Dialect in Singapore

"Ay ah seng, le jia pah buay?"

"Jia pah liao."

"Le kia lit hoh boh?"

"Wa kia lit jin hoh!"

This might be the typical sort of conversation that you may hear at your local coffee shop. Today, I am going to discuss the topic of dialect in Singapore.

Many people feel that dialect is something of the "old world" which is spoken mainly by the older generation in Singapore. Of course, it is typical to see the older generation conversing in dialect. However, dialect is dying out among the younger generation of Singaporeans, who are mainly English-speaking. Many of our youth do not understand their own dialect at all, and some don't even know their dialect group.

I recall an incident which my uncle told me about:

He was conversing with his friend in Hokkien and they laughed at a joke. His friend's son happened to hear the whole conversation. Mystified by the laughter, he asked my uncle, "What are you talking about? What language are you speaking?" My uncle was puzzled and replied, "I'm speaking in Hokkien. Don't you know it?" The boy shook his head. When asked what dialect group he was from, he could not reply.

This is especially saddening to see that many youth nowadays do not even know their roots. Most youth today disregard dialect as old fashioned and spoken only by the older generation of "uncles and aunties". However, my views are not with them.

I think that dialect is especially important. It gives us a sense of belonging and culture. It also tells us of our roots. Even if someone does not know how to speak it, they should at least know of their own dialect group. Dialect makes us unique in many ways. It tells us of our diversity of culture among Han Chinese. It helps us to appreciate our roots and how we came about.

Different dialect groups have different cultures. An example can be seen in cousines originating from different dialect groups. Hokkien mee, Teochew porridge, Cantonese dim sum and Hainanese chicken rice are just examples of the diversity of cultures.

Even the dialect spoken has its own beauty in it. It makes Han Chinese characters more meaningful and interesting as they have many different pronounciations. For example, the character " 人" is pronounced as "ren" in chinese but it has a totally different pronounciation in Hokkien as "lang" and in Cantonese as "yan". Each of the dialects are unique in their own way.

My dialect group is Hokkien and I love the dialect. Although Hokkien is stereotypically thought of as "choh loh" (rough) compared to other dialects and sometimes even uncought and impolite (many swear words in Singlish are from Hokkien), I think it is a beautiful dialect and unique in its own way. I like Hokkien songs as well as shows. It is interesting as the meaning of sentences in Hokkien is usually understood by sound rather than words. I think Hokkien is very meaningful as it is the language of my family and it is commonly used at home. My relatives also converse in Hokkien.

In conclusion, I think that Chinese youths nowadays should at least know their dialect groups and understand their own cultures. Nevermind if they do not understand it, at least they know of their roots.

Just for fun: