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The Beauty of Singapore
Written by Wen Bin Zu
Monday, 23 November 2009
I am a typical byproduct of Singapore: a Chinese who can speak Mandarin, passed Mandarin classes but can still barely read and write the language well enough to be considered proficient. Technically I am illiterate. And, while that may not speak for all of us, there are sufficient numbers to justify the label "typical."
This has become an issue because Singapore's founder, former prime minister and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew openly acknowledged last week that the 40 years of bilingual language policy he put in place was "wrong." Today, he says, that policy started out on the erroneous assumption that it was possible to master two languages – English and Mandarin, the latter for the majority Chinese community – equally well, and that Mandarin was taught at a too difficult level that "turned students off completely," he said. In retrospect, he said, Chinese language teachers should now make learning the mother tongue fun.
That was quite an earthshaking statement. And, as has always been so typical of Singapore, you can bet your mortgage that Chinese-language teachers will find a way to turn their ever-so-routine and regimented lessons into something seeking to approach fun almost overnight – because Singaporean citizens and institutions almost never fail to recognize the hidden message from the larger-than-life Lee senior: an instruction has been delivered. Or have you not noticed the word "now"?
The public acknowledgement blew my socks off. Since when was Mandarin, also commonly known as Putonghua in other parts of Asia, taught at a level considered too difficult? Chinese compatriots in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan would certainly challenge that premise. And why is the officially branded "second language," Mandarin for the Chinese Singaporeans, (ethnic Indians and Malays receive language training in their own native tongue) always termed the mother tongue when English is the official first language and business language?
"What exactly is your mother tongue?" That is a long story, I thought, and where should I start?
For starters, the bilingual policy was not the only thing that went wrong. Let's shoot back a few decades, when Singapore introduced several eye-catching policies that for decades will affect its education system and the future of its human resources, its only and most treasured "natural" resources according to the government. There was the controversial streaming of students in the late 1970s into three classes – Special, Express and Normal - at the age of… 10!?
Debatable as it may have been, and it is still in practice today with even more subdivisions, it pales in comparison with another more daring stroke in the 1980s: the policy aimed to encourage and reward the highly educated to have more offspring and to encourage the less-educated to keep their children to a minimum. There were a few short-lived experiments, such as one introduced in the mid-1980s whereby the whole class got to wash school toilets during their physical education lessons, simply because the then Minister of Education was impressed during an official visit to Japan that disciplined Japanese students did exactly that. This is perhaps one education-related policy with the shortest shelf life but at least manufacturers and sellers of toiletries and toilet-washing equipment had a windfall.
But not all the social engineering policies were flawed, controversial or in bad taste, at least to the rest of the world. The senior Lee decided in the early 1980s to boost Mandarin proficiency and usage and banned dialects on television and the movies for double dosage, and it was perhaps seen as a master stroke in the present context. So effective was this policy that the majority of those under the age of 30 today hardly know any of the multitudes of Chinese dialects. Did I tell you that when the senior Lee gave instructions, he was always taken very seriously?
Now back to this bilingualism fuss. What happened to the typical lot -- me?
When I was in school, I knew all along that I needed at least a pass in English to gain entry to the local universities although it was fine to fail in Chinese. That has since changed to a mandatory pass in both. Fine after all since the mother language is the only class taught in a different, secondary medium – told you the mother tongue issue was confusing!
And here is where Lee Senior missed the point with what he said last week: motivation and not fun is the key to learning a secondary language.
Look at Hong Kong in the mid-1990s. Not only did few people speak or understand Putonghua then, most scorned those who spoke it and labeled them as inferior. Ten years on, as China has catapulted itself into a recognized, serious economic power, the general public of this former British colony has suddenly, successfully and openly embraced and learned the language.
The main driver is obviously motivation – driven by economic reality and practicality. By the same token, if France were to become the next super economic power, you could certainly expect to find "Bonjour" and "Merci" commonplace in Hong Kong. And why else did so many of my classmates and friends in Singapore learn Japanese in the 1980s? It was again, motivation – pushed by the perception then that Japan was to be the next super power.
