http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_525192.html
I was opposed to any proposal of reducing weightage of MT ...
I came to Singapore at the age of 9 and had to learn Mandarin AND English from scratch.
I had no tuition, just endless rounds of practice and practice.
There were also Mandarin (dubbed & subtitled) dramas & films on TV from HK, Taiwan and Japan. For a time, I was also following the TV weekly magazine to read up on the synopsis of series.
Of course, there were also 西游记 and 三国演义 - beginning with the comics versions of course, not to mention 金庸 ...
Like many others I think, I also heard my share of boogeyman stories about ethnic Chinese being disgraced and looked down by fellow Chinese and by other races for not knowing Chinese.
For a year in secondary school, I had a very encouraging Mandarin teacher (蔡老师，谢谢您!)who motivated us to speak and to write beyond the syllabus. Twice, one of my class essay was included in the school Chinese essay publication, a proud feat if I may say so myself, given that the other essays selected were by champions in Mandarin or students from HK.
I continued to read Chinese books here and there, and then came CHF.
Last week, I received an email from GZ, sent to CHF'ers, urging us to join the petition against any reduction and write to the PM.
I must say while the decision announced today coincided with my desire, I do not feel any sense of victory that some have expressed online.
It's a bit of a déjà vu of the AWARE and CSE saga of 2009.
Battles were fought with strong sentiments from parties at extreme opposition to each other.
And in the middle, people like me who see valid concerns from all sides feel hollow even if the outcome was one that we preferred, because we saw that there was no mutual understanding and progress towards resolving real underlying issues.
Unlike some who are against the proposed weightage change, I do not feel so strongly that Chinese identity must be protected or is under siege as such. I do not think the purpose of Chinese as 2nd Lang or even 1st Lang is to perpetuate the Chinese identity.
Nor do I think that it must be maintained just because subsequent generations will become hopeless in Chinese or lose their roots otherwise.
Not only do I think striving for such goals are futile, I do not think they are the right goals in the first place. Such sentiments parallel the movements in France and Quebec Canada to protect the French identity and culture, but I disagree that identity and culture have to be protected in that sense and in such a way.
Ironically, it was through CHF that I broadened my perspective on what it means to be Chinese, and it goes beyond knowing the Mandarin.
While I do not think a person of Chinese descent who can't speak any Chinese language should be classified as a Chinese, I also don't think anyone should have their ethnic designation imposed upon them by the government.
As an ethnic identity, Chinese is first of all very broad, and historically, did not have a common language, only a largely-common written script. Even then, many terms in various dialects cannot be written without customisation of the written script that would not be recognizable outside that dialect group.
Just as the concepts of Hua people, Han people, Tang people etc., evolved through history, so would the concept of Chinese.
One's ethnic identity is as much what one makes of it as it is defined/shaped by one's predecessors, but it should never be what is dictated by outsiders.
Constant review and modification to how Mandarin is taught in schools to pupils with different background, aptitude and grasp of the language is the right step - but while the theory is sound, I believe the implementation will be a lot harder to get right.
As of now, the teacher-pupil ratio makes it all but outright impossible for the teacher to cater to the vast spectrum of needs of the students.
Equipping the teacher is the other major challenge.
Ideally, I'd like Singaporeans to learn at least 3 languages in school, but being a husband of a teacher, I am all too aware of resource constraints in schools.
I feel languages that remain relevant will continue to thrive because it has something to offer, despite what detractors might say.
These detractors are like the detractors against religion, who had been insisting since the French Revolution that religion is irrelevant and will die out, unable to see beyond their own parochialistic view of the world.
What has happened in history clearly shows that abolishing institutionalised religion which was used as a tool for the elite will only facilitate the emergence of the original essence of the religion.
It is quite natural that when something seems successful, it will attract those with ulterior motives to try to make use of it. Thus we observe corruption setting in in churches and other religious institutions around the world throughout history.
Putting aside the digression about religion, I feel that many sought to impose or demand certain rigidity about ethnic identity that is actually an anathema to what I think ethnic identity should be about.
Snowybeagle,
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you came to Singapore at the age of 9. I have a gut feeling that you look more like a Hongkonger to me. May I know where you originate from ?
Indonesia
ReplyDeleteoh.. didn't realize that.. what a surprise to me..
ReplyDeleteHaving not gone through the system, I cannot sympathise with you except that I too had a fair bit of private Mandarin tuition - I didn't hate it though; just had an immense disliking for the tutor.
ReplyDeleteWould I be far off the mark if I say that the flaw might lie with the system rather than the students? Why a need for weightage at all?
An example of competent bilingualism I would like to highlight (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) is that of the Scandinavians - particularly the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Finns, based on my experiential and observational knowledge.
