“LKY said we should all speak mandarin, not dialect,” mum said.

That was why many 80s babies in Singapore didn’t have their Chinese names in dialect spelling. That was also how I have a different surname with my siblings.

Growing up, it was the Speak Mandarin Campaign (讲话语运动) era. Mandarin was all we speak at home. Not even dialect. Somehow the use of any Chinese language and dialect eroded over the years.

Nowadays, it becoming rare to meet a local born Chinese Singaporean speaking dialect or mandarin.

In the past, well to do families are English educated and being a banana seemed to be cool. Now, disadvantaged household also speak English. Mandarin speaking folks are getting Singapore Citizenship and snapping up landed property. Think about it.

A lot of people don’t realise speaking an additional language fluently is an advantage. They also don’t realise importance of having an identity.

“Speak mandarin at home. Learn English in school,” mum added.

Most of us turned out all right I guess. We still have the advantage over monolingual folks especially for work and traveling overseas.

I get irritated when my teenage niece only reply to me in English. Being a spoilt brat and always getting her way, she managed to wriggle her way out of taking O levels. Now that she is in an art school, her course mates are mostly from China. Tough luck. LOL.

You do realise even if you don’t visit China, Chinese are all over the world right? Just look at who are buying up real estate like spare change.

I have a friend who received a government scholarship said she doesn’t speak mandarin after spending 10 years in US.

Excuse me, you scored A1 in Chinese for both O and AO levels right? This means MOE mother tongue system sucks? People can ace their exams but unable to speak it.

I met an elderly in Thailand who spoke mandarin to me on a tour boat. He moved to Thailand since he was nine and he had no problems using the language.

“Only use Thai. Wife don’t know and children don’t know,” he said in Mandarin and glanced at his family.

Being unable to speak the language anymore as an adult is an excuse.

Sometime back, I asked my husband to look reach out to his family and look for referrals to join a clan association to prepare for kiddo’s primary school.

I thought I am kiasu since my child is still young and I am already planning to enrol my child under the association and moving near to the school. Then I saw pregnant women…

I am happy with the competition because it shows that there are people who shared the same beliefs in the importance of mother tongue like me.

If anyone doubt my commitment in the Chinese language, I will ask them how many percentage of people they know of read Chinese books at least once after they left compulsory education.

I don’t care what other people say and think. I enrolled my child in Chinese class when he turned two.

I don’t know if you realise this, if you are able to recognise Chinese characters, you will not have problems travelling from East Asia to countries bordering China.

If you can speak Mandarin, you will not have problems asking for directions because Chinese people is everywhere.

Maybe the Chinese language will stop being used if China weakens economically but to me, Chinese is not only beneficial for business but it is also the language of my ancestors.

We can lose everything but not our heritage.

More about what mother said here.