When I was in school, in fact we studied but did not learn the Chinese language. Memorizing and dictating Chinese phrases and idioms, often without emphasis or even a proper introduction or explanation of the origins, are not only a rigid and regimental approach to education (okay, this is true for many parts of Asia as well) but a real turn off for me – so MM Lee was right on this.
I was also always relieved I could replace Chinese words I could not write with pinyin – officially HanYu PinYin, the romanized system for the Chinese language and often used as a way to spell Chinese words in foreign publications. Now was that not simply brilliant for the typical me? The Chinese essays that I always dreaded in school became somehow manageable – I have more romanized letters than Chinese characters in my Chinese essay and I can still score a pass! Did I tell you I love Singapore?
In my Singaporean school days there were English-dominated schools and Chinese-dominated ones. The former meant the school had strong English cultural roots, where almost all students spoke English among themselves and most likely did at home. Many of these schools are easily recognizable by their names, such as "Saint" this and "Saint" that, "Convent" this and "Holy" that. The latter, a minority, is where the Chinese language prevails. In my days in school, one was scorned and outclassed if he or she spoke Mandarin or dialects in an English school – you will often find a mixture of languages these days – so again, where is the motivation?
So was the bilingual policy wrong after all? I certainly do not think so.
What Lee Kuan Yew did was to attempt to take a polyglot Chinese community made up of Cantonese, Fujian and Hakka among others and, in a bid to weld them into a single community to give them a common mother tongue that basically belonged to all of them - Mandarin. He reinforced the bilingual policy that started some 40 years ago by encouraging the use of Mandarin and the avoidance of dialects within the Chinese community. And he ordered a ban of dialect programs on television and radio in the early 1980s – a move so effective it explains why those under 30 now barely know much of these dialects.
On my part, I wish I had learned Mandarin well and to be as proficient with it as I am in English since it is considered my mother tongue after all. But what I experienced as a student, with only one subject in Mandarin with the rest in English, as well as the other problems I experienced above, was not motivating and perhaps a turn off.
So the typical me is fluent in English, Singapore's first language, and able to manage a decent conversation in my mother tongue. And I can understand several dialects. That helps me a lot in my work, especially where China comes into play, so long as I don't have to read or write a Chinese document -- or read a menu, for that matter.
The Beauty of Singapore
Written by Wen Bin Zu
Monday, 23 November 2009
I am a typical byproduct of Singapore: a Chinese who can speak Mandarin, passed Mandarin classes but can still barely read and write the language well enough to be considered proficient. Technically I am illiterate. And, while that may not speak for all of us, there are sufficient numbers to justify the label "typical."
This has become an issue because Singapore's founder, former prime minister and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew openly acknowledged last week that the 40 years of bilingual language policy he put in place was "wrong." Today, he says, that policy started out on the erroneous assumption that it was possible to master two languages – English and Mandarin, the latter for the majority Chinese community – equally well, and that Mandarin was taught at a too difficult level that "turned students off completely," he said. In retrospect, he said, Chinese language teachers should now make learning the mother tongue fun.
That was quite an earthshaking statement. And, as has always been so typical of Singapore, you can bet your mortgage that Chinese-language teachers will find a way to turn their ever-so-routine and regimented lessons into something seeking to approach fun almost overnight – because Singaporean citizens and institutions almost never fail to recognize the hidden message from the larger-than-life Lee senior: an instruction has been delivered. Or have you not noticed the word "now"?
The public acknowledgement blew my socks off. Since when was Mandarin, also commonly known as Putonghua in other parts of Asia, taught at a level considered too difficult? Chinese compatriots in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan would certainly challenge that premise. And why is the officially branded "second language," Mandarin for the Chinese Singaporeans, (ethnic Indians and Malays receive language training in their own native tongue) always termed the mother tongue when English is the official first language and business language?
"What exactly is your mother tongue?" That is a long story, I thought, and where should I start?
For starters, the bilingual policy was not the only thing that went wrong. Let's shoot back a few decades, when Singapore introduced several eye-catching policies that for decades will affect its education system and the future of its human resources, its only and most treasured "natural" resources according to the government. There was the controversial streaming of students in the late 1970s into three classes – Special, Express and Normal - at the age of… 10!?
