By Kor Kian Beng

THIS year's campaign aims to reach out to two groups of Singaporeans, said Ms Lim Sau Hoong, chairman of the Promote Mandarin Council which is organising the annual campaign.

The first group will be young adults, people 'who can speak lots of English but very little Mandarin'.

'We want to encourage them to look at Mandarin,' she said.

The second group are people who already know Mandarin, but have forgotten how to speak or write it.

Ms Lim, who took over as the council's chairman last June, said the campaign this year has a Chinese tagline 'Hua wen, shei pa shei?'.

The phrase can be translated as 'Chinese, who's afraid of who?'

An official English tagline may be announced later, said Ms Lim.

She gave a sneak preview of some of the campaign's key features, details of which will be announced on March 26.

First, the organisers will try to pique Singaporeans' interest in Chinese language, culture and history by posting pop quiz questions on outdoor billboards, newspapers and TV. This will run for three months.

Second, the campaign will also launch a Chinese TV gameshow, titled The Chinese Challenge. Ms Lim said the show will likely be in the format of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?

Third, there will be a series of TV commercials. Children of Caucasian and African parentage who have learnt Mandarin will be among those featured. The first of the series kicked off last night.

One of the commercials will feature the two daughters of American investment guru Jim Rogers, who made Singapore his home in 2007. His two girls are Hilton Augusta, five, and Beeland Anderson, one.

Ms Lim said the commercials carry a hidden message. 'It is to let people know that these kids from all over the world are already picking up Mandarin so fluently and effectively. We have to look at ourselves and do a bit of soul-searching. It's very subtle,' she said.

Subsequent commercials will showcase Singaporeans.

Several companies and organisations have joined as new sponsors of the campaign this year, she added.

Said Ms Lim: 'After going through our proposals, they were very supportive and wanted to be part of the team. Without them, these would not be possible.'

Ms Lim, the founder-CEO of 10AM Communications advertising agency, was highlighted by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew as a bilingual Singaporean who can offer added value to China.

Her language abilities helped her become part of China film director Zhang Yimou's team in polishing up the dramatic opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in August last year, said Mr Lee.

'If Ms Lim Sau Hoong spoke only fluent Mandarin, she would not bring added value to her work in China,' he said. 'It is because she also speaks and writes fluent English that she has been able to compete in both languages in the advertising sector.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.