In an effort to attract young English-speaking Chinese Singaporeans to learn mandarin, the Speak Mandarin Campaign will introduce fun and accessible ways such as music, movies and metaphors this year.

 

According to Channel News Asia reports on Monday, the Campaign, into its 27th year, hopes to make speaking mandarin as easy as lifestyle activities.

 

Singapore, with about 78 percent of its population being ethnically Chinese, has been attaching increasing importance to the Chinese Language education in the past few years.

 

But the post-1965 generation of Chinese Singaporeans are used to speaking English in their daily lives.

 

In order to get these young Singaporeans to gain a better appreciation of Chinese culture and tradition, local movie companies will participate in the campaign to offer an immersion in the world of mandarin films.

 

And the campaign will also be tapping into the wide appeal of mandarin songs and collaborating with local company Music Net to produce a mandarin songbook with each song phoneticized.

 

Various educational organizations and publishing houses will also be organizing activities and putting out books to make learning mandarin idioms and metaphors easier.

 

The mass media will also be involved, with Media Corp's 938LIVE radio promoting mandarin on air and the Singapore Media Academy organizing a Mandarin Carnival at the end of the year.

 

The National Library Board will also continue to run programs at libraries across the island on Chinese language and culture.

 

The annual Speak Mandarin Campaign, launched in 1979, helps encourage Chinese ethnics with English education background to get familiar with Chinese culture and speak the Chinese language as much as possible in their daily life.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)