The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC; Simplified Chinese: 讲华语运动; Pinyin: jiǎng huáyǔ yùndòng) is an initiative to encourage Singapore's ethnic Chinese population to speak Mandarin, one of the four official languages of Singapore. The campaign is organised by the Promote Mandarin Council. Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; Pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme of the Chinese phonetic alphabet (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音方案; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音方案; Pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n fāngàn), while pin means spell(ing) and yin means sound(s)), is a system of romanization (phonemic notation... Standard Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia and Singapore. ...

Motivation

The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) was launched in 1979 by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The motivation was to discourage the use of various Chinese dialects by the Chinese Singaporeans and to encourage the speaking of Mandarin as a common language among the Chinese population. The campaign aims to [1]: This page refers to the year 1979. ... The Prime Minister of Singapore is the head of government of the Republic of Singapore (and prior to 9 August 1965, the State of Singapore). ... Lee Kuan Yew (Chinese: 李光耀; Pinyin: Lǐ Guāngyào; born September 16, 1923; also spelled Lee Kwan-Yew) was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. ... Mandarin, or Beifanghua (Chinese: 北方話; Pinyin: Běifānghuà; literally Northern Dialect(s)), or Guanhua (Traditional Chinese: 官話; Simplified Chinese: 官话; Pinyin: Guānhuà; literally official speech) is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. ...

• 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 Campaign continued in the 1990s as the country's second generation leaders, led by Goh Chok Tong, took over the government. Goh Chok Tong (Chinese: 吴作栋; (Simp. ...

"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 Tong, 1991 Speak Mandarin Campaign Launch ^[2]

Goh Chok Tong (Chinese: 吴作栋; (Simp. ...

History

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 dialects so that they can better communicate with each other, especially among various dialect groups. This objective has been largely achieved. However, research indicated that Mandarin was losing ground among English-educated Chinese Singaporeans who were starting to lose their Mandarin or Chinese language skills. The program coexists with other similarly run language advocacy campaigns, such as the Speak Good English Movement. This page refers to the year 1979. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Speak Good English Movement is a program launched by the government of Singapore. ...

From 1991 onwards, the SMC has shifted its objective to encourage English-educated Chinese Singaporeans to speak Mandarin. In 1994, the SMC specifically targeted English-educated business professionals and working adults, promoting the use of Mandarin to keep their links to cultural roots and to better appreciate the heritage and value. This would complement the influence of the western or English-speaking world on their world view and perspectives. 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated like the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ...

Implementation

The Speak Mandarin Campaign is a year-round campaign, that uses publicity and activities in the community to create awareness and to facilitate the learning of Mandarin. This included publications such as CD-ROMs and tapes of Mandarin lessons, handbooks of English-Chinese terms as well as telephone Mandarin lessons to help people to learn Mandarin. As part of the campaign to promote greater use, the English newspaper The Straits Times publishes daily Mandarin vocabulary lessons. Recently, the campaign took on a theme "hua yu Cool!" (华语! Cool!), and use TV game shows and music performances by local pop stars, to increase the awareness, especially in the younger people. The Straits Times front page The Straits Times is an English-language broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and owned by the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), first published on July 15, 1845. ...

In addition to positive promotion of Mandarin, the campaign also includes active attempts to dissuade people from using Chinese dialects. Mostly notably, the use of dialects in local broadcast media is banned, and access to foreign media in dialect is limited. Censorship in Singapore is primarily limited to items that causes controversy when dealing with matters of race or religion. ...

The Speak Mandarin campaign has enjoyed visible success since it first started. In 1980, Mandarin speakers made up only 26% of the population, but by 1990, this figure had moved to over 60%, and have continued to increase.

Lee Kuan Yew, himself 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". Subsequently, he launched a television program, 华语!, in January 2005, in an attempt to attract young viewers to learn Mandarin. Lee Kuan Yew (Chinese: 李光耀; Pinyin: Lǐ Guāngyào; born September 16, 1923; also spelled Lee Kwan-Yew) was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. ... Standard Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia and Singapore. ...

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."

Criticism

The Speak Mandarin Campaign has come under criticism from several fronts. Chinese dialect speakers have complained that their children have to study two foreign languages (English and Mandarin), instead of English and their native language, and that the emphasis on Mandarin threatens family ties, as older generations are often not conversant in Mandarin. 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". Some critics have noted the irony in that Mandarin education system's goal of promoting cultural identity has left many younger generations of Mandarin speakers unable to communicate with their dialect-speaking grandparents.

Non-Chinese language communities (principally the Malays and Tamils), 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.[3] Some have expressed concern that requirements of Mandarin fluency and/or literacy could be used to discriminate against non-Chinese minorities.

• Lee Kuan Yew (2000). From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060197765.

External links

• Official site