Ong Siew Chey Does Not Know the Meaning of Dialect

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>March 19, 2009
MANDARIN VS DIALECTS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>The debate continues
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>




<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Forget about dialects, stick to Mandarin
I AGREE thoroughly with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's view in his speech on Tuesday at the launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, which was reproduced in The Straits Times yesterday, 'Nurturing a key advantage'.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>We do not lose much if we discard dialects. Learning dialects will affect the learning of English and Mandarin


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Chinese Singaporeans should forget about dialects and stick to Mandarin.
Language is a tool and we should use the best tool available.
Cultural and other values can be dissociated from languages. Mexicans use Spanish, but culturally, they are not exactly Spaniards.
Many Malays do not know Arabic, but they are Muslims. Most Christians do not read Hebrew or Latin.
One may not realise that most Chinese Singaporeans speak Chinese dialects at a very superficial conversational level. They have difficulty in expressing abstract terms or ideas with some depth in dialects.
Few Cantonese here can speak Cantonese as eloquently as people educated in Hong Kong, who have used Cantonese in school and at home - and paid the price of not being fluent in Mandarin,
Similarly, few Hokkiens in Singapore are able to make a formal speech or read a literary piece in the southern Hokkien dialect. Literary Hokkien and conversational Hokkien vary quite a great deal in the pronunciation of many words.
We do not lose much if we discard dialects. Learning dialects will affect the learning of English and Mandarin, as MM Lee has pointed out.
People from Chinese Peranakan families generally speak better English than others because they do not have to divert much of their energy and time to learning Chinese.
Most of us are not born with great linguistic talent and can do well in only one or two languages.
In spite of our claim of being bilingual, some of us are actually non-lingual, hovering between Singlish and substandard Mandarin.
We should concentrate on English and Mandarin and leave the talented ones to go beyond.
The Chinese have a saying that wide knowledge does not come with depth. Ong Siew Chey

 

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Doctor's compassion reduced mum-in-law's suffering
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>




<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WHEN my 80-year-old mother-in-law had a persistent pain in her ribs and could not sleep, I took her to the accident and emergency department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital one Tuesday evening.
The administrative staff and the nurses were quick in their response, working independently and efficiently. In less than 15 minutes, an X-ray was taken and soon we were attended to by a medical officer, Dr Loi Tsuan Hao.
He spoke in dialect and listened to the complaints of my mother-in-law. He patiently explained to us the findings from the X-ray and was very reassuring that all would be fine. With smiles and great patience, he demonstrated to us how to reduce the pain and what course of action to take. His assurances gave my mother-in-law hope that she would be fine and I could see the pink coming back to her face.
New drugs and advanced medical technologies help a great deal, but nothing beats the human touch, a smile and the compassion of a doctor, which can miraculously reduce the pain and suffering that a patient is going through.
Thank you, Dr Loi and all the other staff at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
My mother-in-law was smiling all the way home. Violet Sim (Ms)

 

[besotted]

Editorial Reviews
Product Description

Tales from Old China, from retired professor Ong Siew Chey, retells twenty classic Chinese folktales. A fascinating collection, it is aimed at adults and teenagers interested in learning more about China and her people through the medium of folktales.


http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Old-China-Siew-Chey/dp/9810810822

About the Author

Ong Siew Chey is a retired professor from National University of Singapore.

 

[denzuko1]

Forget about dialects, stick to Mandarin

I AGREE thoroughly with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's view in his speech on Tuesday at the launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, which was reproduced in The Straits Times yesterday, 'Nurturing a key advantage'.

We do not lose much if we discard dialects. Learning dialects will affect the learning of English and Mandarin


Chinese Singaporeans should forget about dialects and stick to Mandarin.
Language is a tool and we should use the best tool available.
Cultural and other values can be dissociated from languages.

Mexicans use Spanish, but culturally, they are not exactly Spaniards.
Many Malays do not know Arabic, but they are Muslims. Most Christians do not read Hebrew or Latin.

One may not realise that most Chinese Singaporeans speak Chinese dialects at a very superficial conversational level. They have difficulty in expressing abstract terms or ideas with some depth in dialects.

Few Cantonese here can speak Cantonese as eloquently as people educated in Hong Kong, who have used Cantonese in school and at home - and paid the price of not being fluent in Mandarin. Similarly, few Hokkiens in Singapore are able to make a formal speech or read a literary piece in the southern Hokkien dialect. Literary Hokkien and conversational Hokkien vary quite a great deal in the pronunciation of many words.

We do not lose much if we discard dialects. Learning dialects will affect the learning of English and Mandarin, as MM Lee has pointed out.

People from Chinese Peranakan families generally speak better English than others because they do not have to divert much of their energy and time to learning Chinese.

Most of us are not born with great linguistic talent and can do well in only one or two languages.

In spite of our claim of being bilingual, some of us are actually non-lingual, hovering between Singlish and substandard Mandarin.

We should concentrate on English and Mandarin and leave the talented ones to go beyond.

The Chinese have a saying that wide knowledge does not come with depth. Ong Siew Chey

My guess is that this Ong Siew Chey does not even know his own dialect, let alone show respect for it.

His comment that Cantonese paying the price for having their dialect as mother tongue is rediculous. KL is a city with majority of Chinese speaking Cantonese. Yet if you go on the streets, you will find them speaking Mandarin, Malay and English, some even other dialects.

As for Peranakan, obviously Mr Ong failed to mention that although they do not speak dialect, they speak Malay. If they also learn Mandarin in school, it will still be tri-lingual.

Does Ong Siew Chey or even LKY advocating a culture of laziness? Obviously they have missed the Chinese lesson of telling people that you will get rewarded for working hard.

