MM Lee wants Singaporeans...
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BEIJING: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says Singapore should ensure all Singaporeans have a command of world standard English.
And if they are Chinese Singaporeans, they should be able to converse clearly in Mandarin.
MM Lee was speaking at a meeting with Singaporean professionals and students based in Beijing on Thursday.
Singaporean Audrey Koh was inspired to do a Chinese degree in China because she wanted to raise the standard of the language back home as a teacher.
She made the decision while preparing for her GCE 'A' levels four years ago.
She is the only one among her peers to have chosen this path.
MM Lee said: "We need people like you. If we don't keep our own, our system won't be able to reproduce it."
Mr Lee said Singapore's problem is that there are too many languages and dialects spoken on the island.
What must be done, he said, is to ensure the people can read, write and speak world standard English.
And for Chinese Singaporeans, they must also be able to converse clearly in Mandarin.
Mr Lee said: "I'm optimistic that if we do this, over the next 10-20 years, we will be able to produce in your successor generation, people who come here and have no difficulty fitting in. Just like when we go to England or America."
Mr Lee was keen to find out why the group of Singaporeans had chosen to be in China.
Many told him they wanted a first-hand experience of the economic powerhouse that China has become.
Some professionals told him that as Singaporeans, they have an edge as they can serve as a bridge between the East and the West.
The Minister Mentor identified the challenge of ensuring the children of China-based Singaporeans will stay connected to the Republic.
The British, he said, had solved the problem by having good boarding schools throughout their colonial empire.
Frank Kouo, Nokia (China)'s director treasury, said: "I will like Singapore to open, maybe, a few schools here so that our kids can go to school, maybe in Beijing or Shanghai, that will be the best."
Apart from meeting Singaporeans and understanding how they are fitting in with work and life in Beijing, MM Lee's visit to China is also an opportunity to touch base with the Chinese leaders and to exchange views on issues of common concerns.
The Minister Mentor called on Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu whom he last met five years ago in Suzhou.
The Chinese leader praised Mr Lee for being not only an outstanding statesman of Singapore but also an influential politician on the world stage, a pride for all Chinese.
He thanked Mr Lee for his understanding, support and help in China's reform, opening up and modernisation.
Responding, Mr Lee said Singapore has always been optimistic about China's development, and is proud the island can make a small contribution to the country's success. - CNA/ir -
dual language capacity is difficult to achieve...........to the english....we appear to be so chinese that they think........can you handle english??
and to the chinese......they think......we might be too english and would be wondering.....can you handle chinese?
sorry but i am much of an english potato but i retain so much and so strong a chinese look that leave many englishman and woman thinking that ......this guy is incompetent in english.....
your source of information was from yahoo singapore isn't it???? -
I thought just awhile ago,he said he made a mistake in his planned education system that he thought that everyone can be equally bilingal but seems that now it was only the elites one who can do that.Correct me if i am wrong,if someone else said that
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I remember last year, his son urged the use of rap and hip-hop to raise the standard of English.
There was a thread on this... I can't seem to find it. Does anyone remember that thread? -
Frankly our system really does not encourage true bi-lingualism.After most of us has graduated,how many of us really has much chances to write in chinese?Spoken maybe but written is almost everything in english now.I would be the first to admit for all the written form of chinese i had learn during my schooling years,i had almost forgotten how to write even basis chinese words.
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dont worry ......at least we are better tan some scrawny englishman that only knows "ENGLISH" as his only best language.......makes people laughOriginally posted by Aveme:Frankly our system really does not encourage true bi-lingualism.After most of us has graduated,how many of us really has much chances to write in chinese?Spoken maybe but written is almost everything in english now.I would be the first to admit for all the written form of chinese i had learn during my schooling years,i had almost forgotten how to write even basis chinese words. -
education minister would be feeling pressurized soon... hell..i think the entire cabinet is pressurized by LKY presence..
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is audrey koh a PSC scholar? i have a feeling i know her...
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.Originally posted by gohkatkat:your source of information was from yahoo singapore isn't it????
yes sir. -
yea! that was hilarious.Originally posted by fudgester:I remember last year, his son urged the use of rap and hip-hop to raise the standard of English.
There was a thread on this... I can't seem to find it. Does anyone remember that thread? -
yea, me too. i'll use hanyu pinyin to input chinese text on my comp anyday, but writing it on paper...Originally posted by Aveme:Frankly our system really does not encourage true bi-lingualism.After most of us has graduated,how many of us really has much chances to write in chinese?Spoken maybe but written is almost everything in english now.I would be the first to admit for all the written form of chinese i had learn during my schooling years,i had almost forgotten how to write even basis chinese words. -
was she preparing for her A levels 4 years ago?Originally posted by HENG@:is audrey koh a PSC scholar? i have a feeling i know her... -
I posted that thread.. here it is...Originally posted by fudgester:I remember last year, his son urged the use of rap and hip-hop to raise the standard of English.
There was a thread on this... I can't seem to find it. Does anyone remember that thread?
"Oh lor
In Singapore, it's time for another official crusade - and this past month it's been the Speak Good English campaign, aimed at counteracting the spread of "Singlish", a local patois including many Hokkien and Malay words and constructions, particularly as it's increasingly heard among new university entrants.
Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong complains that the lingo is making too many young folk in the city-state unintelligible - too many "lars" and "lors", he fumes - at a time when the country is pulling out the stops to integrate itself with the English-speaking global economy.
