Can Singapore’s dialects survive or are they becoming history?

So the question now is with dialects being almost non-existent in a country like Singapore, why has there been this recent uproar for people saying, yeah, I really want to have the show back in its original Hokkien language.

Why is it such a big deal? Teochew, sorry, Teochew, yeah.

But yeah, it could have been in Hokkien.

I mean, it could have been in any dialect.

But the question is, why are we now clamoring

for this, you know? I think we need to, first of all, understand like the situation of, you know, these Chinese dialects, right? So Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese even.

So these are the major Chinese dialects that are still spoken in Singapore.

Um, So one way to characterize it is that we have different levels of endangerment, right? So for these languages, I would say that we are between severely endangered and critically endangered.

So that's like one and a half steps away from extinction.

So we no longer have intergenerational transmission.

So parents no longer use these languages with their children.

So if the current trend continues in terms of demographics and so on, I would say that in 20, 30 years, nobody will be speaking these languages anymore.

So that's one thing.

Yeah, but then I'll ask you, so what? Because if no one's using it, I mean, have we

really

lost

anything? Because we're still all communicating with each other effectively.

Exactly, which is why there's this reaction, I suppose, that people want to be able to reconnect somehow with these languages that they know that their grandparents or parents used to speak.

And of course, I mean, part of the reaction is also from the older generation themselves, who used to live through those days when they could access media in these languages.

Personally, I mean, it feels a bit cruel that they can't do this still in this day and age.

Given that we know that, you know, these dialects are no longer a threat to Mandarin.

We know that these languages are literally dying.

I can understand why people want to watch it in its natural language.

So the question now is with dialects being almost non-existent in a country like Singapore, why has there been this recent uproar for people saying, yeah, I really want to have the show back in its original Hokkien language.

Why is it such a big deal? Teochew, sorry, Teochew, yeah.

But yeah, it could have been in Hokkien.

I mean, it could have been in any dialect.

But the question is, why are we now clamoring

for this, you know? I think we need to, first of all, understand like the situation of, you know, these Chinese dialects, right? So Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese even.

So these are the major Chinese dialects that are still spoken in Singapore.

Um, So one way to characterize it is that we have different levels of endangerment, right? So for these languages, I would say that we are between severely endangered and critically endangered.

So that's like one and a half steps away from extinction.

So we no longer have intergenerational transmission.

So parents no longer use these languages with their children.

So if the current trend continues in terms of demographics and so on, I would say that in 20, 30 years, nobody will be speaking these languages anymore.

So that's one thing.

Yeah, but then I'll ask you, so what? Because if no one's using it, I mean, have we

really

lost

anything? Because we're still all communicating with each other effectively.

Exactly, which is why there's this reaction, I suppose, that people want to be able to reconnect somehow with these languages that they know that their grandparents or parents used to speak.

And of course, I mean, part of the reaction is also from the older generation themselves, who used to live through those days when they could access media in these languages.

Personally, I mean, it feels a bit cruel that they can't do this still in this day and age.

Given that we know that, you know, these dialects are no longer a threat to Mandarin.

We know that these languages are literally dying.

I can understand why people want to watch it in its natural language.