Do Singaporeans care if politicians speak dialects in campaign?

Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese have been heard, and resonate with some older voters

- Shawn Hoo

Over a bowl of Teochew fishball noodles, PAP candidate Daniel Liu is getting an impromptu language lesson from a senior volunteer. She tells Mr Liu, 40, who is Hokkien by descent, that while Teochew might sound like Hokkien, it has a lighter intonation — the kind you might hear on an opera stage.

Mr Liu spent over a decade serving in Nee Soon GRC, where Hokkien is the go-to dialect at temple dinners and grassroots events. But since his move to Aljunied GRC in February 2025 — where Teochew is more commonly spoken — he has been racing to pick up the basics of the dialect. With Polling Day on May 3 fast approaching, he knows he has a short runway to get up to speed and speak to residents in the dialect that resonates most.

His senior volunteer, however, has a teaching trick up her sleeve. Lately, as Mr Liu makes his rounds at the food centre at Blk 105 Hougang Avenue 1, he has been caught off guard by store owners calling him "dua gu" before chatting with him in Teochew. "Dua gu" means "big cow" — a Teochew translation of the Mandarin term "da niu", which sounds like his name, Daniel. Given his albinism, dialect banter is something he rarely encounters.

It turns out that his senior volunteer had prepped the store owners, pulling an old trick in language learning: total immersion, Hougang style.

Mr Liu — who has been sharing snippets of his dialect-learning journey on social media — tells The Straits Times not to expect a full-blown speech in Teochew from him any time soon. But as a new face on the ground, he has found that speaking the dialect helps him connect with some residents: "Sometimes it allows them to open up a bit more."

Since the introduction of the Speak Mandarin Campaign in 1979, Chinese dialects have been discouraged in public life. They make a comeback only on three occasions — a public health crisis, a campaign targeted at seniors and during a general election.