandarin among younger Singaporeans. In a parliamentary speech, he said:
Following this, in June 2005, Lee published a book, Keeping My Mandarin Alive, documenting his decades of effort to master Mandarin — a language which he had to re-learn due to disuse:
In the same year 2005, the campaign started to rebrand Chinese by using local artists and cool leisure activities, hence the birth of the slogan “Mandarin, Cool!”.
The success of the campaign was evident 20 years from the launch of the campaign. The campaign has significantly reduced the number of dialect speakers in Singapore. The use of Chinese dialect at home dropped from 81.4% in 1980 to 30.7% in 2000. Meanwhile, households that claimed to use Mandarin as the dominant language at home increased from 10.2% in 1980 to 35% in 2000.
and intentional language elimination
.
Lee Kuan Yew himself recognized this and acknowledged that for many Chinese Singaporeans, Mandarin is a "stepmother tongue" and "dialect is the real mother tongue". Further, in 2009, in spite of the ongoing 华文？谁怕谁 (Be heard in Chinese) movement, Lee admitted that the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in schools went the “wrong way” and that due to his insistence on bilingualism, “successive generations of students paid a heavy price”. In June 2010, Lee also said that "Mandarin is important but it remains a second language in Singapore".
Non-Chinese language communities (principally the Malay
s and Tamil
s), on the other hand, have argued that the effort placed into promoting Mandarin weakens the role of English as Singapore's lingua franca
and threatens to marginalize Singapore's minorities. Some have expressed concern that requirements of Mandarin fluency or literacy could be used to discriminate against non-Chinese minorities. Current employment laws prohibit racial discrimination but employers often circumvent this by requiring applicants to be bilingual (presumably in Mandarin and English).
The Speak Mandarin Campaign which sees the promotion of Mandarin over other Chinese dialects, has effectively led to a reduction in the number of dialect speakers in Singapore today. With the success however, concerns were raised on the issues of preservation of these other Chinese dialects. In March 2009, when The Straits Times
, a newspaper published by the Singapore Press Holdings
ran an article on a Language and Diversity Symposium organised by the Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies at Nanyang Technological University
. The Acting Head of the Division, Dr Ng Bee Chin, was quoted in the article as saying,
The article soon caught the attention of Mr Chee Hong Tat, the Principal Private Secretary of Minister Mentor
Lee Kuan Yew
. In the letter from Mr Chee to the editor in The Straits Times Forum, he highlighted the importance of English and Mandarin over dialects and spoke of how speaking dialects ultimately "interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English”. He also added that "it would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin."
The comment made by Mr Chee attracted many replies and was said by many to be highly insensitive. There was much negative reaction online showing that many people, presumably the older generation, still hold a strong attachment to their dialects.
Government of Singapore
The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check...
to encourage the Singaporean Chinese
Singaporean Chinese
Singaporean Chinese may refer to:* Chinese Singaporean, the citizens or residents of Singapore who are of Chinese ancestry* Singaporean Mandarin, the dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in Singapore...
population to speak Mandarin
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, one of the four official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
s of Singapore. Launched on 7 September 1979 by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
and organised by the Promote Mandarin Council, the SMC has been an annual event promoting the use of Mandarin.
Background
The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC), or the ‘Promote the Use of Mandarin Campaign’ as it was first known, was launched in 1979 by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan YewLee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
with the support of leaders from the Chinese community. The decision to launch a campaign of promoting the use of Mandarin came about after a formal evaluation of Singapore’s bilingual education policy in 1978 showed that the policy was a failure. The Goh Report, an evaluation of Singapore’s education system by Dr. Goh Keng Swee
Goh Keng Swee
Goh Keng Swee was the second Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1973 and 1984, and a Member of Parliament for the Kreta Ayer constituency for a quarter of a century. Born in Malacca in the Straits Settlements into a Peranakan family, he came to Singapore at the age of two years...
, showed that less than 40% of the student population managed to attain the minimum level of competency
Linguistic competence
Linguistic competence is the system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language, it is in contrast to the concept of Linguistic performance, the way the language system is used in communication...
in two languages. It was later found out that the learning of Mandarin among the Singaporean Chinese was hindered by the home use of non-Mandarin Chinese languages
Spoken Chinese
Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...
, better known as 'dialects' in Singapore (principally Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka).
