The official narrative told by national census data in Singapore is that of huge language shift within one generation from a multitude of Chinese dialects towards Mandarin and English as ruling home languages. People's choices about their language practices and how they identify with language is much more intricate than the term “language shift” captures. This paper uses Bourdieu’s conceptual tools of field, capital and habitus – particularly field – to grasp the “messier” realities of historical language shift in Singapore alongside a pertinacity, even a renaissance, in the use of dialects despite government policies and quadrilingual discourses. The debate is anchored on the Speak Mandarin Campaign, the keystone of pursued government attempts to affect the habitus within the linguistic field. Two specific examples are supplied: the continued commotion for the use of dialects in the mass media, and the government’s failed effort to affect a change in family surnames. Singapore’s story problematizes the concept of language shift in multilingual communities. It also evokes interesting questions on the nature and impetus of language shift, the socio-political discourses surrounding these shifts, and the intricate interaction of government policy and community and personal choices.