Were you surprised by the response, you know, people calling for more of that Teochew version?

I don't think I was necessarily surprised.

I mean, nowadays people are quite used to being able to access, you know, movies in any language that they like, right? So people are used to streaming.

services, even songs on Spotify, stuff like that.

So in terms of the cinema, it seems a bit strange to them and maybe a bit regressive that they want to watch something in its original language and they can't.

So that's one issue.

And secondly, of course, we also know that people are quite aware of how things have changed since the 1970s and 1980s in terms of dialect speaking and in terms of use of Mandarin.

At the same time,

Why do you think this has generated such a strong response? What's your first take on that from a language perspective?

Right.

Okay.

I think this is for a few interrelated reasons.

So, I mean, as you mentioned earlier, so we are already dealing with a public that has grown quite used to streaming platforms, cable TV, you know, accessing content via the internet, uh, where they can always access media content in its original language, right? So to them, it might seem rather regressive for this not to be the case for cinema that, you know, it's only in cinemas where this restriction actually takes place.

Um, and, and secondly, this might also be intertwined with this- You know, general public, public reaction against some kind of a perceived rigidity of the government policy, where there again, you know, they are being so inflexible.

Uh, and this can especially be so for the older folks who lived through the history of the Speak Mandarin campaign, uh, and largely see it as quite an outdated, extreme policy for them when they were forced to give up, uh, a lot of their, um, practices, uh, especially in terms of accessing media.

... you know what I mean? [laughs]

Why do you think this has generated such a strong response? What's your first take on that from a language perspective?

Right.

Okay.

I think this is for a few interrelated reasons.

So, I mean, as you mentioned earlier, so we are already dealing with a public that has grown quite used to streaming platforms, cable TV, you know, accessing content via the internet, uh, where they can always access media content in its original language, right? So to them, it might seem rather regressive for this not to be the case for cinema that, you know, it's only in cinemas where this restriction actually takes place.

Um, and, and secondly, this might also be intertwined with this- You know, general public, public reaction against some kind of, uh, perceived rigidity of the government policy, where there again, you know, they are being so inflexible.

Uh, and this can especially be so for the older folks who lived through the history of the Speak Mandarin campaign, uh, and largely see it as quite an outdated, extreme policy for them when they were forced to give up, uh, a lot of their, um, practices, um, especially in terms of accessing media.

... you know what I mean? [laughs]