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Can Singapore’s dialects survive or are they becoming history?

July 16, 2026 · 24 min

Show notes

The release of Chinese film Dear You has reignited the debate over dialects in Singapore after the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) approved limited screenings of its Teochew original version. Has the time come to rethink Singapore's approach to dialects, or are they destined to fade away in the next generation? In this week's Deep Dive, Steven Chia and Tiffany Ang speak with assistant professor Luke Lu from Nanyang Technological University and Hokkien content creator Ong Yi Ting (@yitinggoyt) to explore whether dialects are worth preserving or are they fast becoming relics of Singapore's past.

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