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[h=2]Rescue it, or let it run its course?[/h]
2011-11-24 15:21
By LIM MUN FAH
Translated by Soong Phui Jee
Sin Chew Daily
Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew believes that requiring Chinese children to learn dialects will cause them confusion because each person has only one dominant language. Although he is talking about the situation in Singapore, the impact of his view on Malaysian Chinese community should not be neglected.
In fact, Lee Kuan Yew has implemented two policies that have brought far-reaching impacts to the Chinese community of Singapore, as well as Malaysia. One of them is closing the Nanyang University, collapsing the comprehensive Chinese education in Singapore, and the other one is promoting the Speak Mandarin Campaign, which has endangered the status of dialects.
Johor, the nearest Malaysian state to Singapore, has been greatly affected by the above-mentioned policies, particularly the Speak Mandarin Campaign.
Ironically, after 30 years of practice, the status of Chinese language in Singapore has been falling instead of rising. According to a survey, 61% of Chinese children who have just started primary school predominantly speak English at home. In Johor, however, Mandarin has replaced all Chinese dialects and become the home language of the new generation.
Malaysian Chinese are more fortunate than Singaporean Chinese since Malaysia has retained a fairly comprehensive Chinese education system. However, both the countries are facing similar situations of rapid disappearance of dialects.
Fortunately, many Chinese organisation leaders have realised the urgency to rescue dialects while recognising that as living fossils, dialects are in fact an important carrier of culture. The development of local theatres, folk songs and other Chinese folk art forms are relying on dialects. The decline of a dialect is equivalent to a decline of the local culture. Losing a dialect is just like losing a heritage or a species on earth, which might never be revived.
Would it cause Malaysian Chinese students confusion to learn a dialect since they have already been required to learn at least three languages? It is indeed a topic worth studying. Based on my personal experience and observation, however, the answer is no. Instead of causing confusion, learning a dialect and Chinese language simultaneously can actually help students master the languages well.
Lee Kuan Yew might not know that many Tang poems are actually not rhyming when being read in Mandarin but they are completely rhyming when being read in the ancient tones of Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka or Hokkien.
Lee Kuan Yew did not understand Chinese before joining politics and he did not even speak his own dialect of Hakka. Therefore, it is understandable that he had to suffer much in learning Chinese language and Hakka dialect.
However, everyone has different growth process and thus, his language learning experience might not applicable to others. He might not have thought when developing the bilingual education policy that had drawn an end to the Chinese education in Singapore in the 1960s and 1970s that Chinese language has actually walked out of winter today and re-emerged as one of the world's popular languages. Otherwise, he would not have admitted to have indeed made a mistake in his education policy!
2011-11-24 15:21
By LIM MUN FAH
Translated by Soong Phui Jee
Sin Chew Daily
Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew believes that requiring Chinese children to learn dialects will cause them confusion because each person has only one dominant language. Although he is talking about the situation in Singapore, the impact of his view on Malaysian Chinese community should not be neglected.
In fact, Lee Kuan Yew has implemented two policies that have brought far-reaching impacts to the Chinese community of Singapore, as well as Malaysia. One of them is closing the Nanyang University, collapsing the comprehensive Chinese education in Singapore, and the other one is promoting the Speak Mandarin Campaign, which has endangered the status of dialects.
Johor, the nearest Malaysian state to Singapore, has been greatly affected by the above-mentioned policies, particularly the Speak Mandarin Campaign.
Ironically, after 30 years of practice, the status of Chinese language in Singapore has been falling instead of rising. According to a survey, 61% of Chinese children who have just started primary school predominantly speak English at home. In Johor, however, Mandarin has replaced all Chinese dialects and become the home language of the new generation.
Malaysian Chinese are more fortunate than Singaporean Chinese since Malaysia has retained a fairly comprehensive Chinese education system. However, both the countries are facing similar situations of rapid disappearance of dialects.
Fortunately, many Chinese organisation leaders have realised the urgency to rescue dialects while recognising that as living fossils, dialects are in fact an important carrier of culture. The development of local theatres, folk songs and other Chinese folk art forms are relying on dialects. The decline of a dialect is equivalent to a decline of the local culture. Losing a dialect is just like losing a heritage or a species on earth, which might never be revived.
Would it cause Malaysian Chinese students confusion to learn a dialect since they have already been required to learn at least three languages? It is indeed a topic worth studying. Based on my personal experience and observation, however, the answer is no. Instead of causing confusion, learning a dialect and Chinese language simultaneously can actually help students master the languages well.
Lee Kuan Yew might not know that many Tang poems are actually not rhyming when being read in Mandarin but they are completely rhyming when being read in the ancient tones of Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka or Hokkien.
Lee Kuan Yew did not understand Chinese before joining politics and he did not even speak his own dialect of Hakka. Therefore, it is understandable that he had to suffer much in learning Chinese language and Hakka dialect.
However, everyone has different growth process and thus, his language learning experience might not applicable to others. He might not have thought when developing the bilingual education policy that had drawn an end to the Chinese education in Singapore in the 1960s and 1970s that Chinese language has actually walked out of winter today and re-emerged as one of the world's popular languages. Otherwise, he would not have admitted to have indeed made a mistake in his education policy!
