PM Lee Hsien Loong at 40th Anniversary of Speak Mandarin Campaign

Please scroll down for the English translation of the speech.

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推广华语理事会主席蔡深江先生、历届主席们、各位嘉宾、各位先生、女士们, 大家下午好。

今年，“讲华语运动”迈入40周年，我很荣幸能担任庆典主宾，和大家在这个别具意义的日子里，一起回顾“讲华语运动”这些年来所取得的成就。

“讲华语运动” 是建国总理李光耀先生在1979年发起的，目的是要鼓励新加坡华人“多讲华语，少说方言”，提高华语的水平，在不同方言群体之间建立一个共同的语言桥梁，以加强华社的凝聚力。当时的华人多数只讲方言，不一定听得懂其他籍贯的人说的话，沟通是一个问题。此外，许多国人虽然算是完成了基本教育，但是并没有掌握好任何一种语言，无论是英语、华语或方言。这样的情况，不但限制了个人的前途，也不利于国家的建设。

所以，政府展开了“国家要进步，语言要沟通”的“讲华语运动”。这个运动在推行了几年后，取得了不错的成绩。讲方言的人数显著减少了，而讲华语的国人逐年增加。华语水平也提高了。

后来，这股趋势有所改变，讲英语的华人渐渐增加。

因此，到了90年代，“讲华语运动”就转移了推广的对象，着重鼓励讲英语的新加坡华人多讲华语。其实，学习华语不单能够帮助我们，更好地了解我们的根和文化。这也能帮助大家和博大精深的中华文化建立起一种深层次的情感联系。此外，还能够为我们和中国沟通时带来实际的好处。

中国当时正好向世界敞开大门，经济开始腾飞。为了赶上这趟经济列车，许多新加坡人到中国工作或做生意。大家都明白唯有兼通双语，才能在世界舞台上大展拳脚、左右逢源。这有助于华文华语的推广，因为家长和孩子都看到了学习华文的价值，也愿意付出更多努力提升自己的水平。

在中国工作的黄加勇就是一个很好的例子。加勇刚到中国时，无法用流利的华语表达自己，因为他“毕业后就把华语交还给老师了”。这造成他在日常生活中，和中国人沟通时经常碰壁。但后来，加勇天天都在用华文华语，他的华语渐渐进步了。现在他不仅能说一口流利的华语，还掌握了专业术语，用华语和当地人商讨合作及法律合同，也都难不倒他。

加勇的双语能力受到推广华语理事会和通商中国的肯定，成为首届“双语专业达人”的八个代表之一。希望他们能启发更多年轻人学好华文华语。其实，新加坡还有很多人和加勇一样，在中国生活了一段时间后，华语水平就大大提升了。他们有些在求学时可能对华文感不起兴趣，对老师和父母的督促感到不耐烦。但他们现在应该都觉得，听老师和父母的话，是不会吃亏的。

目前，大多数的年轻人都听得懂华语，也会讲华语，虽然有时候，说得不太流利。我们必须清楚认识到，新加坡的双语优势正在相对减弱。世界各地的人正在积极学习华语。他们都知道，如果要在中国工作、与中国人打交道、把握住中国发展所带来的商机，他们就必须学好华语，并且有不少都能说得非常流利。

这些年来，我们都不断地推广华语的使用，不管是在生活中，或工作上适当的场合，我们都致力营造一个讲华语的环境。

但是，我们的语言环境发生了很大的变化。二十年前，一半以上的华族家庭在家中主要用华语沟通，但是今天的情况却大不相同。四十年前，更不必说了。四十年前，很多人是用方言讲话的。二十年前，方言转变成华文华语。可是今天，情况就很不相同了。今天，许多华族家庭主要讲英语。教育部每年都会针对小一新生的家长进行家庭调查。今年的数据显示，百分之71的华族家庭在家中主要是讲英语。这个现象不只出现在本地的华族家庭。在家中使用英语的马来族和印度族家庭也明显增加了。现在，他们的情况和华族家庭差不多，百分之70左右在家用英语交流。

因此，讲华语运动必须与时并进，适应这个重大的转变。我们需要加倍努力，鼓励国人把华语融入日常生活中，也必须想方设法保持我国华语的活力和独特之处。新加坡的华语受到其他语言和方言的影响。例如，“巴刹”和“甘榜”就来自马来语、“薄饼”和“拍拖”就来自方言。不仅如此，我们也按照新加坡独特的国情，创造出一些具有本地色彩的词汇，如“组屋”、“牛车水”、“建国一代”和“立国一代”等。这些词汇反映了我国多元种族的特色，以及新加坡华语丰富的生命力。我们将在下个月推出新加坡华语资料库，这个资料库收集了许多具有新加坡特色的华语词汇，日后也会继续增加新的内容。这样一来，国人对新加坡华语会更有认同感，在同其他人交流时，更有自信。

