Importance of bilingualism borne out in diplomacy, commerce

We refer to Ms Fiona Teo Sze Lynn’s response (“Better to embrace, rather than fault, how Singaporeans use mother tongues”; Sept 29) to our letter (“No longer practical for Singaporeans to neglect mother tongues”; Sept 18).

Ms Teo cited English’s role as “the world’s lingua franca” and argued that non-English languages are helpful but inessential.

This contradicts Singapore’s diplomatic experience.

In his book My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore’s Bilingual Journey, founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew recounted that, had he not spoken Mandarin, he would not have built rapport with former Taiwanese president Chiang Ching-kuo and Singaporean troops would not have been able to train in Taiwan.

The writer noted that China’s top trading partner is the United States “despite their lack of a common language”.

Yet she failed to appreciate that 85 per cent of China’s inbound investments from the Belt and Road Initiative goes through Singapore. One-third of its outbound Belt and Road investments also flows through the city-state.  

Singapore would certainly not be China’s largest foreign investor for the last six years had we spoken nothing but the “world’s lingua franca”. 

Nor would others trade with China through us if Singaporeans could not understand China deeply — an impossible feat without Mandarin proficiency.

The writer’s claim that “there is no impetus, real or perceived, for Singaporeans to use” mother-tongue languages flies in the face of evidence.

In 2017, the Institute of Policy Studies, a think-tank, and regional news channel CNA asked some 1,130 Chinese Singaporeans and permanent residents to rate the importance for Chinese Singaporeans to read, write and speak Mandarin.

In response, 52.5 per cent said it was “important” and 37.6 per cent believed it was “somewhat important”.

Among the 438 or so Malay respondents, 71.9 per cent found it “important” to read, write and speak Malay, and 23.8 per cent believed it was “somewhat important”.

Furthermore, among Chinese and Malay Singaporeans, Mandarin and Malay remain more commonly used at home than English, based on the 2015 General Household Survey.

As early as 2010, Singaporeans have widely opposed reducing the weightage of mother-tongue languages in the Primary School Leaving Examination.

In our letter, we proposed that mother-tongue languages be taught for application in real life. We also suggested encouraging students to express themselves on hot-button issues using mother-tongue languages, instead of regurgitating exam phrases. 

The writer called our suggestion “infeasible, given our rate of English monolingualism”.

This is no reason to surrender to the status quo. Her defence of English monolingualism undermines Singapore’s long-standing promotion of mother-tongue languages.

She also argued that “code-switching is not a bug but a feature of the way Singaporeans use language”.

We agree wholeheartedly and promote bilingualism, which enables Singaporeans to code-switch effectively.

As the late Mr Lee said, our mother-tongue languages provide “cultural ballast”. In his words, we should not speak “pidgin English, mindlessly aping the Americans or British, with no basic values or culture of (our) own”.

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