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About the Campaign History & Background
About the Campaign History & Background History & Background
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Singapore is a young country of many races that heralds its immigrant population from all over the Asia-Pacific basin - Chinese, Indians, Malays, and many others. Their diverse backgrounds make Singapore not only a culturally rich city, but also one with many potential divisive lines.
Chinese Version The forefathers of the Chinese community came from many parts of China, belonging to a multitude of dialect groups and speaking different languages. The Malay and Indian communities have less problems with dialects as they each have their own common language to communicate in. Being the majority race making up more than 70% of the population, there was thus a need to unify the various Chinese dialect groups via a common language, Mandarin.
"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."
Objective
The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) was launched by then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew in 1979. The task was to transform a deeply entrenched social-linguistic habit of Chinese Singaporeans who were long used to the speaking of dialects. The objectives were:
"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
Objective
The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) was launched by then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew in 1979. The task was to transform a deeply entrenched social-linguistic habit of Chinese Singaporeans who were long used to the speaking of dialects. The objectives were:
- To simplify the language environment for Chinese Singaporeans.
- To improve communication and understanding amongst Chinese Singaporeans.
- To create a Mandarin-speaking environment conducive to the successful implementation of our bilingual education programme.
Evolution
From 1979 to 1981, the target audience of Speak Mandarin Campaign was Chinese Singaporeans in general. Beginning 1982, SMC targeted specific groups, e.g. hawkers, public transport workers, white-collar workers and senior executives. The primary message to Chinese Singaporeans was to speak Mandarin in place of dialects to help them better understand and appreciate their culture and heritage.
While the Campaign has succeeded in getting dialect-speaking Chinese Singaporeans to speak Mandarin, research indicated that Mandarin was losing ground among English-educated Chinese Singaporeans. From 1991 onwards, the SMC started targeting English-educated Chinese Singaporeans to encourage them to speak Mandarin.