推动学习方言是愚蠢的？

新加坡是个多元种族的社会，在华族当中更有不同籍贯的区别。主要的籍贯有福建，广东，潮州，海南等等。可惜的是，每个籍贯的地方语言，也俗称“方言”，已逐渐没落。

今天海峡时报“The Straits Times"里有一则“鼓吹学习方言是愚蠢”的言论。作者就是新加坡李光耀资政的私人秘书。这则言论的大纲就指出，新加坡在五十年的双语政策经验当中领悟到大多数人不能很好的同时掌握英文和华文。如果新加坡倡导学习方言的话，那就会更影响英文和华文的水平了。

在搜集资料时，我发觉这则言论没有刊登在同日的“联合早报”，它也是新加坡主要的华文时事报章。本地“亚洲新闻台”的华文板网站也没有。反而该台的英文版却有报道。 除非国人刚巧有看昨天本地各大电视台所播出的新闻节目，那些偏爱阅读华文的国人可能还不知道这则言论的存在。

在此，我想用另一个角度来看待学习方言。不错，学习多种语言是不简单的，新加坡也的确没有积极的推动任何学习方言的措施。可是，新加坡的华族在掌握方言的能力越来越低，而运用的场合越来越少,都是不争的事实。

在进步和城市化的当儿，真的只可以推动或不推动吗？显然，情况可以不那么黑白。在新加坡，我却感觉我们的做法就是如此。不但不倡导，新加坡的大众媒体都几乎百分之百不能播放方言节目，主要的例外是供年长者收听而长达五分钟左右的电台新闻广播。在新加坡，连一个可以上方言课的学府都难找，那可否是有点极端？可笑的是，我却可以看到学习上海话的课程。这，不是方言的一种吗？如果我国政府没有那么抗拒给予国人学习方言的管道，先辈的广东话，福建话，潮州话，海南话和客家话等等会不会比较容易学习。新加坡的各籍贯会馆原本可以至少宣扬一些各自方言的学习，可是在新加坡的大环境下，连常年方言课程都没有。那些有心而且有能力学习方言的国人都被忽略了。

就像新加坡的多元种族，我国的方言有自己独有的特色。新加坡的福建话和台湾的闽南语是有差别的。只需要收看台湾的闽语电视剧就知晓。我们的广东话也和香港的有所不同。这些不同方言的特色是值得培养和代代传下去的。可以肯定的是，如果新加坡没有提供一个平台让有心人士更认识自己的方言文化，籍贯习俗和根源，“方言”这个词汇，在不久的将来，可能可以在我们的词典里取出。

Advocating the Learning of Dialects is Foolish?

Singapore is a multi-racial society. Among the Chinese, their forefathers came from different regions of China and are further distinguished by their spoken dialects. The main dialects in Singapore includes Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew and Hainanese. Unfortunately, these dialects are on the decline in Singapore.

Today’s edition of The Straits Times (ST) has a letter published in the Forum section advocating that learning of dialects in Singapore is foolish. The writer is none other than Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s principal private secretary, Mr Chee Hong Tat. The main gist of the article purports that Singapore’s 50 years of experience with its bilingual education policy shows that most people cannot have a good grasp of both English and Mandarin simultaneously. If Singapore does advocate the learning of dialects, that will be at the expense of our proficiency in English and Mandarin.

In researching for this blog entry, I discovered that this letter wasn’t reported or referenced in Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s main Chinese daily. The Chinese edition of Channel NewsAsia’s (CNA) website also did not carry news relating to this letter. On the other hand, the English edition of CNA did report on Mr Chee’s comments. Besides those who have caught the comments reported in yesterday’s TV news bulletins in Singapore, those who prefer to read news in Chinese may not be aware of the ST Forum letter.

I would like to provide a different perspective to the issue raised in the letter. It is indeed true that learning multiple languages may not be easy, and of course, Singapore has not been actively promoting the learning or use of dialects. But there is no doubt that our proficiency in the use of dialects by the Chinese is on the decline. There is also much lesser opportunities to use it in Singapore now.

In our quest for progress and urbanisation, is advocating or not advocating the use of dialects our only two extreme options? It need not be so, but Singapore appears to have adopted the easy option of not advocating dialect use. To top it off, there is a whole lot of restrictions on the use of dialects in the mass media. The only notable exception is the short 5-minute news broadcasts over the radio targeted at the elderly. In addition, finding a school that teaches dialects is near to impossible in Singapore, wouldn’t that be an extreme version of not advocating the learning of dialects? Ironically, it is possible to find Shanghainese classes in Singapore. Isn’t that a dialect too?

If Singapore does not present such a forceful image of discouraging the use and learning of dialects, would it be easier for us to learn our forefathers’ Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hainanese and Hakka dialects? The various Chinese clan associations in Singapore could have promoted the learning and use of dialects in their clan events and activities, but in the overall environment and policies we are in, this directly or indirectly resulted in even these clan assocations not providing regular classes in the dialect of their own clan. There is no doubt in my mind that the needs of those who want to and are able to learn dialects have been neglected.

Just like our multi-racial society, the different dialects that have evolved in Singapore have their own distinctive character. Our Hokkien dialect is unique and different from the Min Nan dialect spoken by the Taiwanese. To prove this point, just watch any Taiwanese drama serial. Our Cantonese dialect is also unique and different from that spoken in Hong Kong. The unique characteristics of our dialects should certainly be promoted and passed on to the future generations. It’s not just the dialect themselves, it’s about what the various Chinese clans in Singapore are all about. One thing for sure, if we do not provide the means to allow those interested in learning their own regional clan, culture, dialect and roots to do so, the use of dialects may indeed cease in the not too distant future.