Learning dialects is NOT stupid

I read about this earlier, but forgot to write about it till now. LKY's Principal Private Secretary (a term I last read in "Yes, Prime Minister"), Mr Chee Hong Tat, indicates in a press letter that it "would be stupid for any Singapore agency or the NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin". This is in response to Dr Ng Bee Chin, acting head of Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, who said "Although Singaporeans are still multilingual, 40 years ago, we were even more multilingual. Young children are not speaking some of these languages at all any more."

While I constantly chastise the linguistic ability of the average Singaporean, I do not believe that learning dialects must be at the expense of English and Mandarin. And I do not believe that advocating the learning of dialects or the learning itself to be stupid. Whether he likes it or not (I suspect he doesn't. Go figure), Chinese dialects are part of the Chinese culture and identity, and the response is yet another piece of evidence pointing to the clinical homogenisation process that this government is so keen on practising on this country. Besides that, I'm afraid that he did not engage his brain when writing this letter, because Mr Chee is the one who ends up looking stupid in this exchange.

How so? First he insults Singaporeans' linguistic ability, then tells you that it's stupid that you think you can learn dialects without compromising the primary languages of English and Mandarin. In simpler terms, he tells us that we are morons. How dare we think otherwise.

For the record, in addition to English and Mandarin, I'm comfortable with Cantonese and Hokkien, and even a smattering of Teochew. I know many who are comfortable with the same languages and dialects, and some others are fluent in even more diverse languages. My mother can even speak Bahasa Melayu and Tamil. I can curse in those languages too, but I do not think that counts as fluency.

I've said this before, and will continue to say this until someone realises it. The government should stop telling the people what they want us to do. They should just do their jobs, and in one Mr Chee's case, probably quit his job for being this stupid. While you're at it, this particular post is far more eloquent than mine and is worth a read. Click here for National Geographic's look at the dying languages of the world.

Languages and dialects form and shape our culture and identity, and we would be really foolish is we choose to neglect or abandon them in the name of progress. To do so at the prompting of the government would be criminal.

Posted via email from trapper's posterous