By Lim Mun Fah from Sin Chew Daily
Singapore used to be a Chinese educational bastion for Southeast Asia with the most comprehensive Chinese-language educational system. But the deviation of its educational policy had changed everything in just two to three decades. Nanyang University, a leading Chinese university in Southeast Asia for 25 years, became part of the history in 1980. As nearly 100% of students were enrolled in English stream primary schools, English became the first language for all primary and secondary schools in Singapore. Since then, Chinese education had basically disappeared from Singapore, leaving only Chinese language teaching.
Under such a circumstances, the Chinese language standard of the new generation of Chinese Singaporeans is low, it is not surprising even to hear some of them saying: “I hate Chinese.”
However, the Singapore government has carried out many reforms in Chinese language teaching over the past 40 years. A Chinese speaking campaign has also been carried out with the hope to change the habit of speaking dialects in Chinese families and make Chinese a common language for them.
However, just as Singaporean scholar Lee Guan Kin said: “The closures of Chinese primary and secondary schools, as well as the Nanyang University, together with the deviations of the bilingual educational system had rapidly deteriorated the soil quality of Chinese language and culture in Singapore, causing a significant cultural gap phenomenon.”
Therefore, a few decades after the Chinese speaking campaign was launched, even though the country is now having fewer Chinese Singaporeans who speak dialects, Chinese is still unable to replace dialects as the communication language in Chinese families. Instead, there is a rapid increase in the number of Chinese students speaking English at home. The latest data shows that the number of students who speak English at home has increased to the current 60% from 10% in 1980.
What are the far-reaching impact when Chinese families are no longer the mainstream? An editorial from Zaobao said that Singapore may someday become a single English society.
Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is aware of the seriousness of the crisis, he said that they should start from the actual situation of the students, including to teach Chinese in English and having more creative Chinese teaching methods to enhance student’s interest in Chinese language.
Standing on the opposite shore, we are watching the decline of Chinese education in Singapore. We always think that the fundamental factor that causes the problem is the status of Chinese language in the country. Although the rapid rise of China has made the Singapore government to encourage its people to learn Chinese and improve their Chinese teaching methods, it is worth pondering whether it is correct to learn Chinese based on the motive of economic interests instead of emphasising the language’s cultural value and meaning.
The Singapore government had neglected Chinese while the Malaysia government had neglected English over the past few decades and clearly, they had paid a heavy price for their educational policies. This is what we called “it is easy to damage but it is hard to build” and “as you sow, so will you reap”! – mysinchew.com
Republished from Sin Chew Daily on 25 November 2009
to master mandarin/chinese
Step 1 - han yu ping yin
step 2 - listen to radio fm 95.8 - dj liang ping, wong de chong (cna - narrator) and jie ling
step 3 - read newspaper - chinese
step 4 - construct chinese sentence
step 5 - listen to channel 8 news and channel u news
By Lim Mun Fah from Sin Chew Daily
Unlike their ancestors, young generations from Johor Bahru and Singapore do not emphasis on family ties. Even though they are still maintaining certain blood relations, the sense of alienation becomes greater and greater as time goes by.
Sometimes, these young people will look down on each other but inevitably, they also reveal their sense of inferiority in front of each other.
When young people from Johor Bahru go to Singapore, naturally, they will find that their English is terrible and thus, they dare not to speak English.
Similarly, when Singaporean young people come to Johor Bahru, they always say shyly: “I’m sorry, my Chinese is not good.”
Young people in Johor Bahru (more appropriately, Malaysia) speak broken English while Singaporean young people’s Chinese is terrible. It is the inevitable result of different education policies in the two countries, as well as a fact that must be accepted by the two governments.
After neglecting English for over 30 years, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad realised the reality that English is, after all, an international language. Therefore, he made a sharp turn before his resignation and implemented the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English. When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak took the office, he decided to gradually stop the policy that was hastily implemented in the past. However, it is still a major educational goal for the Malaysian government.
Interestingly, after a few decades of bilingual education policy, Singapore found that the English standard of its young generation is fine but the Chinese standard is poor. It may even affect their competitiveness in the future. Its Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew admitted that Singapore was in the wrong direction and he vowed to take the rest of his life correcting the mistake.
Malaysia and Singapore with interrelated historical and cultural backgrounds have to bear the consequences of educational deviations.
As Malaysia had neglected English, its young generation is not able to make good use of English in learning and communications. As a result, the country can only cultivate “kampung champions” that are unable to walk out from their local communities.
As Singapore had neglected Chinese, English has become the “mother tongue” of its younger generation (primary school first year students from English-speaking families have increased to the current 60% from the 10% in 1982). It does not conform to its national interests as Singapore has targeted at China’s vast economic market.
