Singapore’s Speak Mandarin Campaign has come under fire for a major Mandarin spelling error at the 2017 campaign launch, yesterday.
The third letter from the left in the red boxes, “du” in Mandarin or “read in English”, was spelt incorrectly.
The correct word should look like this:
The word 渎 means “longkang,” or “to neglect.”
It is notable that the error does not appear to have been spotted before or during the event by the organisers, or the guest-of-honour, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Ms Grace Fu.
In her speech, Ms Fu called for Singaporeans to “start building the foundation of Mandarin from a young age, given how the language has become international.”
“By learning the Chinese language, we can better understand our local Chinese history and have a greater sense of national identity.”
The Campaign, which is in its 38th year, has since apologised for the error on their Facebook page:
Unsatisfied netizens have called the organisers out for not being able to spell a word that’s taught to Chinese students in primary school.
