I refer to the report “Republic’s Mandarin policy has put Singaporeans in good stead: PM Lee” (July 5, online). As a young adult Singaporean, I support the focus on Mandarin and English in schools. This move has enabled me to attain proficiency in both languages.

However, while it is clear that the Government will not introduce dialects in schools, we could allow greater use of dialects on free-to-air television, such as by providing the dual-sound option, the way it is done for Japanese and Korean programmes.

The common belief is that learning dialects will affect one’s competency in Mandarin, but little linguistic research evidence supports this claim. In fact, neurologists have proven that young children are remarkably good at learning multiple languages simultaneously and can even develop native-sounding accents in each tongue. In adulthood, all reinforced languages can hold their own in the brain without interfering with the others.

Contrary to impeding one’s learning of Mandarin, having a foundation in dialect at home when one is young would actually be beneficial to the learning of Mandarin as dialects and Mandarin belong to the same language family. Linguistic research has shown that a proficient Hokkien speaker, drawing on analogies between the two languages, would be able to predict the Mandarin tonal pronunciation of a given word 90 per cent of the time.

I myself grew up speaking Hokkien as I was raised by my grandmother and this has not affected my competency in Mandarin at all. We should base our policies on scientific evidence, instead of ideology or politics.

Banning dialects on television is more likely to impact the older generation than the young. Studies have shown that the younger generation is watching less television. On the other hand, many elderly in Singapore, who mostly converse in dialects, are highly dependent on television because they have difficulty walking and are confined at home.

Television plays a critical role in enabling them to maintain an ongoing sense of participation in society and combating feelings of alienation and loneliness. How are the elderly going to meet their needs for entertainment and feel a sense of participation in society if they cannot grasp the content on television well?

Also, by allowing dialects on television, young people can pick up the basics and this will enable them to communicate with their grandparents.

Last but not least, I strongly believe schools should re-label what we title “Chinese Language” as “Putonghua” or “Mandarin”. Just like Tamil or Hindi is not called “Indian Language”, similarly, Putonghua or Mandarin should be referred to appropriately. This will help young people have a better understanding and greater interest in Chinese culture and languages.

This letter first appeared as a post on the writer’s blog.