colony. As a result of the government's policy, English or Singlish has become widespread among the residents of Singapore, including but not limited to the Chinese Singaporeans, and this especially the case among the younger generations. As of 2010, it was estimated that 32.6% of Singapore Chinese speak English at home. But at work or in the city and business district, English is the official lingua franca, but ironically Hokkien remains extant amongst Singaporeans, not limited to the Chinese, and operates as an unofficial common language, reminiscent of Singapore before the 1980s. Mandarin is another widely spoken language among Chinese Singaporeans. As of 2010, it was estimated that 47.7% of Chinese Singaporeans speak Mandarin at home. Evidently, Singapore government's Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched in the 1980s to make Mandarin the lingua franca among the Chinese in Singapore. It was intended to be the language to unify Chinese Singaporeans from different topolect groups by replacing the then lingua franca Hokkien. This was also because Mandarin was deemed more economically valuable, and speaking Mandarin would help Chinese Singaporeans retain their heritage, as Mandarin supposedly contains a cultural repository of values and traditions that are identifiable to all Chinese, regardless of topolect group. In the 1990s, this campaign began to target the English-speaking Chinese Singaporeans. As a result of this campaign, Mandarin became widespread in places such as residential areas, neighbourhood markets and even business districts, with the various mother tongues of Chinese Singaporeans falling out of favous among younger Chinese Singaporeans. Mandarin is also often spoken in most "traditional Chinese-based" schools, even though English is now their medium of instruction. Colloquially, as with all other languages spoken in Singapore, the Chinese Singaporeans prefer a localised flavour of mixing words from English, Hokkien, Malay, and some other varieties, into their Mandarin speech. Most young Chinese Singaporeans are capable of conversational Mandarin but are weaker in their ability to write Chinese, or with higher level conversations on complex, specialised topics. Variations according to age group The linguistic diversity among Chinese Singaporeans varies according to age group. Most young Chinese Singaporeans speak English and Mandarin while the elderly, though also able to converse in Mandarin, prefer speaking other Sinitic languages such as Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka, or Hainanese. As these south-eastern Sinitic languages are no longer taught in school, the number of speakers have steadily declined. Besides, many parents have begun to communicate with