Debatable as it may have been, and it is still in practice today with even more subdivisions, it pales in comparison with another more daring stroke in the 1980s: the policy aimed to encourage and reward the highly educated to have more offspring and to encourage the less-educated to keep their children to a minimum. There were a few short-lived experiments, such as one introduced in the mid-1980s whereby the whole class got to wash school toilets during their physical education lessons, simply because the then Minister of Education was impressed during an official visit to Japan that disciplined Japanese students did exactly that. This is perhaps one education-related policy with the shortest shelf life but at least manufacturers and sellers of toiletries and toilet-washing equipment had a windfall.
But not all the social engineering policies were flawed, controversial or in bad taste, at least to the rest of the world. The senior Lee decided in the early 1980s to boost Mandarin proficiency and usage and banned dialects on television and the movies for double dosage, and it was perhaps seen as a master stroke in the present context. So effective was this policy that the majority of those under the age of 30 today hardly know any of the multitudes of Chinese dialects. Did I tell you that when the senior Lee gave instructions, he was always taken very seriously?
Now back to this bilingualism fuss. What happened to the typical lot -- me?
When I was in school, I knew all along that I needed at least a pass in English to gain entry to the local universities although it was fine to fail in Chinese. That has since changed to a mandatory pass in both. Fine after all since the mother language is the only class taught in a different, secondary medium – told you the mother tongue issue was confusing!
And here is where Lee Senior missed the point with what he said last week: motivation and not fun is the key to learning a secondary language.
Look at Hong Kong in the mid-1990s. Not only did few people speak or understand Putonghua then, most scorned those who spoke it and labeled them as inferior. Ten years on, as China has catapulted itself into a recognized, serious economic power, the general public of this former British colony has suddenly, successfully and openly embraced and learned the language.
The main driver is obviously motivation – driven by economic reality and practicality. By the same token, if France were to become the next super economic power, you could certainly expect to find "Bonjour" and "Merci" commonplace in Hong Kong. And why else did so many of my classmates and friends in Singapore learn Japanese in the 1980s? It was again, motivation – pushed by the perception then that Japan was to be the next super power.
When I was in school, in fact we studied but did not learn the Chinese language. Memorizing and dictating Chinese phrases and idioms, often without emphasis or even a proper introduction or explanation of the origins, are not only a rigid and regimental approach to education (okay, this is true for many parts of Asia as well) but a real turn off for me – so MM Lee was right on this.
I was also always relieved I could replace Chinese words I could not write with pinyin – officially HanYu PinYin, the romanized system for the Chinese language and often used as a way to spell Chinese words in foreign publications. Now was that not simply brilliant for the typical me? The Chinese essays that I always dreaded in school became somehow manageable – I have more romanized letters than Chinese characters in my Chinese essay and I can still score a pass! Did I tell you I love Singapore?
In my Singaporean school days there were English-dominated schools and Chinese-dominated ones. The former meant the school had strong English cultural roots, where almost all students spoke English among themselves and most likely did at home. Many of these schools are easily recognizable by their names, such as "Saint" this and "Saint" that, "Convent" this and "Holy" that. The latter, a minority, is where the Chinese language prevails. In my days in school, one was scorned and outclassed if he or she spoke Mandarin or dialects in an English school – you will often find a mixture of languages these days – so again, where is the motivation?
So was the bilingual policy wrong after all? I certainly do not think so.
What Lee Kuan Yew did was to attempt to take a polyglot Chinese community made up of Cantonese, Fujian and Hakka among others and, in a bid to weld them into a single community to give them a common mother tongue that basically belonged to all of them - Mandarin. He reinforced the bilingual policy that started some 40 years ago by encouraging the use of Mandarin and the avoidance of dialects within the Chinese community. And he ordered a ban of dialect programs on television and radio in the early 1980s – a move so effective it explains why those under 30 now barely know much of these dialects.
On my part, I wish I had learned Mandarin well and to be as proficient with it as I am in English since it is considered my mother tongue after all. But what I experienced as a student, with only one subject in Mandarin with the rest in English, as well as the other problems I experienced above, was not motivating and perhaps a turn off.
So the typical me is fluent in English, Singapore's first language, and able to manage a decent conversation in my mother tongue. And I can understand several dialects. That helps me a lot in my work, especially where China comes into play, so long as I don't have to read or write a Chinese document -- or read a menu, for that matter.
