I AM responding to the letter “Speaking up to keep Chinese dialects alive” from CBH of Subang Jaya (The Star, July 14).
While it is good to know more dialects, I feel that it is not really necessary. Mandarin as a universal medium of communication is good enough. Take my case as an example. I recently got married and visited my parents-in-law last Chinese New Year, staying with them for 10 days.
My parents-in-law only speak Hock Chiew. It was traumatic because I could not understand Hock Chiew even though I can converse very well in Mandarin and Hokkien. I was overwhelmed by this “strange” dialect and I was like a dumb person.
I had this feeling of being left out, rejected and misunderstood. No one understood me even though my husband was willing to translate. I came away sick of not being able to interact with people in his hometown.
I believe Mandarin should be promoted so that there will be peace and understanding. Some of the dialects like Hock Chiew and Hainanese are very difficult to learn.
TYH,
Kota Damansara.
Kota Damansara.
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Is there a bigger frog under a coconut shell out there? There seems to be a lot of ignorant souls out there who would try to change nature or a system to suit their own needs or wants. Refer PPSMI. Back to the issue at hand, rather than take the opportunity to learn Hock Chiew (I thought it was supposed to be hokchew?), she wants the whole town to relearn Mandarin, merely so she can understand them? I wonder what she would think if her husband asks that her parents learn Mandarin and discard Hokkien so he can understand them. God forbid that a person of this thinking would come to rule a nation or make important decisions that would affect the lives of many other people whose paths they would never cross.
Seeing this in a bigger picture form, speaking the dialects are not the only thing that makes a Hokkien hokkien or a Hokchew hokchew. I know that some people believe that in order to learn a culture you have to speak the language. But sometimes it could be the other way around: once you know a culture by heart, the language would be very easy to pick up.
The Chinese are a very 'tuan jie' type of people. They like to group together during festivals as much as they do during emergencies. They have unwritten codes of ethics, when to 'give face', when to not 'rat out on your friends or brothers', when to show your power over your husband (or when not to), and what to do to ensure that you do not bring shame to your parents or elders. But most importantly, they like to stick together. The only way you can split them apart would be through different dialects. However, deep down inside, a Hokkien will always be a Hokkien, a Hokchew will always be a Hokchew, regardless of who can speak Mandarin, or not.
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