However, neither of these compares to the 30th anniversary of the Speak Mandarin Campaign.
Yet again, I find that these program(mes) are so Brave New World, where the government makes decisions on behalf of its people (as is its role), but down to the very language spoken at home? It seems ludicrous.
I have and always will be a proponent of speaking multiple languages, but it seems a shame that Singaporean Minister Mentor (MM) Lee says that by learning the other dialects of Chinese, most notably Teochew, Hokkein, Hakka and Cantonese, one limits oneself to only being able to communication with a measley few millions instead of the 1.3 billion that Mandarin offers.
However, I do indeed protest this number of 1.3 billion. They always manage to discount the fact that there are many Chinese people living abroad and that do speak Mandarin.
People who do not learn the language of their ancestors will eventually lose all traces of their heritage. However, to encourage this through means of spending government money to promote this seems ...well.....like a soft dictatorship.
2 comments:
Welcome to Singapore! I have you have enjoyed your stay so far. We, as Singaporeans, have indeed had our fair share of lameass campaigns... some are just downright painful. Like the romancing campaigns... I mean, like seriously.
Anyway, this link I will provide here pertains to the topic you have mentioned... I trust it will be of much interest!
http://theladymelissa.blogspot.com/2009/04/speaking-mythical-language.html
Thank you, you are very kind. :)
The link was interesting. She certainly is spunky.
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