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Just like any languages in Singapore, Singaporean Mandarin is subjected to influences from other languages spoken in Singapore. Singaporean Hokkien is the largest non-Mandarin Chinese variety spoken in Singapore. The natural tendency of Hokkien-speakers to use the Hokkien way to speak Mandarin has influenced to a large degree the colloquial ...
Before 1969, Singapore used traditional Chinese characters.From 1969, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Table of Simplified Characters (simplified Chinese: 简体字表; traditional Chinese: 簡體字表; pinyin: jiǎntǐzì biǎo), which differed from the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme of the China. [1]
The use of Mandarin in the Chinese-medium schools led its use mainly by the Chinese-educated or Chinese elites in Singapore. After Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew announced and kickstarted the Speak Mandarin Campaign in 1979, the Promote Mandarin Council started research on Mandarin standardisation based on case studies in mainland China and Taiwan.
Traditional characters were recognized as the official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. [27] Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers.
Today, Singdarin remains often used and is commonly spoken in colloquial speech in Singapore and occasionally even on local television, and most Chinese-speaking Singaporeans are able to code-switch between Singdarin and Standard Mandarin, likewise with most Singaporeans in general with Singlish and standard Singapore English. Furthermore, most ...
The Government promotes Mandarin among Singaporean Chinese people, since it views the language as a bridge between Singapore's diverse non-Mandarin speaking groups, and as a tool for forging a common Chinese cultural identity. [8] China's economic rise in the 21st century has also encouraged a greater use of Mandarin.
This may be illustrated by the many variants for the same Chinese characters often found in surnames such as Low, Loh, Lo; Tay, Teh; Teo, Teoh; Yong, Yeong. For example, the surname Zheng ( traditional Chinese : 鄭 ; simplified Chinese : 郑 ) alone has several variations including Teh, Tay, Tee, Chang, Chung, Cheng, and Zeng.
The English name Singapore comes from the Malay name Singapura which is believed to have been derived from Sanskrit meaning "Lion City". [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Singa comes from the Sanskrit word siṃha ( सिंह ), which means "lion", and pūra ( पुर ) means "city" in Sanskrit and is a common suffix in many Indian place names. [ 4 ]