Demise of the Mother Tongue
The other day, a group of Chinese youngsters walked past me at a bus stop. They were giggling and conversing in English. One of them turned his head and pointed at the signboard of the place they would be dining at. I heard him try to pronounce "可愛。。。可愛 something." He had wanted to say "可愛雞" which was the name of the fried chicken chain - Tenderfresh, in Chinese. But he failed. I couldn't help but grimace at his struggle with the pronunciation and eventual surrender.
We learn simplified Chinese in school, and the characters were in traditional Chinese. Despite so, the word chicken (雞) is so commonplace that I couldn't believe any Chinese adolescent wouldn't be able to identify it - unless he or she has been so used to using English that even if a common traditional Chinese character appears in front of their eyes, they would simply overlook it, due to sheer disinterest, nonchalance, and inattention.
The phenomenon of one having a much stronger ability in English than Chinese isn't rare, and probably resonates in other Mother Tongues as well, but I shall keep to the Chinese language as I have had first-hand experience. Many Taiwanese have the impression that Singaporean Chinese do not know how to speak Chinese, or hold a very low expectation of our standards in the language. You do not need to use fancy terms. As long as you are fluent, they would be genuinely surprised. I find it slightly amusing and offensive whenever a Taiwanese tells me that I speak "Good Chinese" when in fact it was just like an everyday conversation. There was also once when I was in the hospital ward and this nurse from the PRC was explaining some stuff to me. Halfway, she paused to ask me if the words she was using were too difficult to comprehend. Nope, she did not mean the esoteric jargon, but the conversational words common to them but seemingly seldom used among locals.
Hasn't bilingualism been the cornerstone of Singapore's language policy since decades ago? Some parents might have come from an English-speaking background but they should not perpetuate the notion of "You can do without Mother Tongue" to the next generation. Chinese is the world's most spoken language but the dispersal of that speaking population is probably not as wide as that of English speakers, so maybe one would think that English is a "global language" whereas Chinese is not. I can understand the use of English as a teaching medium for subjects in schools, but at home, the pedagogy is flawed - skewing heavily towards one side of the two languages we are supposed to grasp.
The focus on the English language is tenacious especially since its usage is so pervasive. Given a lack of usage or practice, over time people can become perfunctory when it comes to the usage of Chinese. When a situation calls for them to speak, they speak with an awkward parlance - disjointed and inarticulate, not to mention writing, in which they would probably have forgotten how.
It requires self-discipline for one to invest time in brushing up on the Mother Tongue. Just simply being more receptive and exposed to the language would do the trick. However, some have already formed such a huge apathy that it is now very hard for them to gain traction. Some people may have their dissent on this issue. It may seem innocuous to them for having a lower-than-desired ability in Mother Tongue but I feel that it casts us in bad light in front of foreigners, and impinges upon the issues of racial identity and roots.
I am not saying that we need to emulate the level of Chinese language proficiency of those in China, but at least keep it up to a level that will not invite a surreptitious smirk or an explicit guffaw, a level that will not subject us to mockery.
We learn simplified Chinese in school, and the characters were in traditional Chinese. Despite so, the word chicken (雞) is so commonplace that I couldn't believe any Chinese adolescent wouldn't be able to identify it - unless he or she has been so used to using English that even if a common traditional Chinese character appears in front of their eyes, they would simply overlook it, due to sheer disinterest, nonchalance, and inattention.
The phenomenon of one having a much stronger ability in English than Chinese isn't rare, and probably resonates in other Mother Tongues as well, but I shall keep to the Chinese language as I have had first-hand experience. Many Taiwanese have the impression that Singaporean Chinese do not know how to speak Chinese, or hold a very low expectation of our standards in the language. You do not need to use fancy terms. As long as you are fluent, they would be genuinely surprised. I find it slightly amusing and offensive whenever a Taiwanese tells me that I speak "Good Chinese" when in fact it was just like an everyday conversation. There was also once when I was in the hospital ward and this nurse from the PRC was explaining some stuff to me. Halfway, she paused to ask me if the words she was using were too difficult to comprehend. Nope, she did not mean the esoteric jargon, but the conversational words common to them but seemingly seldom used among locals.
Hasn't bilingualism been the cornerstone of Singapore's language policy since decades ago? Some parents might have come from an English-speaking background but they should not perpetuate the notion of "You can do without Mother Tongue" to the next generation. Chinese is the world's most spoken language but the dispersal of that speaking population is probably not as wide as that of English speakers, so maybe one would think that English is a "global language" whereas Chinese is not. I can understand the use of English as a teaching medium for subjects in schools, but at home, the pedagogy is flawed - skewing heavily towards one side of the two languages we are supposed to grasp.
The focus on the English language is tenacious especially since its usage is so pervasive. Given a lack of usage or practice, over time people can become perfunctory when it comes to the usage of Chinese. When a situation calls for them to speak, they speak with an awkward parlance - disjointed and inarticulate, not to mention writing, in which they would probably have forgotten how.
It requires self-discipline for one to invest time in brushing up on the Mother Tongue. Just simply being more receptive and exposed to the language would do the trick. However, some have already formed such a huge apathy that it is now very hard for them to gain traction. Some people may have their dissent on this issue. It may seem innocuous to them for having a lower-than-desired ability in Mother Tongue but I feel that it casts us in bad light in front of foreigners, and impinges upon the issues of racial identity and roots.
I am not saying that we need to emulate the level of Chinese language proficiency of those in China, but at least keep it up to a level that will not invite a surreptitious smirk or an explicit guffaw, a level that will not subject us to mockery.
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