To reinforce the importance of knowing the two languages learnt in school, namely English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Mother Tongue depending on the student’s ethnicity, the SMC was launched to rectify the problems facing the implementation of the bilingual education policy.
Ideology
The Singapore government backed up the idea of the campaign with three key arguments: Educational, Cultural and Communicative. The educational argument was that Mandarin should replace dialects such as HokkienSingaporean Hokkien
Singaporean Hokkien is a local variant of the Hokkien dialect spoken in Singapore. It is closely related to the Southern Malaysian Hokkien spoken in Southern Malaysia as well as Riau Hokkien spoken in the Indonesian province of Riau...
spoken at home for the bilingual policy to be effective. The cultural argument was that speaking Mandarin will ensure that Singaporeans remain rooted in their Asian heritage
even as they compete globally because Mandarin encompasses a cultural repository of values and traditions that is identifiable to all Chinese. The communicative argument was that having Mandarin could serve as the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
amongst Chinese in Singapore, and Mandarin is more useful outside Singapore.
Although it was initially envisioned to be a ten-year plan, the campaign has continued to be an annual event till this day.
Motivation
The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) was launched in 1979 by then Prime MinisterPrime Minister of Singapore
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore is the head of the government of the Republic of Singapore. The President of Singapore appoints as Prime Minister a Member of Parliament who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of a majority of MPs.The office of Prime Minister...
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
. The motivation was to discourage the use of various non-Mandarin Chinese languages
Spoken Chinese
Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...
by Chinese Singaporeans and to encourage the speaking of Mandarin as a common language among the Chinese population. The campaign aimed to:
- Simplify the language environment and understanding amongst Chinese Singaporeans.
- Improve communication and understanding amongst Chinese Singaporeans.
- Create a Mandarin-speaking environment conducive to the successful implementation of the bilingual education programme.
The initial goal of the campaign was for all young Chinese to stop speaking dialects in 5 years and in turn establishing Mandarin as the choice of language in public places in 10 years.
From 1979 to 1981, the Speak Mandarin Campaign was targeted at Chinese Singaporeans, in particular, specific groups such as hawkers, public transport workers, white-collar workers and senior executives, to encourage them to speak Mandarin instead of non-Mandarin Chinese languages so that they could better communicate with each other, especially among various dialect groups.
The Campaign continued in the 1990s as the country's second generation leaders, led by Goh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong is the Senior Minister of Singapore and the chairman of the central bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He also served as the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 28 November 1990 to 12 August 2004, succeeding Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime...
, took over the government.
"For the Chinese community, our aim should be a single people, speaking the same primary language, possessing a distinct culture and a shared past, and sharing a common destiny for the future. Such a Chinese community will then be tightly knit. Provided it is also tolerant and appreciative of the other communities' heritage, able to communicate with them in English, and work with them for a common future, Singapore will grow to become a nation."
- — PM Goh Chok TongGoh Chok TongGoh Chok Tong is the Senior Minister of Singapore and the chairman of the central bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He also served as the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 28 November 1990 to 12 August 2004, succeeding Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime...
, 1991 Speak Mandarin Campaign Launch
Evolution
