I'm an overseas Taiwanese living in Singapore. I'm proud of my mother tongue Taiwanese Hokkien. In Taiwan, Hokkien is not a dialect. It's a high level language capable of writing literature and composing poetry. Taiwan is currently the only country in the world with a literary circle of Hokkien poets. Thanks for their contribution, Hokkien culture flourishes in Taiwan.
Learning a language/dialect is not just about preserving your mother tongue roots, it's about appreciating the beauty of its language and culture.
Do enjoy the Hokkien poetry in Taiwan (in a Hokkien Literature Seminar in Taiwan 2009)
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vIOOa2OsfI
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi0TtfJ3Y-A
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r-ghKqbgoU
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef5cuf-Pm7c
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tc0WbqklJ8
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlNMTT7laPQ
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ice3p6q_g-Y
Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnI68LNn_Ns
Part 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l5u7JZ2PN4
Part 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyWUnCBNr6c
Part 11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObDiN62QnSo
good, really thank you for the links
Taiwan began teaching Hokkien in schools during the 1990s and had accumulated years of experience in teaching Hokkien. In 2009, Xiamen (Amoy) has begun to introduce Hokkien lessons in schools and has asked Taiwan experts to help develop Hokkien teaching materials.
At present, Taiwan (with its rich and deep culture) has an active Hokkien literary circle and is the main driver of Hokkien culture worldwide.
Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLWqEfNUyDc
I think, if Singapore really wants to preserve its dialect culture, it would have to get experts from Taiwan or China to help create the teaching material in school. But the problem is that young Singaporean kids already had problems with Chinese language (and even English). If you introduce dialect teaching, will they be able to cope with it?
Problem is not that.
The thing is Singaporean Chinese are not 100% all Hokkien.
There are many Hakkas, Teochews, Cantonese, and other small groups, and also many mixed-groups children. How is it possible to teach all sorts of dialects? That is why I disagree with dialect teaching, it is difficult and impractical, besides, it is better to just teach Mandarin.
Originally posted by Veggie Bao:Problem is not that.
The thing is Singaporean Chinese are not 100% all Hokkien.
There are many Hakkas, Teochews, Cantonese, and other small groups, and also many mixed-groups children. How is it possible to teach all sorts of dialects? That is why I disagree with dialect teaching, it is difficult and impractical, besides, it is better to just teach Mandarin.
In Taiwan, the MOE is teaching Hokkien, Hakka and the Aboriginal languages. How can say cannot? There are also many mixed-group children in Taiwan. So it is Singapore don't want, not cannot.
As Clivebenss has put in his post here:
will never happen here; too pragmatic.
Originally posted by yhjow:Taiwan began teaching Hokkien in schools during the 1990s and had accumulated years of experience in teaching Hokkien. In 2009, Xiamen (Amoy) has begun to introduce Hokkien lessons in schools and has asked Taiwan experts to help develop Hokkien teaching materials.
At present, Taiwan (with its rich and deep culture) has an active Hokkien literary circle and is the main driver of Hokkien culture worldwide.
Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLWqEfNUyDc
I think, if Singapore really wants to preserve its dialect culture, it would have to get experts from Taiwan or China to help create the teaching material in school. But the problem is that young Singaporean kids already had problems with Chinese language (and even English). If you introduce dialect teaching, will they be able to cope with it?
It is recorded in the book 《漳州話概説》that the ChiangChew language is fast undergoing deterioration due to Mandarin influence in China.
Reproduced as below:
page 87-88
甲。 文讀音衰退。很多被調查的�年讀�出一些詞的文音，這種文音消退率大約在70%以上。
乙。 -n 和 -ng 韻尾的�併。例如幫bang讀�ban，韻尾 -ng 變爲 -n，漳州話的 -n 和 -ng 在近60年左�開始出�混淆。在近50年�混淆，�併趨於普�化。
丙。 å…¥è�²éŸ»å°¾ -tã€�-k çš„æ¸ä½µã€‚這兩個入è�²éŸ»å°¾ï¼Œåœ¨é�’年人ä¸ä¸�論是文讀還是白讀音，都普é��轉化ã€�æ¸ä½µç‚ºå–‰å¡žéŸ³éŸ»å°¾ -h。
ä¸�。 -m å’Œ -p 的變化。韻æ¯�å°¾å— -m 改讀為 -n，在被調查的ä¸å°�å¸ç”Ÿä¸ä½”37%。入è�²å¡žæ¯�å°¾ -p 讀為 -h，在被調查ä¸ä½”80%。調查表明這兩個韻æ¯�å°¾å—的變化，主è¦�發生在近20-30年間。
�在年輕人說漳州話，�普通話影響很大，有以下情�：
1。 å�—電視臺ç‰å»£æ’傳媒影響，錯把普通話å�ŒéŸ³å—音當為方言å—音。例如香港的港和下崗的崗å�ŒéŸ³ï¼Œä¸€äº›äººèªªæ–¹è¨€éŒ¯æŠŠä¸‹å´—說è�½æ¸¯ã€‚
2。 漳州話沒有撮å�£éŸ»æ¯� ü，普通話有撮å�£éŸ»æ¯�的音節，說漳州話就說普通話近音å—。如原來說延來。
3。 漳州話沒有舌é�¢è�²æ¯�如 q，普通話è�²æ¯� q çš„å—說æˆ�è�²æ¯� k çš„å—。如興趣說興去。
4。 文音白音交相說��乎習慣，如陳列館說�彈 dan 列館。
5。 話語ä¸å¤¾é›œæ™®é€šè©±ï¼Œé€™ç¨®ç�¾è±¡å¾ˆæ™®é��。è¯éŸ³è©žå¤šè®€æ™®é€šè©±ï¼Œå¦‚å¤šç±³å°¼åŠ ã€�也門ã€�愛迪生ã€�阿拉法特。科技醫療ç‰æŠ€è¡“語專æ¥å��稱，如氫氧化鈉ã€�高密度脂蛋脂；嚴密的説ç�†è©žèªžï¼Œå¦‚演繹ã€�貪贜枉法；一些æˆ�語，如雷霆è�¬éˆžã€�罄竹難書；還有剛進入共å�Œèªžçš„方言詞，如包二奶ã€�打工仔ç‰è©žèªžï¼Œä¹Ÿæ˜¯ç”¨æ™®é€šè©±èªªçš„。
Originally posted by Veggie Bao:Problem is not that.
The thing is Singaporean Chinese are not 100% all Hokkien.
There are many Hakkas, Teochews, Cantonese, and other small groups, and also many mixed-groups children. How is it possible to teach all sorts of dialects? That is why I disagree with dialect teaching, it is difficult and impractical, besides, it is better to just teach Mandarin.
Whatever, one will not treasure until they are lost.