In fact, we are committed to enhance our English standard while Singapore is committed to enhance its Chinese standard based on a common objective: a better integration with the world and compete in the international market.
It is going to become a bilingual world. It will be a greater advantage if we can master more languages. But when will our young people no longer afraid to communicate in English and Singaporean young people no longer afraid to speak Chinese? 10 years? 20 years? Or 30 years? – mysinchew.com
Republished from Sin Chew Daily, 24 November 2009
see! people from other country laughed at us.
really damn pissed off by their mockery!
Originally posted by Greytan49:to master mandarin/chinese
Step 1 - han yu ping yin
step 2 - listen to radio fm 95.8 - dj liang ping, wong de chong (cna - narrator) and jie ling
step 3 - read newspaper - chinese
step 4 - construct chinese sentence
step 5 - listen to channel 8 news and channel u news
step 6 - read Romance of The Three Kingdom, Water Margin, 36 Tricks, Sun Tzi Art of War - Taditional and simplified mandatin/chinese version.
Originally posted by Greytan49:Insistence on bilingualism in early years of education policy was wrong: MM Lee
By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 17 November 2009 2142 hrs
SINGAPORE: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said his insistence on bilingualism in the early years of education policy was "wrong". Instead it caused generations of students to be put off by the Chinese language.
Speaking first in Mandarin and then in English at the official opening of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language on Tuesday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave a blunt assessment of Singapore's bilingual policy.
He said: "We started the wrong way. We insisted on ting xie (listening), mo xie (dictation) - madness! We had teachers who were teaching in completely-Chinese schools. And they did not want to use any English to teach English-speaking children Chinese and that turned them off completely."
Mr Lee said educators should first get the child interested in the language by focusing on the way it is heard and spoken. This includes incorporating drama and IT into lessons to make them more engaging.
Mr Lee said: "It doesn't matter what level they reach, they will like the language, it's fun, and later on in life they'll use it."
The need to make the Chinese language more appealing to students has been a focus of the Education Ministry in recent years and one way is to re-examine how the language is taught in schools.
So the new centre set up in February to train Chinese language teachers will soon offer degree programmes that include modules on curriculum design and teaching methods.
The programmes will be offered under four agreements that were formalised on Tuesday. They include a part-time degree for preschool teachers under a partnership with the SEED Institute, a training institute for early childhood educators.
Tan Chee Lay, deputy executive director, Singapore Centre for Chinese Language, said: "For students to learn, the golden age is from three to six. So in this period of time, if we're able to teach them well, they'll learn well and their language foundation will be there."
Other partners are the Media Development Authority (MDA), SIM University (UniSIM), and the University of Hong Kong.
There are over 4,000 Chinese-language teachers here and about a quarter of them have been trained by the centre so far.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...018826/1/.html
PRC will be laughing at us. why you don't speak mandarin/chinese - forgot your roots and culture - i rather do business with ah moh whom speak dialects like hokkein in fu jian, teochew in guan dong - san toh
we would be prc and ah moh laughing stock
so LAN LAN must know basic mandarin/chinese
Prc also spoke Japanese, Korean to do business, etc.
NewsFlash:
Malaysian Chinese don't exactly speak perfect Chinese either...my PRC colleague often have difficulties understanding their Chinese too..
Originally posted by Stevenson101:NewsFlash:
Malaysian Chinese don't exactly speak perfect Chinese either...my PRC colleague often have difficulties understanding their Chinese too..
At least better than us.
The reason why all the languages of the younger generation is fucked up is all due to Lee Kuan Yew.
The worst aspect of this is that there is the agenda of annihilating out dialects, that is to destroy an entire culture so as to secure that anglo bastard's fucking rule.
Lee Kuan Yew, this bastard, he MUST DIE.
He cannot NOT die.
We must understand the nature of Singapore policy. Who formulated this policy? Who closed down the Chinese schools? The answer will point to one man and his gang.
It is no other than Harry Lee.
Ladies and gentlemen, we need to understand who is this Harry Lee.
Harry Lee is a 100% through and through, a loyal British subject. He is more banana than a real banana. He is more white-washed than a sheet of paper.
That is the nature of Harry Lee.
Harry Lee is a British puppet, a fake ruler, a prince regent, a dictator, a foreigner.
The British are smart to choose a perfect person, someone who can wear a mask, a local mask, but do their bidding instead.
Harry Lee never thinks of himself as a Chinese. He wants to do to them what has been done to himself, namely, to completely white-washed them.
We need to understand the configuration of power in Singapore before we can understand what is going on.