The focus of SMC first started with encouraging more people, especially the young to speak Mandarin in place of dialects, hence allowing people from different dialectal groups to communicate better with a common language and at the same time, reducing barriers between the different groups resulting from the use of different dialects. This is important in the unification of all Chinese in Singapore especially after independence. To meet the demands of globalisation and other economic challenge as a young nation, the government began to place greater emphasis on English. As a result, many English-educated Chinese Singaporeans began to lose their Mandarin or Chinese language skills. With a new target group in mind, the direction of the campaign began to undergo a change in 1991. With the original intention of getting people to speak Mandarin so that they would not speak dialects, it has morphed into a campaign aimed at encouraging English-speaking and educated Chinese to speak more Mandarin. In 1994, the SMC specifically targeted English-educated business professionals and working adults. It promoted the use of Mandarin to keep their links to cultural roots so as to better appreciate the heritage and value and most importantly complement the economical aspects as China began to rise in the business sector. However, recently, through The Chinese Challenge, we can see that the SMC has moved towards a cultural aspect, whereby its main focus is to promote Singaporeans to hold on to their "roots", knowing their own culture well.Specific Yearly Campaigns
In this section we summarise the yearly campaigns that make up the SMC.| Year | Target Audience | Chinese Slogan | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Chinese Community | 多讲华语，少说方言 duō jiǎng huá yǔ，shǎo shuō fāng yán | Speak More Mandarin, Speak Less Dialects |
| 1981 | Chinese Community | 学华语，讲华语 xué huá yǔ，jiǎng huá yǔ | Learn Mandarin, Speak Mandarin |
| 1982 | Work Place | 在工作场所讲华语 zài gōng zuò chǎng suǒ jiǎng huá yǔ | Speak Mandarin while at work |
| 1983 | Markets & Food Centres | 华人讲华语，合情又合理 huá rén jiǎng huá yǔ，hé qíng yòu hé lǐ | Mandarin’s In. Dialect’s Out |
| 1984 | Chinese Parents | 请讲华语，儿女的前途，操在您手里 qǐng jiǎng huá yǔ，ér nǚ de qián tú ，cāo zài nín shǒu lǐ | Speak Mandarin. Your children’s future depends on your effort today |
| 1985 | Public Transport Workers | 华人•华语 huá rén •huá yǔ | Mandarin is Chinese |
| 1986 | Food and Drink Establishments | 先开口讲华语，皆大欢喜 xiān kāi kǒu jiǎng huá yǔ，jiē dà huān xǐ | Start with Mandarin, not Dialect |
| 1987 | Shopping Centres | 会讲华语，先讲常讲huì jiǎng huá yǔ，xiān jiǎng cháng jiǎng | Start with Mandarin, speak it more often |
| 1988 | White Collar Workers | 多讲华语，亲切便利duō jiǎng huá yǔ，qīn qiē biàn lì | Better with more Mandarin, less dialect |
| 1989 | Chinese community | 常讲华语，自然流利cháng jiǎng huá yǔ，zì rán liú lì | More Mandarin, Less Dialect. Make it a way of life |
| 1990 | Senior Executives | 华人•华语huá rén •huá yǔ | Mandarin is Chinese |
| 1991 | English educated Chinese Singaporeans | 学习华语认识文化xué xí huá yǔ rèn shí wén huà | Mandarin for Chinese Singaporeans: More Than a Language |
| 1992 | English educated Chinese Singaporeans | 用华语表心意 yòng huá yǔ biǎo xīn yì | Say it in Mandarin |
| 1993 | English educated Chinese Singaporeans | 讲华语•受益多jiǎng huá yǔ •shòu yì duō | Speak Mandarin. It helps |
| 1994/1995 | English educated Chinese and business professionals | 华语多讲流利 huá yǔ duō jiǎng liú lì | Mandarin. Use It or Lose It |
| 1996/1997 | English educated Chinese working adults | 讲华语开创新天地 jiǎng huá yǔ kāi chuàng xīn tiān dì | Speak Mandarin, explore New Horizons |
| 1998/1999 | English educated Chinese working adults | 讲华语.好处多 jiǎng huá yǔ .hǎo chù duō | Speak Mandarin, It's An Asset |
| 2000 | 讲华语？没问题！ jiǎng huá yǔ? méi wèn tí! | Speak Mandarin? No problem! | |
| 2006/2007 | Post-1965 English Speaking Chinese Singaporeans | 华语COOL huá yǔ COOL | Mandarin Cool! |
| 2007/2008 | Post-1965 English Speaking Chinese Singaporeans | 讲华语, 你肯吗? jiǎng huá yǔ , nǐ kěn ma? | Speak Mandarin, are You Game? |
| 2009/2010 | Youths | 华文？谁怕谁！ huá wén? sheí pà sheí! | Be Heard in Chinese! |
1983
华人讲华语，合情又合理 (Mandarin's In. Dialect's Out)In 1983, the promotion of Mandarin moved to the markets and food centres, closer to the heartlands. Between 1983 and 1987, Telecoms also offered ‘Dial for Mandarin Lessons’ services on a 24-hour basis every day. Peak-hour called averaged about 40,000.
“A need for common language between different ethnic Singaporeans or effective communication of thoughts” and to “preserve cultural roots by learning written Chinese and speaking Mandarin, since culture is transmitted through written words”, were some highlights of the campaign launching speeches in 1983.
2000
讲华语？没问题！Speak Mandarin? No problem!- The Campaign was officially launched at the premiere of a Chinese movie "A Tale of the Sacred Mountain".
- The Mandarin Film Festival was the first film festival organised by the Promote Mandarin Council. It was held from 17 to 22 September at the Golden Village Grand, Great World City. The Festival screened 12 critically acclaimed films produced by some of China's best producers and directors.
