A couple of non-Chinese weigh in with their opinions :
Plastic-Oven19Secondary 12 points 10 hours ago
It’s really awful that this is happening to you but unfortunately the only thing you can really do is toughen up and ignore them. If you can tell them off (depends on who it is ofc, telling off certain people will lead to more harm than good) say “stop bullying me”, usually when people hear that word they back track and say “I didn’t mean it that way / I wasn’t bullying you, just concerned etc.” And they won’t do it again…unless if they are jerks in which case you should report/ignore them.
However I do have to tell you that it’s going to be hard. As a non-Chinese person I can tell you, people use a lot of Chinese. It’s actually the reason why I don’t sign up for part time jobs anymore Even in social settings, when you’re going out with a group of friends, people tend to subconsciously speak in Chinese or make jokes in Chinese. Oh and ordering food will be a pain unless you bring a Chinese friend along.
I presume it would be worse for you because I can at least ask people to explain themselves or translate for me and they can take one look at me and know I’m not Chinese. People also make an effort to talk in English when they see me, that won’t be the case for you. You have to be prepared to face all this.
But otherwise I doubt you will have any huge disadvantage, there are other race people in Singapore who are living out their lives well enough without Chinese, it’s a good thing to know but it isn’t vital to survive like some other comments here seem to suggest. If you’d like to try to learn Chinese pls do, take your time with it and no need to be on par with everyone else. But if you really don’t want to it’s okay.
[–]geraniumsgenius 9 points 8 hours ago
I am a Tamil and I feel disadvantaged while searching for part-time jobs for not knowing Chinese. So I guess Chinese really is important in the workforce? At last my manager agreed to put me together with someone Chinese to help me out.
My personal opinion (you don't have to agree):
I would definitely recommend improving your Chinese, maybe u are "not good" at it because you hate your own language (identity). Try to connect with your own ancestral roots and maybe u feel more attached to Chinese? On a practical note, Chinese is really important (coming from a non-Chinese loll). But again you are not "inferior" or anything because all these people commented at you, nothing changes your self-worth other than yourself. Not Chinese not English not even maths and science loll.
Personally, I feel that mother tongue is my identity and can't imagine losing it to the "colonial language". But on a practical level, English and Chinese (In Singapore at least) seems really important. I speak my mother tongue at home and will not let my future kids to forgo Tamil under any circumstances. Tamil to me (and most other Tamils lol) is very important. Again that's my perspective you don't have to feel the same way.
