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No longer practical for Singaporeans to neglect mother tongues

At the eighth Mother Tongue Languages Symposium on Aug 24, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said that fluency in our mother-tongue languages allows us to access the region’s economic opportunities.

In schools, the focus of Chinese-language education is overwhelmingly on rote learning and examinations, say the writers.

In schools, the focus of Chinese-language education is overwhelmingly on rote learning and examinations, say the writers.

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Alvona Loh Zi Hui and Ashton Ng Jing Kai

At the eighth Mother Tongue Languages Symposium on Aug 24, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said that fluency in our mother-tongue languages allows us to access the region’s economic opportunities.

Despite the rising economic value of Mandarin, many Chinese Singaporeans remain uninterested in gaining proficiency in Chinese language and culture, perceiving these as irrelevant to their professional and social lives.

Why is this worrying?

Over the past few decades, Western culture and English have been dominant in Singapore. Across all ethnicities and industries, a working professional had little problem succeeding in life as a monolingual English speaker.

But a unipolar, Western-dominated world is swiftly giving way to a multipolar world. It is no longer realistic to assume that a Singaporean can succeed in life as a monolingual English speaker.

China and India are set to surpass the United States in gross domestic product by 2030. By then, Indonesia would also have overtaken Germany and the United Kingdom.

To engage these emerging powerhouses, Mandarin, Hindi, Tamil and Bahasa Indonesia will likely equal English in importance.

Many in the West are learning Mandarin, including Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, and Arabella Kushner, granddaughter of United States President Donald Trump.

We hope that the Chinese Singaporean will be able to understand them in Chinese.

Bilingualism is essential for Singaporeans to remain relevant to the world. As founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew wrote, “the value of Singaporeans working in China lies in their knowing both Chinese and English”.

Furthermore, bilingualism is essential for confidence in our cultural identities. The late Mr Lee warned of the danger of becoming deculturalised and "pseudo-Western" people.

While Singapore’s bilingual education system provides a fertile bed of soil, further efforts are needed for bilingualism and biculturalism to bloom.

Here are our suggestions:

Firstly, mother-tongue language teachers should explain early the point of their enterprise: Why should we learn mother-tongue languages?

In our decade of mandatory Chinese education in primary and secondary school, we have not met a single teacher who explained with conviction why we should learn the Chinese language. The focus was overwhelmingly on rote learning and examinations, which are sure-fire ways of killing the joy of learning.

Secondly, mother-tongue languages should not be taught in an artificial way. In secondary school, our brains were crammed with stock phrases for examinations, not real life.

Instead of writing formulaic essays with little relevance to how Chinese is written in China or Singapore, students should be encouraged to express their views on hot-button issues, such as the “brown face” saga and Hong Kong’s protests.

After all, what is the point of learning one’s mother tongue if one cannot communicate without reverting to English?

The bicentennial reminds us that Singapore has thrived as a multicultural hub. Singapore’s prosperity will continue to depend on engaging the world’s corporations and nations.

It is vitally important to nurture a new generation of confidently bilingual Singaporeans.

Have views on this issue or a news topic you care about? Send your letter to voices [at] mediacorp.com.sg with your full name, address and phone number.

Related topics

mother tongue schools bilingualism

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