Campaign gaffe no help in boosting youths’ interest in Chinese language

The use of a wrong Chinese character in the Speak Mandarin Campaign has led to displeasure (Speak Mandarin Campaign apologises for tagline error; July 12).

I feel, in defence of the organising committee, that this was an honest mistake.

Furthermore, apologies were made for it, so we should not blow things out of proportion.

That said, the credibility of the campaign, which serves to represent the importance of Chinese as a culture and a language, has been compromised. Though unintentional, this mistake placed us in a bad light.

Personally, I recognise the importance of embracing the Chinese language.

But with more young Singaporeans losing their mother-tongue roots of late, such incidents may further dissipate their interest in the language.

After all, if the organisers themselves made such a mistake, it may just reflect a sign of neglect in the campaign.