Source: The Straits Times Page A19, 18 Mar 2009 Speech by: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew Mandarin has to be the common language of Chinese Singaporeans. If the Government had left language habits to evolve undirected, Chinese Singaporeans would be speaking an adulterated Hokkien-Teochew dialect. To effectively promote Mandarin, we closed down all dialect programmes on…
Source: The Straits Times Forum Page A19, 9 March 2009 Letter by: Ang Kian Chuan As a result of the ‘no dialect’ policy, we now have a whole generation of children who cannot communicate with their grandparents who know only dialects. It saddens me that my two adult sons, both graduates who speak only English and Mandarin,…
Source: The Straits Times Forum Page A32, 7 March 2009 Letter by: Chee Hong Tat, Principal Private Secretary to the Minister Mentor Many Singaporeans are now fluent in both English and Mandarin. It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English…
