Commentary
This is not a call to promote dialects or introduce them into the public education system, but to no longer treat them as something that requires special approval, says NTU linguistics professor Luke Lu.
A still from the film Dear You. (Photo: Golden Village)
24 Jun 2026 06:00AM
SINGAPORE: The commercial release of Dear You has become about so much more than just one Chinese movie. After Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) initially permitted only the Mandarin-dubbed version for general release, there was a steady outcry for more audiences to be allowed to watch it in its original Teochew language, beyond festivals or niche events. The authorities have since said they were open to more Teochew screenings of the movie and said it would take a “more flexible approach” in considering applications for screenings of dialect films in cinemas.This development is welcome. But this episode has reopened a broader discussion that keeps coming back: How should Singapore update how it manages dialect content today?