讲华语运动一直以来不断推出各式各样、别出心裁的活动，让国人在应用华语的当儿得到乐趣。例如《讲华语运动亲子才艺比赛》便让祖父母、父母亲与孩子们透过学习华语和使用华语交流，促进亲子关系。《我的故事》演讲比赛，则有效地帮助学生建立自信，以华语表达自己。这都归功于推广华语理事会的创意与努力，感谢理事们多年来的贡献。

本地华社，华文媒体以及学校也努力推广华语，与政府的政策相辅相成。首先，特别感谢各个宗乡会馆和社团以及其他重要伙伴，如通商中国和推广华文学习委员会。大家都为推广华文华语的使用不遗余力，各自主办了许多精彩的活动激发国人对华语的兴趣。

福建会馆就是一个很好的例子。他们成立了福建会馆文化学院，那里举办的活动包罗万象，包括音乐、舞蹈、书法、戏剧和相声等。最近，我参观了文化学院。让我感到惊喜的是，它们提供的编码课程，是用华语教学的！学生们也学得很起劲，乐在其中。

第二，也感谢本地华文媒体积极推广华文的使用，为不同年龄层继续提供高素质的华语内容。现在还要提供平板和线上服务。无论是在台前幕后，这些媒体工作者都肩负使命、坚守岗位。

最后，还有一组人功不可没，那就是我们默默耕耘的母语教师。他们循循善诱，把自己对华语及华族文化的热忱，传承给年轻一代的新加坡人。现在的教师们都采用更灵活的教学方式，利用科技和电脑辅助教学。课堂学习变得更有效率，大大提高了孩子学习华语的兴趣。

与此同时，我也想呼吁家长在家里多和年幼的孩子讲华语，让他们从小耳濡目染。家中其他人也应该扮演他们的角色，多讲华语。毕竟，这个时期，小孩对语言最为敏感，吸收力最强，也能够更轻易地分辨不同的声调和学会标准的发音。这一来，孩子长大以后，不但能够轻松掌握华语，也能够享受使用华语与家人交谈的乐趣，并且认识到讲华语的益处。

的确，在一个普遍使用英语的社会里，要在家里营造讲华语的环境并不那么容易。很多精通双语的家长告诉我，如果不刻意用华语和家人沟通，大家就会不自觉地讲英语。之后，要改口讲华语，就没那么容易了。父母可以改为说华语，孩子不一定听你的话。尽管如此，我希望大家持之以恒，因为这些努力都是值得的。

这40年一路走来，讲华语运动在维持和鼓励社会使用华语方面作出了重大贡献。不过，社会和环境都在不断改变，推广华语将是一项坚持不懈的工程。我希望讲华语运动能够继续以新颖、富有创意的方式鼓励大家多讲华语。我也吁请国人积极参与和支持这些活动，维持新加坡的双语优势，以及保留本地的多元文化。政府将继续给予大家全力的支持。

讲华语，不只我可以，大家都可以。不分男和女，不分老和少，希望大家都开口说几句，体会讲华语的乐趣。谢谢大家。

English translation

Mr Chua Chim Kang, Chairman, Promote Mandarin Council,
Past Council Chairmen,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

I am honoured to be here for the 40th anniversary of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, and to reflect on the achievements of the Campaign.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign in 1979 to encourage Chinese Singaporeans to speak more Mandarin and less dialects. He wanted to, raise the standard of Mandarin and forge cohesion of the Chinese community, by bringing the different dialect groups together. In those days, communication was a challenge because most Chinese spoke their own dialects and might not understand other dialects. Many also graduated from school without a working command of English, Mandarin, or any dialects. This limited their prospects, moreover it was not conducive for Singapore’s progress.

Hence, the government launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign. Good results were achieved within a few years. The number of dialect-only speakers came down significantly, the number of Mandarin speakers went up, and our Mandarin standards improved.

Later on, the trend changed, and more Chinese began speaking English.

So in the 1990s, the Speak Mandarin Campaign shifted its target audience, focussing on encouraging English-speaking Singaporeans to speak more Mandarin. Learning Mandarin has not only helped us better understand our roots and culture, it also helped us build a deeper connection with the wider Chinese culture. There were also practical benefits when we engaged China.

At that time, China’s economy was opening up to the world and taking off. Many Singaporeans were working in China, or starting businesses there. And being bilingual allowed Singaporeans to have the best of both worlds. This helped to persuade parents and students to appreciate the value of Chinese, and they became more willing to put in the effort to learn the language.

Ng Chia Yong (黄加勇) who works in China is a good example. In his early days in China, Chia Yong could not express himself clearly in Mandarin because the Mandarin he had learnt in school had become rusty. As a result, Chia Yong often hit snags when communicating with the Chinese. However, his Mandarin improved through daily use. Now, he has become not only fluent but also familiar with professional terms, and can even negotiate business deals and legal agreements in Mandarin.

