Dennis Tan: More younger Singaporeans are losing touch with Chinese dialects

SINGAPORE: In a June 17 (Wednesday) Facebook post, Workers’ Party Member of Parliament (WP MP) Dennis Tan (Hougang) touched on the Chinese film Dear You. Though originally a Teochew-language drama, it was largely released in Singapore dubbed in Mandarin.

Mr Tan wrote that this has “sparked a vital conversation on the issue of preserving our dialect heritage” and noted that in Hougang, many residents often use dialects, giving the example of popes using Teochew or Hokkien in greetings or conversations at the kopitiam, or even for Meet-the-People Session cases.

He added, however, that there are fewer younger Singaporean Chinese who do so.

“I have come to believe that our dialect group heritage is as much a part of our Singaporean Chinese cultural heritage as any of the customs we more readily celebrate; to lose it would mean losing not just a way of speaking, but a way of remembering, the culture, customs, and food that come bundled together with the dialect itself. Our Chinese dialects—whether Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, or Hainanese—are the living, breathing repositories of our forefathers’ journeys, customs, and identity,” he wrote.

Mr Tan, who is an Honorary Advisor with the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, said that groups of this kind work hard to keep this part of the culture alive, adding that he has spoken up in Parliament on the importance of promoting learning and speaking dialects, together with the knowledge of customs, practices, and culture of Singapore’s different dialect groups.

He has also asked for programmes in Chinese dialects to be allowed on radio and TV channels, as this would help with the preservation of heritage, as well as encourage younger Chinese Singaporeans to be fluent in the dialects.

“With an ageing population and a younger generation who have limited exposure to dialect, transferring culture and heritage does not happen overnight. How can we do more to preserve this intangible heritage?” he asked.

Many commenters on Mr Tan’s post strongly agreed with him and shared their experiences with the dialects.

“I am a Cantonese, but I speak Teochew better than my Cantonese. I grew up in a Teochew-dominated kampong at ‘mosquito bite leg’. I grew up enjoying eating Teochew muay with ‘Orh lam, peck kia, buah kee, Chye buay and Teochew tor kuay’. This is the wonderful life of Teochew Culture,” one wrote.

“I’m Cantonese, but I can speak pure Hokkien, I was told by an old man… I picked up from listening to stories on Rediffusion in the 60’s and by being in a Hokkien-dominant community… many of my Hokkien friends also speak Cantonese, and we can switch from Cantonese to Hokkien to English to Mandarin back and forth. It’s a pity for us to lose our mother tongues and heritage… we need a channel to preserve it,” added another. 

“Well said! I totally agree that we should keep our dialects ALIVE. I am Hokkien and can also converse in Teochew (late MIL) was Teochew. Both my late parents were from Xiamen. I grew up speaking Hokkien with my parents, played with Teochew, Hainanese, Eurasians, Peranakan, and Malay friends. I had a great time growing up!” a commenter chimed in.

“I support almost everything that LKY did, but the campaign to remove dialects is one that I’m against… At home, I speak Teochew, Mandarin, Cantonese, and English daily, all fluently. My Malay is also very good. If a normal, simple person like me can master it all, why can’t everyone else?” wrote a commenter. /TISG

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