<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>No motivation for Mandarin speakers to learn English
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->PERHAPS the 'us and them' schism ('Crossing the 'us versus them' barrier', July 2) between what the writer described as residents and non-residents has been propagated by what many see as our leaders' expectations that Singaporeans should make a greater effort to integrate with foreign residents.
Take language, for example. Our leaders' emphasis on the need to speak Mandarin could be perceived as a clear signal to encourage those of mainland China origin, one of the largest groups here, to choose to continue in their monolingual state.
Too bad for non-Mandarin-speaking or non-Chinese Singapore residents - let them integrate. Where is the motivation for foreign residents from China to learn English or another official language?
Geylang used to be a mixed multilingual area. Now, almost all new shop signs are in Chinese only, fast turning this into a Chinese enclave, a comfortable outpost of China for new residents from that country flooding the district. Is this something to be encouraged in multilingual Singapore, supposedly proud of our four official languages?
We ignore the early beginnings of a disturbing trend to our detriment, running the risk of what has happened in Western countries, with festering resentment against whole neighbourhoods taken over by foreign residents and altered beyond recognition.
Let us not have mixed messages from our leaders and those in authority - integration efforts must be mutual.
Mr Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim's letter last Saturday ('Not a mindset issue') urges that barriers to Malays' progress be identified and removed. I suspect one reason for the decline in the percentage of Malay PMETs (professionals, managers, executives and technicians), particularly in the services sector in 2005, may be the lack of Mandarin language skill.
Is Singapore regressing from being a country known for the English fluency of its multilingual population to one where Mandarin is becoming the de facto national language?
Amy Loh (Ms)
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->PERHAPS the 'us and them' schism ('Crossing the 'us versus them' barrier', July 2) between what the writer described as residents and non-residents has been propagated by what many see as our leaders' expectations that Singaporeans should make a greater effort to integrate with foreign residents.
Take language, for example. Our leaders' emphasis on the need to speak Mandarin could be perceived as a clear signal to encourage those of mainland China origin, one of the largest groups here, to choose to continue in their monolingual state.
Too bad for non-Mandarin-speaking or non-Chinese Singapore residents - let them integrate. Where is the motivation for foreign residents from China to learn English or another official language?
Geylang used to be a mixed multilingual area. Now, almost all new shop signs are in Chinese only, fast turning this into a Chinese enclave, a comfortable outpost of China for new residents from that country flooding the district. Is this something to be encouraged in multilingual Singapore, supposedly proud of our four official languages?
We ignore the early beginnings of a disturbing trend to our detriment, running the risk of what has happened in Western countries, with festering resentment against whole neighbourhoods taken over by foreign residents and altered beyond recognition.
Let us not have mixed messages from our leaders and those in authority - integration efforts must be mutual.
Mr Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim's letter last Saturday ('Not a mindset issue') urges that barriers to Malays' progress be identified and removed. I suspect one reason for the decline in the percentage of Malay PMETs (professionals, managers, executives and technicians), particularly in the services sector in 2005, may be the lack of Mandarin language skill.
Is Singapore regressing from being a country known for the English fluency of its multilingual population to one where Mandarin is becoming the de facto national language?
Amy Loh (Ms)