- Singapore's first Mandarin a cappella CD album entitled "A Cappella Fanatix, Mandarin A Cappella" was jointly produced by Young Musicians' Society and the Promote Mandarin Council.
- The forum entitled "Mandarin for the Family" was held on 18 November. The speakers comprised educationists who discussed teaching methods for the learning of Chinese, as well as well-known personalities who shared their experiences in learning Mandarin and using it both at home and in the office.
- The Chinese Heritage Series, which comprises arts and cultural performances ranging from 新谣xinyaoXinyaoXinyao is a Chinese noun comprising two words: Xin which literally means new and Yao for song. The extended form is actually "Xin jia po ge yao" , which simply means Singapore songs. It is a genre of songs that is unique to Singapore, where the songs are composed and sung by Singaporeans and are...
, hand puppet to Chinese Orchestra was held at various shopping malls. - SMC celebrities' web chats - a series of web chats with well-known artistes and personalities was held.
- A Speak Mandarin Campaign commemorative book entitled "Mandarin: The Chinese Connection"(华人，华语，华文） was produced.
- The first CD-ROM on learning Mandarin was produced. Entitled "Speak Mandarin? No problem!" （讲华语？没问题！）, it is an interactive learning CD-ROM which caters to adults who know basic Mandarin and have a desire to improve it.
The official speech during the launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign 2000 was given by Mr. Mah Bow Tan
Mah Bow Tan
Mah Bow Tan is a politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party , he is currently a Member of Parliament representing the Tampines Group Representation Constituency...
, Minister for National Development. In the speech, he gave credits to the SMC for successfully establishing Mandarin as a principal language of communication amongst the Singaporean Chinese, but says that a higher standard of spoken Mandarin needs to be achieved. Having a good command of Mandarin exposes people to culture and heritage, as well as facilitating dealings with Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
's potential economy powerhouse, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The community and schools have new roles to play to increase and improve the use and standards of Mandarin in Singapore.
2006/ 07
华语 COOL! (Mandarin COOL!)The official speech during the launch of the campaign was given by Mr. Wong Kan Seng
Wong Kan Seng
Wong Kan Seng is a politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party , he served as the country's Deputy Prime Minister from 2005 to 2011...
, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs at the official launch. The message for that year was for “Singaporean Chinese to use Mandarin not in place of, but in addition to English as Mandarin adds so much to our cultural and personal enrichment and business effectiveness. Together with its partners, the Promote Mandarin Council is now encouraging Singaporean Chinese to go beyond just seeing Mandarin as hip or cool, but also to deepen their knowledge of the rich heritage.”
2006’s theme of the campaign is '华语 COOL', with the goals of making people deepen their appreciation of the Chinese heritage and to be able to communicate in elegant Mandarin in addition to English. The Campaign uses a lifestyle-oriented approach, revolving around movies, music and metaphors, extending the theme of “华语 COOL”. Some examples of resources of the Movies, Music and Metaphors include:
- Mandarin Rocks @ K Box
- MusicNet Song Book with Hanyu PinYin
- 成语 365 (一天一句) ‘Idioms 365, an Idiom a Day’ by the PanPac Education
- CoolSpeak! Column In Sunday Times
- Huayu Cool on 938LIVE
- Straits Times’ new “成语 Cool” (Idiom Cool)
The theme song for the campaign for that year is 《我想听你说》 (wǒ xiǎng tīng nǐ shuō) by Singaporean singer, Joi Chua
Joi Chua
Joi Chua or Joi Tsai is a Singaporean female singer signed under Play Music.Joi was educated at Raffles Girls' Primary School, Clementi Town Secondary School, and Singapore Polytechnic in Optometry....
.
Some of the other partners include ComfortDelgro, Lianhe ZaoBao, Mediacorp TV, STOMP, Tong Shui Café and the SAF Music & Drama Company.
2007/ 08
To promote Mandarin as an enjoyable, fun and a living language via popular lifestyle activities to show how Chinese Singaporeans can embrace Mandarin in their daily lives was the aim of SMC in 2007/ 08. The tagline is ‘讲华语, 你肯吗?’ (Speak Mandarin - Are You Game?). SMC also retains its “华语 Cool!” branding which is now familiar and popular among Chinese Singaporeans.For a period of 12 months starting from 5 November 2007, the campaign featured a series of fun and engaging programmes and activities by its partners. Key strands of SMC 07/08 are Sports, Culture and The Arts, Design and Lifestyle.
