Hokkien, Cantonese...Dialects.....u can't speak?

Does kids these days know how to speak dialects? I witnessed many of our students these days are unable to communicate with old folks because of language barrier. Is dialect a languange barrier in today's society? I came across a senior doctor who went to Germany for overseas triaining. He was attached to a local hospital in Germany and over there the German doctor and patient communicate in German. However, in the presence of a Singapore doctor, the German doctor and patient turned to speak English. And when another doctor did overseas training in Korea, oh dear, beside the body language he was observing, there is no common language to use! Well, language barrier is common among people of different nationalities....but how can language be a barrier among our locals?

Each time when I see a student unable to get details from the patient regarding his diagnosis, condition and history and resulted having to wait for an interpreter (if there happen to be), does it strike the mind of the student to start learning to speak dialect? Is dialect so difficult to learn or too 'malu' to learn? For the sake of your good, dear students out there, it won't kill to learn some dialects for the benefit of better communication skills!