In addition to their native Dansk, Svenska, Norsk and Suomi tongues, they generally speak and write excellent English. Now arguments of linguistic similarities aside, I don't think the Nordics are any more or less highly evolved than we were, neither are their educational systems more or less superior.
If they can achieve such a level of competent bilingualism, why shouldn't we be able to? The human brain is rarely utilised to its full extent - the educational system must find a way to teach languages that will not result in entire generations dreading the very word 'mother tongue'.
Why call it 'mother tongue' if it is now really the 'tongue of my ancestors that I did not grow up speaking'. -_-
It's all about opportunities ... the Europeans have access to many different TV channels from neighbouring countries, not to mention doing quite a bit of travelling in the Continent.
ReplyDeleteAnd when they do go travelling, they do it as much for cultural exchange.
For many Singaporeans, when they do travel to neighbouring countries, it is to shop for cheap sales and cheap food, but made little effort to learn the language and culture of these neighbours.
But at the same time, we should take note that the Nordics that we do encounter here or other countries (except their home countries) are probably the educated and better read bunch ...
I guess mindsets will have to evolve.
ReplyDeleteUndoubtedly so. Even when Europeans began travelling for exposure from the early modern period, they did not necessarily show the same respect to culture of each of the location they visit.
ReplyDeleteFor example, many English young men from family of means undertook the Grand Tour and crossed the Channel to the Continent. While many spent time in Paris to brush up or learn French, many did not bother learning local languages when they got to Italy and Greece - their primary interest in these 2 locales being these as cradle of Western civilisation and birthplace of the Renaissance.
Hence, they paid a lot of attention to the historical sites and antiquities in Rome, Florence, Venice, Athens, but they had little to say or to do with the locals who were actually living there, despite enjoying the local cuisines and seeking dalliances with the local beauties.
Shame upon shame.
ReplyDeleteI chanced upon a cafe at the YMCA Orchard Road yesterday which touted as one of its weekly special "Backmie Ayam Goreng" (stated the sign in the dining area, I saw later the sign outside the cafe stated it as "Backmie Goreng Jakarta).
Suddenly hit by nostalgia, I ordered the dish despite not expecting it to be cooked like the way egg noodles are usually cooked in Indonesia.
What I did not expect was that despite the "Ayam" in the name of the dish, the chef produced, for all intents and purposes, seafood fried noodle without a shred of chicken.
The straightface expression on the staff giving me the answer from the kitchen to my query clearly indicated they had no idea what "ayam goreng" means ...
I tried to rationalise that they might have 2 backmie dishes, but concluded that since it was not the case - someone came up with the brilliant idea of using the name of an Indonesian dish, localised it, change the ingredients from chicken to seafood without taking away the "Ayam" from the name of the dish in the menu ...
And none of the staff in the cafe realised it because they just didn't understand the meaning of the name of the dish they stated in their menu ...
And what is worse is none of the staff made any move to correct the menu after I pointed out the inconsistency to them ...
ReplyDeleteYou're quite right, I've yet to meet the 'redneck' equivalent of a northwestern Continental although I'm sure they exist. Interestingly (or not) it seems many Chinese Singaporeans who struggle with 'mother tongue' tend to be from better-off single-language households, which should be a paradox because they have all the access they need to tuition, enrichment classes, etc. That's why I feel the problem is probably rooted in social and cultural engineering, and exacerbated by educational engineering.
ReplyDeleteOr it could just be that the system and the Singaporean society at large places a shamefully low premium on the humanities.
Nothing strange about it - many of them do pick up French, German or Japanese ... so (not) learning Mandarin is a matter of mindset.
ReplyDeleteI am of the opinion that while government, through Ministry of Education, can influence the external environment to make the learning process easier, or help produce interesting reading materials or media to entice learners, ultimately, the learner himself must want it.
Though some reported they now appreciate being forced to learn Mandarin despite their hatred for it when they were younger, that would not be a very good approach.
Nonetheless, as far as I was concerned as a student, not being able to learn Mandarin was never an option.
That depends on what is meant by low premiums on humanities.
ReplyDeleteDoes the enormous spending on art classes and music classes count?
Nope. By humanities I meant languages, literature, philosophy, history, religion and the classics.
ReplyDeleteThose art and music classes stem, more likely than not, from a desire to make a child more 'accomplished' or 'well rounded' than from any true understanding or appreciation of the fine arts. I wonder how many parents even analyze whether their child has true talent. Classic kiasu-ism lah.
In that case, the phenomena is not confined to Singapore ...
ReplyDeleteIn all societies I've encountered across the world, including Europe, America, Asia and Australia, there are far fewer people who appreciated "languages, literature, philosophy, history, religion and the classics" compared to those who do not.
Our mutual friends like Francois and Sohan are not typical of their fellow country people.
Just...SIGH.
ReplyDelete