SPORTS
During the official launch of the campaign on 5 November 2007, Mr. Lee Swee Say, Minister in Prime Minister’s office, announced the partnership between the SMC and various sports organizations. The sports partners for 2007’s campaign include the Singapore Sports Council
Singapore Sports Council
The Singapore Sports Council is a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports of the Singapore Government...
(SSC), Football Association of Singapore
Football Association of Singapore
The Football Association of Singapore is the governing body of football in Singapore. It was founded in 1952. Prior to that, the Singapore Amateur Football Association, founded in 1892, was the governing body for football in Singapore...
, the S-League, and The Cage.
The Straits Times
The Straits Times
The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings . It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a current daily circulation of nearly 400,000...
and STOMP! also launched a new initiative- ‘On Your Marc, Get Set, Go!’ with The Straits Times’ correspondent, Marc Lim on his Mandarin-learning journey as he picks up pointers from national athletes.
CULTURE
Going for a fresher look, the SMC’s promotional materials from outdoor advertisements to posters and collateral are designed with an edgy, vibrant and contemporary feel. Activists are also featured in the posters to encourage more Chinese Singaporeans to explore Mandarin together with them. The campaign’s theme song "挑战 (Challenge)" was created by two of the most sought-after talents in Asia’s Mandarin Pop scene - Eric Ng (composer) and Xiaohan (lyrics). The song was performed by Ngak, a good example of a predominantly English-speaking Chinese Singaporean.
Partners including Theatre Practice and Funkie Monkies Productions will be tapping on theatre and music to encourage Chinese Singaporeans to enjoy speaking Mandarin.
The Arts, Design and Lifestyle
Partners such as Night and Day – Bar+Gallery+Friends and 77th Street came together for the first time with some of Singapore’s ‘edgy’ designers to create an exciting initiative to promote SMC 07/08.
Theatre Practice also continued to make Chinese Theatre accessible to Singaporeans who are interested in Chinese Theatre and culture, thus, opening the doors to SMC’s target audience.
Other notable activities to promote Mandarin:
DADDY & MOMMY MANDARIN STORYTELLING COMPETITION 2008
Presented by Eduplus Language Centre and supported by Speak Mandarin Campaign and National Library Board
National Library Board
The National Library Board is a statutory board of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Singapore...
, the Daddy & Mommy Mandarin Storytelling competition is a unique opportunity for the whole family to learn, play and perform on the stage together! It was held at Woodlands Regional Library on 21 June 2008.
2009/ 10
华文？谁怕谁(Be heard in Chinese)The 2009 SMC started with a series of videos on foreign children speaking correctly pronounced and fluent Chinese, showed that anyone can learn Chinese, that it is not something only the Chinese people can acquire. The video shows foreign children talking about either Chinese myths or other Chinese related culture. The Promote Mandarin Council is trying to alert Singaporeans to embrace Singaporean heritage and pass it on to the next generation.
Another purpose of these “Be heard in Chinese” videos was not to mock Singaporeans who are born Chinese but cannot speak Chinese Instead, to remind parents to create a learning environment for their children to get to know Chinese via culture and knowledge instead of seeing it as a tool to venture into the China market.
In the following year, the SMC started a series of promotion on “The Chinese Challenge”, whereby it moved to a wider audience and became more general. The main purpose of “The Chinese Challenge”, which is an online contest, is to provide an interactive platform to encourage Singaporeans and even Permanent Residents to enjoy and improve their Mandarin and deepen their knowledge of Chinese culture through experiencing the finest in Chinese culture and language. Therefore, it is not to just asking people to learn Chinese, but also to create an environment that allows them to learn Chinese effectively.
In addition, in order to attract more youths towards speaking and knowing Chinese, in 2010 “The Chinese Challenge” added the student category so as to reach out to more youths.
Implementation
The Speak Mandarin Campaign is a year-round campaign, which uses publicity and activities in the community to create awareness and to facilitate the learning of Mandarin. Every year, the Speak Mandarin Campaign will collaborate with different partners to reach out to a wider scope of audience. For instance, in 2005, the partners of Speak Mandarin Campaign, which are the Singapore Zoological Gardens and Singapore Night Safari, started to add Chinese interpretation for signs and directions and even the pamphlet were written in Chinese. By doing so, not only does it help tourists from China, it also helps create a learning environment for local children to learn Chinese.Initially in 1979, where the campaign first started, use of dialects was removed systematically from all public domains. Government officers including those in hospitals were not allowed to use dialects except to those over 60 years old. People in the service line were also made to communicate in Mandarin instead of dialects.