Chia Yong is one of eight who have been recognised by the Promote Mandarin Council and Business China as a Young Bilingual Professional. We hope that they will inspire others to learn Mandarin as well. There are many like Chia Yong whose Mandarin have improved after spending time in China. Some may not have enjoyed learning Chinese in school, or under the supervision of their teachers and parents. But now, many of them feel that it was worthwhile to pay heed to their teachers and parents’ advice.

Today, most young Chinese Singaporeans can understand and speak Mandarin, although not always fluently. We need to acknowledge that we are losing our bilingual competitive advantage. People all over the world are learning Mandarin eagerly, and everyone knows that speaking good Mandarin is a necessary skill in China.

In order to create the environment to speak Mandarin, we have kept up our efforts to encourage the use of Mandarin - whether in a social settings or where appropriate for work purposes.

But our language environment continues to change. 20 years ago, more than half of the Chinese households used mainly Mandarin at home but it is quite different now. Today, many Chinese families use English as their main language. Every year, the Ministry of Education will conduct a survey with the parents of primary one students. The findings showed that 71% of Chinese families use English as their main language at home. This trend is not just limited to Chinese families – the number of Malay and Indian families who use mostly English at home have also risen, and their situation is similar to the Chinese households today.

The Speak Mandarin Campaign must adapt to this major shift. We have to put in more effort to encourage the use of Mandarin in our daily lives, and find ways to keep the language alive and preserve the uniqueness of our Mandarin. The Mandarin spoken in Singapore is influenced by other languages and dialects – for example, the words “Pasar” and “Kampung” are derived from Malay, while “Popiah” and “Pak Tor” stemmed from dialects. Not only that, local terms have also been created based on Singapore’s unique developments. For instance, “HDB”, “Chinatown”, “Pioneer Generation”, “Merdeka Generation” and other terms. These terms reflect our diverse multicultural identity, and the richness of our Mandarin. Next month, we will be launching the Database of Singaporean Mandarin Terms comprising these uniquely Singaporean terms, with more terms being added progressively to the database. This will also help Chinese Singaporeans develop a deeper sense of our own identity, and become more confident in the language when we interact with others.

Over the years, the Campaign has come up with many creative ideas – such as The Family Talent Competition 《讲华语运动亲子才艺比赛》, where grandparents and parents can bond with their grandchildren and children, while learning and speaking Mandarin; and the “My Story” Public Speaking Competition《我的故事》演讲比赛, an oratorical competition for students to build their confidence in expressing themselves in Mandarin. As such, I would like to thank the Promote Mandarin Council for their innovative ideas, efforts and contributions over the years.

Similarly, the Chinese community, Chinese media, and schools have complemented the Government’s efforts and policies to promote Mandarin. First, I would like to offer special thanks to the Chinese clans and associations, and other important partners such as Business China and the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning. They have contributed much to the promotion of Mandarin through their interesting activities. The Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan is a good example – they set up the Hokkien Huay Kuan Cultural Academy, where they organise a myriad of activities, such as music, dance, calligraphy, drama and crosstalk. I visited the Academy recently and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were even teaching coding in Mandarin! The students clearly enjoyed learning how to code.

Second, I would like to thank our local Chinese media, which plays an important role in providing quality Chinese content for all ages. Now, they also need to create content for digital devices and online, and all of them have upheld their mission and remained steadfast in their duty.

And finally, thank you to our mother tongue teachers for their dedication and contributions. They have imparted their love for the Chinese language and culture to the younger generations of Singaporeans. Our teachers today make learning Mandarin more interesting, and they use technology to aid learning. As a result, classroom learning becomes more effective and sparks students’ interests in the language.

At the same time, I hope parents will speak more Mandarin to your young children at home, so that they can immerse in the language from a young age. Family members can play their role by speaking more Mandarin at home – this is a stage where children are most sensitive to pronunciations and intonations, and can acquire a language more easily. And then when they are a bit older, they will not only learn the language with ease, but also find it fun to communicate with their family members in Mandarin, and understand the benefits of speaking Mandarin.

In an English-speaking society like ours, it does take considerable effort to create the Mandarin-speaking environment at home. Many parents who are bilingual tell me that they have to make a conscious effort to speak Mandarin with their family, if not, it is easy to default to speaking English and more effort would be needed to revert to speaking Mandarin. Nonetheless, I hope everyone will persevere because it is worth the effort.

The Speak Mandarin Campaign has made significant contributions in sustaining and encouraging the use of Mandarin in our society over the last forty years, but it is a never ending journey, because our society and context will continue to change. I hope that the Campaign will continue to come up with fresh and innovative ways to promote Mandarin. I would also like to encourage Singaporeans to participate actively in these activities, to maintain Singapore’s bilingual advantage and preserve our multiculturalism. The Government will also continue to provide its full support.

I can speak Mandarin, so can you. I hope we will continue to speak Mandarin, and find the joy in it. Thank you.

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