tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post3767734343825818961..comments2023-12-08T03:15:35.842+08:00Comments on KiNiGu: My Thoughts on the Chinese LanguageClementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641918612523844707noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-85897221185667069742009-07-24T17:10:21.585+08:002009-07-24T17:10:21.585+08:00My friend's 4-year-old boy spoke only Mandarin...My friend's 4-year-old boy spoke only Mandarin before he went to kindergarten, but now he seems more interested in speaking English at home. When I went to visit them, I often heard the boy speaking English to his parents. Maybe I shall remind my friends to be wary of their kid's inclination in language learning?<br />Being bilingual is not easy task. I am a mainlander living in Singapore for 8 years so far, but I still find myself struggling with speaking and writing in English. It is always difficult for an adult to pick up a new language, while children learn language much faster and more instinctively. <br />So glad to find your blog and know that there are Mandarin teachers like you who have so much passion in teaching our mother tongue. I realize that both Angie and Clement are very effectively bilingual, after reading posts in English by Angie, and posts in Chinese by Clement, which is really impressive! since most of my Singaporean colleagues are influential in English only.<br />Keep up your great work!淡淡花香https://www.blogger.com/profile/13009645936504046941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-17668033601678703552009-03-20T21:03:00.000+08:002009-03-20T21:03:00.000+08:00How interesting....I think it is good to learn Man...How interesting....<BR/><BR/>I think it is good to learn Mandarin if one can speak it properly.<BR/><BR/>Same goes for English. It's perfectly fine to pick it up later if Mandarin is your first language but it's also important to use it properly.<BR/><BR/>No point being biligually challenged in both Mandarin AND English.<BR/><BR/>That is the problem with people here. Not many can speak standard Mandarin OR standard English.<BR/><BR/>My Mainland Chinese friend Herbert and my Taiwanese friend Michelle both can't stand the way Singaporeans (in general) speak Mandarin. They are always complaining that Mandarin is spoken horribly here.<BR/><BR/>As a native English speaker I think (in general) the English language is used very badly too.<BR/><BR/>My own personal opinion is to at least speak one language "properly" and do your best in your second language....whatever that language may be. <BR/><BR/>If you manage to master both or even more languages...since some people have an affinity for languages then that is really fantastic and advantageous to you!<BR/><BR/>"Living" is about being able to make choices. If one wishes to be fluent in one or more languages then go for it, enjoy it and benefit from it! But why be forced to do it! It should be your own personal choice.<BR/><BR/>I learnt Italian at school, took French and German for a short time and Bahasa Indonesia was spoken by my parents at home. I also went to Chinese enrichment every Saturday when I was young (which I was not good at) but I'm definitely not hung up about being Chinese and not speaking Mandarin. It's never been a problem for me all these years and I do not envisage it being a problem going forward unless the rest of Singapore suddenly starts speaking 100% Mandarin and I can no longer understand Singlish.Meekfreekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023519666960840035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-27248330804978937352009-03-20T12:40:00.000+08:002009-03-20T12:40:00.000+08:00I was abt to share this in my blog too. In any cas...I was abt to share this in my blog too. In any case, in my opinion as being a s'porean, we are chinese here and we have to pass this message to our kid that this beautifully chinese language is our mother tongue language..Joyce Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17600619084396811076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-19123194733340415822009-03-20T10:58:00.000+08:002009-03-20T10:58:00.000+08:00Singapore is the only country where you can find p...Singapore is the only country where you can find people who publicly (worse, proudly) renounce the language intrinsically tied to their race and ethnicity. No other countries has got an equally distorted demography.Clementhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14641918612523844707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-86401503793128540392009-03-20T10:44:00.000+08:002009-03-20T10:44:00.000+08:00Laoshi, you know, throughout my education in pri s...Laoshi, you know, throughout my education in pri school, sec school, and jc, the only time that I enjoyed learning chinese was in JC. All the rest of the time we were just drilled non stop in the pursuit of As in our exams. All we did was to memorise the meanings and 造句 in the 词语手册. Really meaningless. <BR/><BR/>How I wish all my Chinese teachers were as passionate as you, and maybe, my Chinese would have been better as I would be genuinely interested in learning more than to memorise for the sake of exams. =Xkimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10339211666914178382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-30254497059256415032009-03-20T09:42:00.000+08:002009-03-20T09:42:00.000+08:00Hi Angie,Thanks for sharing your perspective on Ch...Hi Angie,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for sharing your perspective on Chinese. Like you, i have the same thinking - we must love the language 1st to really learn it and not use it as a commercial tools..: P<BR/><BR/>The recent trip to Hong Kong made them realised the importance of Chinese...hee : )<BR/><BR/>Listening is believing.<BR/><BR/>cheers,<BR/>asteeAces Familyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02222104044307979671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-68110738501333773902009-03-20T09:39:00.000+08:002009-03-20T09:39:00.000+08:00Some students in my linguistics class has joined i...Some students in my linguistics class has joined in a facebook campaign called "I'm Chinese and I'm proud Mandarin is NOT my language". We really think that Mandarin was imposed upon Singaporeans... no other country has ever tried to do that, it's just amazing the things we can get away with. Sometimes I'm glad when young people ask why we need to speak Mandarin if we're Chinese, cos in fact there is no real reason why.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-48257742519557841932009-03-20T02:01:00.000+08:002009-03-20T02:01:00.000+08:00I was thinking about you when I read the article! ...I was thinking about you when I read the article! The example MM gave on the bilingual chaps was exactly like your approach with Jae but they switched cos MM told them to do so. And I wondered if you'd follow suit.<BR/><BR/>I do wonder if it's really necessary to place sole emphasis on Mandarin cos there are pple who end up not being good in English. My hubby is a good example. In those days, all the subjects were taught in Mandarin if you went to a Chinese school. When he went to NUS and had to do his subjects in English, it wasn't easy at all. And after all these years he still struggles with English.<BR/><BR/>We're all assuming that kids can pick up English easily once the Chinese foundation is set is it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162504.post-65254547980779396182009-03-20T01:13:00.000+08:002009-03-20T01:13:00.000+08:00i agree. i think chinese is a beautiful language a...i agree. i think chinese is a beautiful language and i am glad that i was taught by very passionate chinese and chinese lit teachers, who made me love and appreciate the language even more!<BR/>pls continue with your good job done!!小的https://www.blogger.com/profile/07343392232283314450noreply@blogger.com