Excerpted from a speech made by Mr Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
in 1979:
" All government officers including those in hospitals and clinics, and especially those in manning counters, will be instructed to speak Mandarin except to the old, those over 60... All Chinese taxi-drivers, bus conductors, and hawkers can and will be required to pass an oral Mandarin test, or to attend Mandarin classes to make them adequate and competent to understand and speak Mandarin to their customers. "
The use of dialects in Singapore is also discouraged with the help of the censorship of movies and drama series. For instance, the membership board stopped authorising dialect films and videos unless they were dubbed in Mandarin. The use of dialects in local broadcast media is also banned although a few Chinese radio stations do have news in Teochew to cater to the older populations. These news however do not occupy prime time slots and only lasted a few minutes. Access to foreign media in non-Mandarin Chinese languages is limited and also difficult. In addition, in collaboration with Speak Mandarin Campaign, Golden Village has started to show more Chinese movies especially of local production to increase the awareness for speaking Mandarin.
One of the most influential implementations that the Speak Mandarin Campaign has used is The Straits Times. For instance, as part of the campaign to promote greater use for Chinese, the English newspaper would publish daily Mandarin vocabulary lessons in order to help Singaporeans improve their standard for Mandarin.
Other ways of encouraging people to learn Chinese is to sign up for speak Mandarin courses, listen to Chinese music, explore online resources and download audio lessons, which can be found in the official website of Speak Mandarin Campaign. Besides, in 2005, there were publications of CD-ROMs and tapes on Mandarin lessons, handbooks of English-Chinese terms as well as telephone Mandarin lessons to help people to learn Mandarin. Notably, in 2006, My paper
My paper
My Paper is a free, bilingual newspaper in Singapore published by the Singapore Press Holdings....
which was published by the Singapore Press Holdings became the first free Chinese newspaper to be given out in Singapore. In 2008, My paper
My paper
My Paper is a free, bilingual newspaper in Singapore published by the Singapore Press Holdings....
went from being a Chinese newspaper into a bilingual newspaper and the circulation rate hit 300,000.
Education is one of the most effective way to promote use of Mandarin. In year 2004, Singapore government specially set up a committee to review methods for teaching Chinese courses, whereby creative Chinese writing courses were set up in schools in 2005, as a way to intrigue and engage students in learning Chinese. Also, other education organizations such as Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Technological University is one of the two largest public universities in Singapore with the biggest campus in Singapore and the world's largest engineering college. Its lush 200-hectare Yunnan Garden campus was the Youth Olympic Village of the world's first 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in...
has set up a Chinese faculty and even collaborates with Confucius Institute to help train teachers with regards to Chinese language, to improve the standard of Chinese education in Singapore and in order to influence people with regards to the use of Chinese.
Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
, a native English speaker who had learned Mandarin later in life, expressed his concern about the declining proficiency of Mandarin among younger Singaporeans. In a parliamentary speech, he said:
"Singaporeans must learn to juggle English and Mandarin". Therefore, he launched a television program, 华语!, in January 2005, in an attempt to attract young viewers to learn Mandarin.
Following this, in June 2005, Lee published a book, Keeping My Mandarin Alive, documenting his decades of effort to master Mandarin — a language which he had to re-learn due to disuse:
"...because I don't use it so much, therefore it gets disused and there's language loss. Then I have to revive it. It's a terrible problem because learning it in adult life, it hasn't got the same roots in your memory."
In the same year 2005, the campaign started to rebrand Chinese by using local artists and cool leisure activities, hence the birth of the slogan “Mandarin, Cool!”.
Outcome
| Language Spoken at Home Among Chinese Resident Population in Singapore | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Predominant Household Language | 1957 (%) | 1980 (%) | 2000 (%) | ||
| English | 1.8 | 11.6 | 23 | ||
| Mandarin | 0.1 | 10.2 | 35 | ||
| Chinese Dialects | 97 | 81.4 | 30.7 | ||
The success of the campaign was evident 20 years from the launch of the campaign. The campaign has significantly reduced the number of dialect speakers in Singapore. The use of Chinese dialect at home dropped from 81.4% in 1980 to 30.7% in 2000. Meanwhile, households that claimed to use Mandarin as the dominant language at home increased from 10.2% in 1980 to 35% in 2000.
