Let's Get A Little Linguistic For A Change !!!

In one of my conversations yesterday that touched on languages, it was mentioned that Singaporeans are known to speak a special brand of English called Singlish, i.e. Singaporean English. Singlish is so unique that most of the time, when it is spoken overseas, few foreigners could understand it.

Take for example, "Everything also I don't have!" or "I everything also don't have". This is a literal translation from the spoken Mandarin. What it means is, "I have nothing!". Another one, "Wait I call you!". What it means is, "I'll call you in just a moment!".

Langugages must be learnt and spoken in its own cultural and grammatical context. They should not be translated from one to another. Learning of grammar is fundamental to the learning of any language. Unfortunately, in the name of creative teaching and improvement, certain fundamental rules of language learning have been seriously violated. We should not adopt the UK method of teaching English in Singapore because English is the mother tongue of Britons but not of Singaporeans. So, if we were to adopt the UK method that does not emphasise the teaching of grammar, Singaporean students would end up being weak in the English grammar. That is obvious, isn't it?

When it comes to the learning of Chinese Language, recognition of each Chinese character is essentially fundamental and fundamentally essential because every character is significant and unique. But, han-yu-pin-yin (Chinese phonetics) was made the way to learning Chinese without much emphasis on the character recognition. Eventually, we ended up with students who could speak reasonably well but could not write well. Han-yu-pin-yin is just the Chinese phonetics. Period. How can students learn the Chinese Language by being made to read the entire passage in phonetics? But, it is heartening to see some positive changes taking place since a couple of years ago.

Students should learn as many languages as possible. Will it create confusion in the mind? Absolutely NOT. Have you come across some families in Singapore, where the young speak to their grandpa in Teochew, to the grandma in Cantonese, to their mother in Mandarin and to the father in English? We have the natural abilities to learn many languages at the same time. I speak, read and write three main languages. But, I have seen people who learn and speak at least six languages. I am impressed!!!