Mandarin, simplified characters, pinyin in Hong Kong/Macao, Singapore and S.E. Asia

[calibre2001]

To add on to my earlier comment, the entertainment section of the newspapers is entirely in simplified characters whereas the other sections still have traditional characters heading with the article in simplified characters.

My take is the entertainment more likely appeal to the young (who are schooled in simplified). Hence it is possible that within the next 10-20 years chinese newspapers in malaysia might be entirely in simplified once the older generation (schooled in traditional) is gone.

[nicklinjm]

I'd just like to add some comments on the dialect/mandarin situation in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew made a conscious decision to weaken dialects in Singapore: this meant no dialects on the radio or on TV, only putonghua. In schools, there seems to have been a change from traditional characters/no pinyin to simplified characters with pinyin, maybe as early as 1970.

As to what people actually speak, that is a total hotchpotch. Most (if not all) Singaporean chinese come from a dialect-speaking background, whether that be Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese or Teochew. I would say in the typical case, the grandparents' generation will speak only dialect (a bit of mandarin or malay if you're lucky), the middle-aged people will speak both their 'home' dialect and English with poor or no Mandarin, while the young kids (under 20s) will most likely speak no dialect at all, will learn putonghua at school (but hate it), and speak English to their friends. So, overall, in Singapore it is a case of the official languages (English and Mandarin) pushing out the dialects - I think in another 20 years most of the 'smaller' dialect groups like Hakka will have almost no speakers, with only the 'big' dialects (like Teochew and Hokkien) hanging on. Sad really...