In4ser
Junior Member
Same here in the US. I think I could have learned more has they taught Pinyin but instead they taught with Bopomofo ugh…
Hong-Kong Protests
- Thread starter Pika
- Start date
Singaporean here. The Chinese language grades (total of 10-12 years of Chinese language classes) are compulsory and are taken into account in our academic reports/school admissions etc. The problem is the lack of working usage. Whenever any organisation or company tries to use Chinese language in a business setting there will be a million "diversity and inclusiveness" complaints going up from the one or two Indians and Malays who don't understand Mandarin (even if they are not personally involved in those Chinese language conversations) so everyone is forced to use English. Also the Malay nations surrounding Singapore have always been very eager to interfere with minority affairs in Singapore. and the politicians are scared of losing the minority vote. If Chinese can never be used in a professional setting, the only time it is ever required is wet markets and food stalls. So children don't see any purpose in learning more than McDonald's level of proficiency, and adults completely forget all their Chinese lessons.
The price of absorbing wokeness from the west.
The price of absorbing wokeness from the west.
Well they taught us pinyin, but I was and am pretty dumb, so no HSK 3 for me.
Same with for all the overseas born Chinese here in Germany I know and in extent Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Spain) as a whole.
There is this split, one part of the family raised their children purly "european" basically prototype bobalib in result they speak shitty mandarin and only marginally less shittier dialect, the other half educated their children in mandarin and dialect well and the mother tongue of the emigration country was, more or less, learnt via kindergarten/school.
Also, as @Tse mentioned for SG, here in Europe too, if you speak Chinese in public, you get eerily stared by white aborignies.
In4ser
Junior Member
Yes. My parents are from Taiwan after all.
Most people as children don't appreciate their own ancestry or studying until they get much older. I do however think things would be different for both of us if we were born one generation later. Kids today are lucky because they have access to so much more Chinese cultural and educational materials through the internet. Oh well, if I ever have kids, I'll try to impart the cultural richness and education that I did not have growing up.
Make sure you speak Chinese at home - that will be compulsory in my household. And ensure we visit China & relatives at least once every 3 years.
Some family friends way back decided to speak only english at home (for parents to practice). The parents ended up with better english skills however their kids ended up virtually illiterate (in Chinese), with very little sense of identity.
It is just not forceful enough. SG's "forcing" has no impact because the official language is English, Mandarin is only the recommended common dialect among ethnic Chinese. People don't have to use it anywhere outside of classroom during those few years.
In China, mandarin is legally enforced as the sole nation wide working language and language in education. Everybody must speak it in public settings, except when everybody in the setting speak the same dialect which is rare these days.
Xi Jinping was the head of Fujian province, I think everybody in provincial government would have been good in Mandarin.
Earlier examples were in Qing dynasty, speaking Mandarin was a prerequisite for passing imperial examination.
Yongzheng Emperor
“朕每引见大小臣工，凡陈奏履历之事，惟有闽广两省之人仍系乡音，不可通晓……赴任他省，又安能宣读训谕，审判词讼，皆历历清楚，使小民工晓乎？”
"When I receive officials, only people from Fujian and Guangdong speaks their native dialects, unintelligible. If they are appointed to other provinces, how could they make my edicts clear to the people? How could they preside the court of law?"
The emperor established schools in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian to teach mandarin and made it a prerequisite.
Another important difference between China and SG is that China from ancient time forbids officials working in their home region. For example the governor of Fujian must not be from Fujian, therefor everyone in the governor office must be able to speak mandarin fluently.
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That Indian ethnic Guyanese idiot can stay in his lane and worry about his own country's shitty economic position. These ghouls are nothing more than American led stooges. Imagine, a non-Chinese government telling a sovereign entity to ditch away with their National Security Laws WTF who and what army do they have?
