'Dear You' controversy: Is it time to lift Singapore's movie ban on dialects?

**Natasha Ann Zachariah** (0:07)
The Teochew film Dear You is not only a box office hit, it has become a lightning rod among Chinese Singaporeans. Filmmakers, Teochews in Singapore, young people who feel disconnected from the dialects, politicians, everyone has weighed in on the authorities' decision to limit screenings of the Teochew movie and instead have a wider release for the Mandarin dubbed version. The conversation is now bigger than the film itself. So many Chinese Singaporeans are asking, what has the decades old Speak Mandarin campaign cost us? And if it's time to relook how we treat dialects, particularly in the media.
Hi guys, I'm Natasha and welcome to The Usual Place, the podcast where we have real conversations about the headlines. And with me today are two people who are very much involved with Mandarin and dialects and first on the couch I have Chiu Li Ching.
Now, you're an author of the Ethan Evans book series of Bilingual Children's Books, and you're also the former Deputy Chairman of the Promote Mandarin Council. And just for some context, this council was actually set up in 1979 to lead the Speak Mandarin campaign, and it's supported by the National Heritage Board. And another fun fact, you can also speak Teochew and Hokkien, so very much multilingual.

**Chiu Li Ching** (1:13)
Not perfectly.

**Natasha Ann Zachariah** (1:14)
Not perfectly, but you can understand and speak some of it. All right, and next to you on the couch is a dialect teacher. I have Eugene Lee, the co-founder of LearnDialect.SG. Now, you grew up speaking Teochew with your family, and now you teach Teochew and Hokkien in classes, and your school also offers Cantonese lessons.
And you started group dialect classes after you volunteered at a nursing home, and you realized that many of the seniors there, they spoke dialect, but they couldn't articulate their needs to their caregivers and the staff at the nursing home, right?

**Eugene Lee** (1:44)
That's right.

**Natasha Ann Zachariah** (1:44)
All right. Okay, so we're here because of the movie, and I want to get into it.
It's not the first time that a dubbed version of a dialect film has been screened, but the conversation I feel has been unusually heated. And actually, The Straits Times received many forum letters on this issue, and it's like the most number of letters on a single topic in recent months. So, I want to ask both of you why you think Chinese sing-songs have such a strong reaction to the limited screening on the 202 version, when many of them may not perhaps speak the language themselves. So, Lee Cheng, do you want to tell us what you think about this?

**Chiu Li Ching** (2:18)
Okay, the way I look at it is that there are two things. One of it is that anything that is limited, that you want and you cannot get, it does upset people.
I think that's one thing. And the other thing is that because this is being a dialect, I think the first version is in dialect.
Many Tiu Chus who wants to view it, they couldn't view it and therefore they feel that, you know, why can't I view it? So, I think that is always this element of rarity. When something is rare and you cannot get it, you do tend to get a little bit upset. So, that's one. And of course, I mean, the original movie being based on that language, if you are purist in that language, you will enjoy it. And not being able to enjoy that, you know, doesn't make you feel, you know, that way. But being dubbed in Mandarin, I watched the Mandarin version. And I find that, you know, I can follow the story very well. I can understand the emotions that it brings out in people. Perhaps when it is in the Teochew dialect, you know, it may resonate a little bit more with the Teochew speaking. But looking at the Mandarin version, I think it is perfectly understandable. And the other thing, of course, is that I feel that by watching, making the Mandarin version available, I think it makes it possible for more people, even non-Teochew speaking, to really enjoy it. Because the storyline covers something that all older Singaporeans will have an understanding for, how their forefathers came here, how they set up homes here, and the kind of struggles that they go through, especially that part about sending money back home.
So that's how I see it.

**Natasha Ann Zachariah** (4:04)
Yujin, do you agree? Do you think this is why Chinese people are so upset about this, not being able to see the film in Teochew, not having many options to see the film in Teochew?