I don’t want to risk my reputation but here is my two cents about dialects.
Dialects allow you to appreciate your culture and traditions. It is one of the more effective ways you can connect with the past since language is not just a skill it is how you think.
That being said I don’t think connecting with one’s roots is as important as some people think it is. It is entirely possible for people to go about their entire lives without facing any practical challenges without knowing anything about your traditions. If you work your entire life as an programmer, I don’t think your traditions will ever be relevant. Some people put a lot of weight on this, whatever makes them happy. There is no requirement for any 21st century human to appreciate their own history if they don’t want to as long as you’re not lacking in scientific literacy and numeracy.
My parents did not speak any other language other than English. They don’t celebrate CNY. We always travel over CNY holidays. I stopped using Chinese since after my higher Chinese O level many many years ago. I make a good living so evidently all the doom and gloom that people seem to think will happen if we abandon our roots did not affect my life one bit.
We are Singaporeans and we were founded on pragmatic values. There’s nothing wrong with your decisions as long as you make a good living. Ignore the haters.
Here are what netizens think:
LKY mentioned that finding his roots helped ground him and give him a sense of direction/purpose and community
Customs such as CNY are a social construct indeed, but this is precisely why it required so much social capital to get the tradition started and to keep it going
Are you ready to give up your cultural connection to a whole community of people who shared the same growing-up experiences and values? Giving this connection up and embracing modernity are not mutually exclusive. It is like having access to a VIP backdoor into the chinese community at large, because of your skin color and your traditions and language, which also means that you will have trouble accessing backdoors into other communities.The front door is of course, global modern and capitalistic connections/similarities
Feeling like a native in a community really helps, and all it requires is some basic maintenance given that the structure is more or less there . To tear down one’s native home and to walk away just because you have a nicer, modern home can leave a very sour taste( disappointment, really) in those who shared the same house with you