The solution? According to news reports, the prime minister is urging teachers to make use of the best "pop songs, hip-hop and rap" in order to influence the younger generation to speak better English.
"If our English becomes too mutated, then we become unintelligible to others," warns Mr Lee. "If we speak in a dialect which only some Singaporeans can understand, then we are handicapping ourselves and cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world."
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- taken from http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/columnist/story/0,,1515682,00.html -
Should I feel ashamed of myself for not being able to hold a conversation in my dialect? I sure hope they won't come up with a "Know your roots" campaign after they are done with this one.
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well preparing would mean she's 18. 4 years ago would mean she's 22. I know this gir of that agel who went to beijing on a PSC scholarship. my cousin also in her batch of PSC scholars, and i remember her becos of the whole batch, everyone go USA or UK, only she go China n another girl go France.Originally posted by ^spidee^:was she preparing for her A levels 4 years ago? -
http://sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=132254
the link where LHL's rap campaign was discussed. -
I'm pretty sure that she's not a PSC scholar.Originally posted by HENG@:is audrey koh a PSC scholar? i have a feeling i know her...
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*clap clap clap*Originally posted by LazerLordz:http://sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=132254
the link where LHL's rap campaign was discussed.
Who knew that the son could be so entertaining.... -
ahem...clown prince mah..Originally posted by fudgester:*clap clap clap*
Who knew that the son could be so entertaining.... -
interesting article.Originally posted by ^spidee^:BEIJING: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says Singapore should ensure all Singaporeans have a command of world standard English.
And if they are Chinese Singaporeans, they should be able to converse clearly in Mandarin.
MM Lee was speaking at a meeting with Singaporean professionals and students based in Beijing on Thursday.
Singaporean Audrey Koh was inspired to do a Chinese degree in China because she wanted to raise the standard of the language back home as a teacher.
She made the decision while preparing for her GCE 'A' levels four years ago.
She is the only one among her peers to have chosen this path.
MM Lee said: "We need people like you. If we don't keep our own, our system won't be able to reproduce it."
Mr Lee said Singapore's problem is that there are too many languages and dialects spoken on the island.
What must be done, he said, is to ensure the people can read, write and speak world standard English.
And for Chinese Singaporeans, they must also be able to converse clearly in Mandarin.
Mr Lee said: "I'm optimistic that if we do this, over the next 10-20 years, we will be able to produce in your successor generation, people who come here and have no difficulty fitting in. Just like when we go to England or America."
Mr Lee was keen to find out why the group of Singaporeans had chosen to be in China.
Many told him they wanted a first-hand experience of the economic powerhouse that China has become.
Some professionals told him that as Singaporeans, they have an edge as they can serve as a bridge between the East and the West.
The Minister Mentor identified the challenge of ensuring the children of China-based Singaporeans will stay connected to the Republic.
The British, he said, had solved the problem by having good boarding schools throughout their colonial empire.
Frank Kouo, Nokia (China)'s director treasury, said: "I will like Singapore to open, maybe, a few schools here so that our kids can go to school, maybe in Beijing or Shanghai, that will be the best."
Apart from meeting Singaporeans and understanding how they are fitting in with work and life in Beijing, MM Lee's visit to China is also an opportunity to touch base with the Chinese leaders and to exchange views on issues of common concerns.
The Minister Mentor called on Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu whom he last met five years ago in Suzhou.
The Chinese leader praised Mr Lee for being not only an outstanding statesman of Singapore but also an influential politician on the world stage, a pride for all Chinese.
He thanked Mr Lee for his understanding, support and help in China's reform, opening up and modernisation.
Responding, Mr Lee said Singapore has always been optimistic about China's development, and is proud the island can make a small contribution to the country's success. - CNA/ir
i agree that singaporean chinese should exploit their bilingual education in both english and chinese to empower singapore's unique strategic niche matchmaking the west to china.
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if she's not, then there is another gal from HCJC of her age who's a PSC scholar at PKUOriginally posted by LazerLordz:I'm pretty sure that she's not a PSC scholar. -
hmm, well I can easily confirm.Will just call this friend of mine, and I'll know if its her.Originally posted by HENG@:if she's not, then there is another gal from HCJC of her age who's a PSC scholar at PKU -
Maybe there's 2 Audrey kohs? Maybe I'm related to her somehow, cos I'm a koh too.
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Correct. The worse thing is that many, if not most, have an excellent grasp of neither.Originally posted by Aveme:Frankly our system really does not encourage true bi-lingualism.After most of us has graduated,how many of us really has much chances to write in chinese?Spoken maybe but written is almost everything in english now.I would be the first to admit for all the written form of chinese i had learn during my schooling years,i had almost forgotten how to write even basis chinese words. -
After decades of Speak Mandarin Campagne, we now have an over-supply of people who speaks Singlish-English with a strong Mandarin accent.
It will take quite a while to reverse this damage.
Back in my school days, Mandarin as a 2nd language was something we all had to reckon with in order to progress in school. So many of us, myself and my fellow classmates, suffered academically because of this.
Now, HE is making a U-turn urging us to speak "world standard English", and Mandarin is no longer a compulsary subject to ace in order to progress. Now the alphabet 'Z' is pronouced as "zee", but when I pronouced it back in the early 70s I was sternly corrected to pronounce it as "zat".
I come from a family of Peranakan bloodline, we largely speak English and Teochew or Malay at home, while I mostly converse and communicate in
English or Teochew.
How do you think I feel about all this crap?? I feel like one of their many subjects of experimentation!!