Lee Kuan Yew shares his personal, often painful, journey of learning Mandarin later in life, proving that the struggle was his own, not just a mandate for the public.
When Singapore gained independence in 1965, it faced a fragmented linguistic landscape filled with regional Chinese dialects, Malay, Tamil, and English. Lee Kuan Yew recognized that language was not just a tool for communication, but a matter of national survival. Lee Kuan Yew shares his personal, often painful,
Singapore is a multilingual society with four official languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. The bilingual policy, introduced in the 1960s, aims to promote English as the common language for intergroup communication while encouraging the learning of a mother tongue (usually based on ethnicity) to maintain cultural heritage. Singapore is a multilingual society with four official
The second half of the book features essays from 22 Singaporeans—including Lee Hsien Loong and pop star Stephanie Sun—sharing their own experiences with the bilingual policy. and Tamil. The bilingual policy