Commentary: Does it matter if your parent’s dialect group is not on your birth certificate?

RECOGNISING THE RICHNESS OF DIFFERENT DIALECT GROUPS

After “feelings” were expressed on the matter, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority will be reinstating the dialect field in digital birth certificates from Sep 1.

This shift in thinking is a positive one. The Government is recognising the fact that different dialect groups have their own intrinsic culture and mores that have supported and enriched people’s lives for millenniums.

We are all aware that the different dialect groups originated from the different provinces of China. When the immigrants travelled to our island, they brought with them their own dialect, customs and culture. It is obvious that we do not need to adhere to customs that are outdated, irrelevant or divisive to our 21st century life. But we can certainly celebrate each dialect group’s uniqueness.

Besides unique customs and mores, even the foods are different; each dialect group expressing their culinary expertise in various ways. Hokkien mee is different from Hakka noodles, and Teochew porridge is not the same as Cantonese porridge. They are all delicious in their own right.

For many years of our lives, my Peranakan mother never failed to wake my siblings and I on our birthdays with a traditional Teochew custom – a steaming bowl of sweetened mee sua with a boiled egg. Mee sua is a thin vermicelli wheat noodle. In most Chinese dialect groups’ culture, long noodles represent longevity and that it is why it’s always served on birthdays.

Mee sua is often eaten as a savoury, soupy dish with slices of pork or meatballs. But for the Teochew, sweetening the noodles is symbolic of wishing a sweet life of happiness and success to the birthday girl or boy.

I have never had a sweet tooth, so I cringed at the disparity of taste. I would make a face, and my mother would admonish me, saying, “Don’t you want your life to be sweet?” It’s a no-brainer of course. So, I would force the over-sweet noodle and over-sweet egg into my mouth.

I remember those childhood days with warm fondness. This is the magical stuff of culture. It is something sewn into the fabric of your being. And our first dialect (or language) provides that foundation.