Singapore in the early days, when it got its independence, there were several factions and ideologies. The British-educated group was one of the factions. Harry Lee is first and foremost of this group.
Harry Lee cunningly maneuvered himself, alligning himself with some powerful forces, both internally and extrenally, with dupes, cheats, lies, fake promises, and gradually he committed purges of the other factions and solidified himself as the paramount ruler.
He purged and discarded all other factions. He monopolies all power, stack the government and bureaucracy with his yes-men.
Because he has a absolute monopoly, he dominates with his bias and personal views.
He, as a banana, does not understand Chinese culture.
As a result, Chinese education is suppressed with his policies.
There is no other place on earth where a society is committing such a suicide. A society which gained independence and sovereignty, self determination, but cannot really pursue its inherent cultural norms and express itself. A linchpin is pinning it down, an internal colonialist and imperialist oppressing its populace, masquerading as a real legitimate ruler.
Such abuse of power has gone worse and worse, nowadays this Harry Lee is perched on top of a mountain like a king or even more powerful than a king. What is this?
In which other country, can a leader "retire" but "not really retire" ?
This power hungry dictator is so full of himself, that he can speak of "regeneration" and "renewal" in talents, while at the same time keep coming up with new and ridiculous names for posts for himself, such as "senior minister" and "minister mentor".
It appears that he wants renewal and rejuvenation for everybody else, just not for himself, thank you very much.
When asked about it, he usually says "I will contribute as long as Im useful" or "I will cease to exist if I retire". One cannot escape the double standards here. He applies one standard to himself, and use another set of standards for the other old men and force them to retire from politics.
Such abuse of power has permiated every aspect of the nation that the country is run like a family company. Singapore is no better than Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan, or North Korea, where power is concentrated in one family dynasty. The country is run by a personal strongman despot and his family, and even, the power is passed down to a son.
Harry Lee regime needs to go.
Originally posted by Justice&Truth:We must understand the nature of Singapore policy. Who formulated this policy? Who closed down the Chinese schools? The answer will point to one man and his gang.
It is no other than Harry Lee.
Ladies and gentlemen, we need to understand who is this Harry Lee.
Harry Lee is a 100% through and through, a loyal British subject. He is more banana than a real banana. He is more white-washed than a sheet of paper.
That is the nature of Harry Lee.
Harry Lee is a British puppet, a fake ruler, a prince regent, a dictator, a foreigner.
The British are smart to choose a perfect person, someone who can wear a mask, a local mask, but do their bidding instead.
Harry Lee never thinks of himself as a Chinese. He wants to do to them what has been done to himself, namely, to completely white-washed them.
We need to understand the configuration of power in Singapore before we can understand what is going on.
Singapore in the early days, when it got its independence, there were several factions and ideologies. The British-educated group was one of the factions. Harry Lee is first and foremost of this group.
Harry Lee cunningly maneuvered himself, alligning himself with some powerful forces, both internally and extrenally, with dupes, cheats, lies, fake promises, and gradually he committed purges of the other factions and solidified himself as the paramount ruler.
He purged and discarded all other factions. He monopolies all power, stack the government and bureaucracy with his yes-men.
Because he has a absolute monopoly, he dominates with his bias and personal views.
He, as a banana, does not understand Chinese culture.
As a result, Chinese education is suppressed with his policies.
There is no other place on earth where a society is committing such a suicide. A society which gained independence and sovereignty, self determination, but cannot really pursue its inherent cultural norms and express itself. A linchpin is pinning it down, an internal colonialist and imperialist oppressing its populace, masquerading as a real legitimate ruler.
Such abuse of power has gone worse and worse, nowadays this Harry Lee is perched on top of a mountain like a king or even more powerful than a king. What is this?
In which other country, can a leader "retire" but "not really retire" ?
This power hungry dictator is so full of himself, that he can speak of "regeneration" and "renewal" in talents, while at the same time keep coming up with new and ridiculous names for posts for himself, such as "senior minister" and "minister mentor".
It appears that he wants renewal and rejuvenation for everybody else, just not for himself, thank you very much.
When asked about it, he usually says "I will contribute as long as Im useful" or "I will cease to exist if I retire". One cannot escape the double standards here. He applies one standard to himself, and use another set of standards for the other old men and force them to retire from politics.
Such abuse of power has permiated every aspect of the nation that the country is run like a family company. Singapore is no better than Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan, or North Korea, where power is concentrated in one family dynasty. The country is run by a personal strongman despot and his family, and even, the power is passed down to a son.
Harry Lee regime needs to go.
What to do! a lot of people vote for him what.
Carry on here