 

[red amoeba]

I totally disagree with MM Lee's call to ditch dialect - thats what distinguish us amongst Chinese, there are hokkien, cantonese and hakka cuisines that are famous worldwide. In fact, Chinese food can be split down into the various ethnic groups. How can you ditch what is your ancestral origins?

Furthermore, knowing Cantonese allows you to communicate well with Hong Kongers - who in turn owns factories in China, hire Chinese managers. Sure, Hong Kongers can speak Chinese but many of the older generations speak Cantonese and do not speak Chinese well. And personally from experience, you can secure an agreement better if you can communicate in Cantonese as they feel more at ease - they feel closer - which is how Chinese do their businesses.

There is still usefulness in dialects - just because some Singaporeans who cannot master Chinese and English does not mean we must give up our dialects. Its our dialect group that give us the colorful food and traditions. How come we don't see Hong Kong giving up on Cantonese and teach all Chinese in schools? How come Taiwan don't give up Hokkien?

I blame it on our education system not doing it a better job. Please have a look at the education system.

 

[cass888]

Well and good but what if the doctor and the patient were speaking different dialects? That is why Mandarin is important because in future both will speak Mandarin.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Doctor's compassion reduced mum-in-law's suffering

</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>




<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WHEN my 80-year-old mother-in-law had a persistent pain in her ribs and could not sleep, I took her to the accident and emergency department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital one Tuesday evening.
The administrative staff and the nurses were quick in their response, working independently and efficiently. In less than 15 minutes, an X-ray was taken and soon we were attended to by a medical officer, Dr Loi Tsuan Hao.
He spoke in dialect and listened to the complaints of my mother-in-law. He patiently explained to us the findings from the X-ray and was very reassuring that all would be fine. With smiles and great patience, he demonstrated to us how to reduce the pain and what course of action to take. His assurances gave my mother-in-law hope that she would be fine and I could see the pink coming back to her face.
New drugs and advanced medical technologies help a great deal, but nothing beats the human touch, a smile and the compassion of a doctor, which can miraculously reduce the pain and suffering that a patient is going through.
Thank you, Dr Loi and all the other staff at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
My mother-in-law was smiling all the way home. Violet Sim (Ms)

 

[denzuko1]

Well and good but what if the doctor and the patient were speaking different dialects? That is why Mandarin is important because in future both will speak Mandarin.

Well, a good example I have comes from Malaysia where a Teow Chew and a Hokkien met. The common language was Malay so they conducted their business discussion in Malay.

 

[lancheowman]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>March 19, 2009
MANDARIN VS DIALECTS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>The debate continues
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>




<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Forget about dialects, stick to Mandarin
I AGREE thoroughly with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's view in his speech on Tuesday at the launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, which was reproduced in The Straits Times yesterday, 'Nurturing a key advantage'.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>We do not lose much if we discard dialects. Learning dialects will affect the learning of English and Mandarin


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Chinese Singaporeans should forget about dialects and stick to Mandarin.
Language is a tool and we should use the best tool available.
Cultural and other values can be dissociated from languages. Mexicans use Spanish, but culturally, they are not exactly Spaniards.
Many Malays do not know Arabic, but they are Muslims. Most Christians do not read Hebrew or Latin.
One may not realise that most Chinese Singaporeans speak Chinese dialects at a very superficial conversational level. They have difficulty in expressing abstract terms or ideas with some depth in dialects.
Few Cantonese here can speak Cantonese as eloquently as people educated in Hong Kong, who have used Cantonese in school and at home - and paid the price of not being fluent in Mandarin,
Similarly, few Hokkiens in Singapore are able to make a formal speech or read a literary piece in the southern Hokkien dialect. Literary Hokkien and conversational Hokkien vary quite a great deal in the pronunciation of many words.
We do not lose much if we discard dialects. Learning dialects will affect the learning of English and Mandarin, as MM Lee has pointed out.
People from Chinese Peranakan families generally speak better English than others because they do not have to divert much of their energy and time to learning Chinese.
Most of us are not born with great linguistic talent and can do well in only one or two languages.
In spite of our claim of being bilingual, some of us are actually non-lingual, hovering between Singlish and substandard Mandarin.
We should concentrate on English and Mandarin and leave the talented ones to go beyond.
The Chinese have a saying that wide knowledge does not come with depth. Ong Siew Chey

basically, prof ong is saying most of us are so stupid that we cannot make a living and preserve our culture and heritage at the same time. and everyone of us are sub-standard human beings speaking sub-standard languages and we should not encourage ourselves to learn more.... because we are stupid

 

[denzuko1]

I totally disagree with MM Lee's call to ditch dialect - thats what distinguish us amongst Chinese, there are hokkien, cantonese and hakka cuisines that are famous worldwide. In fact, Chinese food can be split down into the various ethnic groups. How can you ditch what is your ancestral origins?

Furthermore, knowing Cantonese allows you to communicate well with Hong Kongers - who in turn owns factories in China, hire Chinese managers. Sure, Hong Kongers can speak Chinese but many of the older generations speak Cantonese and do not speak Chinese well. And personally from experience, you can secure an agreement better if you can communicate in Cantonese as they feel more at ease - they feel closer - which is how Chinese do their businesses.

There is still usefulness in dialects - just because some Singaporeans who cannot master Chinese and English does not mean we must give up our dialects. Its our dialect group that give us the colorful food and traditions. How come we don't see Hong Kong giving up on Cantonese and teach all Chinese in schools? How come Taiwan don't give up Hokkien?

I blame it on our education system not doing it a better job. Please have a look at the education system.

LKY did not even know his own dialect until he entered politics.