Criticism
The Speak Mandarin Campaign has come under criticism from several fronts. Non-Mandarin Chinese language speakers have complained that their children have to study two foreign languages — English and Mandarin. This is contrasted to a possible alternative policy of English and their native language, and that the emphasis on Mandarin threatens family ties, as older generations are often not conversant in Mandarin (unless it is their native tongue). Some critics include that the Mandarin education system's goal of promoting cultural identity has left many younger generations of Mandarin speakers unable to communicate with their non-Mandarin Chinese language-speaking grandparents. They have also compared the policy to that of RussificationRussification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
and intentional language elimination
Language death
In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...
.
Lee Kuan Yew himself recognized this and acknowledged that for many Chinese Singaporeans, Mandarin is a "stepmother tongue" and "dialect is the real mother tongue". Further, in 2009, in spite of the ongoing 华文？谁怕谁 (Be heard in Chinese) movement, Lee admitted that the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in schools went the “wrong way” and that due to his insistence on bilingualism, “successive generations of students paid a heavy price”. In June 2010, Lee also said that "Mandarin is important but it remains a second language in Singapore".
Non-Chinese language communities (principally the Malay
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
s and Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
s), on the other hand, have argued that the effort placed into promoting Mandarin weakens the role of English as Singapore's lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
and threatens to marginalize Singapore's minorities. Some have expressed concern that requirements of Mandarin fluency or literacy could be used to discriminate against non-Chinese minorities. Current employment laws prohibit racial discrimination but employers often circumvent this by requiring applicants to be bilingual (presumably in Mandarin and English).
The Speak Mandarin Campaign which sees the promotion of Mandarin over other Chinese dialects, has effectively led to a reduction in the number of dialect speakers in Singapore today. With the success however, concerns were raised on the issues of preservation of these other Chinese dialects. In March 2009, when The Straits Times
The Straits Times
The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings . It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a current daily circulation of nearly 400,000...
, a newspaper published by the Singapore Press Holdings
Singapore Press Holdings
Singapore Press Holdings Limited is a media organisation in Singapore with businesses in print, Internet and new media, television and radio, outdoor media, and property. SPH has over 4,000 employees, including a team of approximately 1,000 journalists, including correspondents operating around...
ran an article on a Language and Diversity Symposium organised by the Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies at Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Technological University is one of the two largest public universities in Singapore with the biggest campus in Singapore and the world's largest engineering college. Its lush 200-hectare Yunnan Garden campus was the Youth Olympic Village of the world's first 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in...
. The Acting Head of the Division, Dr Ng Bee Chin, was quoted in the article as saying,
"Although Singaporeans are still multilingual, 40 years ago, we were even more multilingual. Young children are not speaking some of these languages at all any more. All it takes is one generation for a language to die."
The article soon caught the attention of Mr Chee Hong Tat, the Principal Private Secretary of Minister Mentor
Minister Mentor
Minister Mentor is a Singapore cabinet position created in 2004 as part of a leadership transition.The newly appointed Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong , announced Lee Kuan Yew's new title together with the naming of his Cabinet on August 12, 2004...
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
. In the letter from Mr Chee to the editor in The Straits Times Forum, he highlighted the importance of English and Mandarin over dialects and spoke of how speaking dialects ultimately "interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English”. He also added that "it would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin."
The comment made by Mr Chee attracted many replies and was said by many to be highly insensitive. There was much negative reaction online showing that many people, presumably the older generation, still hold a strong attachment to their dialects.
See also
- Languages of Singapore
- Speak Good English MovementSpeak Good English MovementThe Speak Good English Movement is a Singapore Government campaign to "encourage Singaporeans to speak grammatically correct English that is universally understood".It was launched by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on 29 April 2000...
- Singaporean MandarinSingaporean MandarinSingaporean Mandarin is a variety of Mandarin Chinese widely spoken in Singapore. It is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English, Malay and Tamil....
- Singaporean HokkienSingaporean HokkienSingaporean Hokkien is a local variant of the Hokkien dialect spoken in Singapore. It is closely related to the Southern Malaysian Hokkien spoken in Southern Malaysia as well as Riau Hokkien spoken in the Indonesian province of Riau...