11 August 2016 (Thursday) – online         14 August 2016 (Sunday) - hardcopy

Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, congratulates Singaporean politicians for embracing multilingualism and diversity as part of their culture five decades after independence in her fortnightly Post Magazine column: Language Matters.

“Early policies, initiated by Lee Kuan Yew, took a hard line: supporting ‘standard’, official languages and suppressing all others. From 1979, the annual Speak Mandarin Campaign promoted the use of Singapore’s official Chinese language and discouraged all other Chinese varieties. This led to a significant shift in Chinese households from mother tongues such as Hokkien and Teochew, to Mandarin. Similarly, from 2000, the Speak Good English Movement discouraged the burgeoning use of Singapore English.

Fast-forward to 2015 and a more compromising, inclusive attitude prevails. The lead-up to Singapore’s 50th National Day, and Lee’s death earlier that year, prompted a rise in sentimentality and attention to heritage – including a sea change in official attitudes towards non-official languages.”

Please click on the following link for the complete article:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2002360/singapore-embraces-multilingualism-five-decades-after

Source: SCMP