Thursday, October 21, 2004
Decided to tap on some hot talk topic, another than the usual boring bits of my life, for this entry. Nothing global, just some local focus - Chinese language.
If you've been following my blog so dearly, you'll know how much I hate kandangs (westernised Chinese who don't speak a single sentence of Mandarin). They simply disgust the hell out of me and sometimes I wish I can give them a tight slap on their face & remind them of their skin colour & ethnic origins. Just two days ago, a colleague of mine was waiting for a speech by PM Lee at the dinner function that night to be mailed in to us from MICA. It was a dinner at the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce with the Chinese community. When the speech came in, I had a peek at it before forwarding it to my colleague who's covering the event. 2 copies were attached - a Chinese speech & a English translation of the earlier. 5 minutes later, my colleague exclaimed (loudly by the way), "Oh no! It's in Chinese! Wah lao!!!" I was both amused & disappointed in her reaction. She is a 100% Chinese by the way, one without a so-called Christian name & a university graduate. When I informed her of the English translation attached to the email, she heaved a great sigh of relief.
Is Chinese that scary? Why did she scream like she saw a ghost waving at her from her computer monitor? Like the article by my editor (the photo-byline isn't doing her any justice by the way. She looks 10 times better than that), what has years of Chinese language education done to the people these days? Lack of usage in everyday life is not an excuse. In fact, no excuse should be used when that very language is your mother tongue! It is something you should know how to use & speak at the tip of your hands. I am apalled by the percentage figures said by MM Lee, which is mentioned in the article. 60%-70% knowlege of Chinese is enough? How can that be? Shouldn't it be 101% or more?
Just the other day, I was having the same discussion with my mother over Chinese being just a language or something of absolute importance & status in Chinese. My mother is the best person I can talk to over China, Taiwan or basically oriental issues. I am a very oriental person. Just don't insult me by calling me Cheena. She is also the very person that cultivated my interest for Chinese & its cultures & my excellent results & performance in Chinese during my schooling days. If I didn't remember wrongly, I've been getting distinctions for Chinese since Primary 1. Yes. All the way to 'O' Levels. I am proud to say, I don't have to say "Bye bye bilingualism". Oh yes...back to what my Mum told me. She says she once read in the papers about a Chinese Singaporean went to the states for studies. During the very first lecture over there, the Caucasian lecturer asked every student to come forward to the whiteboard & write down "How are you?" in their mother tongue. And guess what this particular Singaporean wrote? He wrote, "How are you?" big & bold on the board. The lecturer was puzzled & asked him if he is sure that's his mother tongue. He said yes confidently & smirks back at the lecturer. The lecturer got pissed off instead of puzzled, & told him, "This is MY mother tongue and not yours! Your mother tongue is not English!" Don't you feel like digging a trench for him to hide in the lecture hall? At the same time, I wish to treat him to some good waking up session. WAKE UP! YOU ARE CHINESE! NOT ANG MOH!
This thing will prolly go on & on...like how the number kandangs increase in Singapore the years to come. I agree with Nak that more time should be spent on cultivating students' interest in the language (the part about activities with Chinese speaking community is a good one), rather than treating it as a cold, examination subject. But as the focus continues to shift, I fear the drop of the already dropping standard of Chinese in Singapore 10 years down the road. Instead of making learning easier & things (i.e. the route to university education) more accessible for the "I-hate-Chinese" & "Chinese-is-so-difficult-to-learn" group of people, why not cultivate those who are good at it & produce more "I-am-effectively-bilingual" group?
// she's beautifully chaotic at 1:41 AM >> 