Why Chinese here in Singapore so BANANA??
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It's not Singaporeans are "Banana". How do you know whether the parents did speak Mother Tongue or Dialect to their child at home and speaks English as well ? It's a matter of perfecting the speaking of Mother Tongue and English. I speak Teochew at home with my family members, Chinese or English when I'm with friends or when I'm outside. And now, I'm able to speak well in all 3. It's a matter of balancing yourself well.
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nothing wrong with speaking in english wad. what u got against them
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some parents like to speak english like ang moh to their children.Originally posted by zerofreeze:nothing wrong with speaking in english wad. what u got against them -
its ur own personal choice ain't it?
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yes, precisely. what's wrong with me speaking this way?Originally posted by stellazio:its ur own personal choice ain't it? -
Whether u agree or not, it's really more helpful and useful if u have a strong foundation in English than in Chinese if u're living in Singapore. And the best way to have that foundation is to make it their everyday language.
No matter how fast China is growing or how popular the chinese language is becoming, English is not going to lose its significance here.
But of course, every chinese people should at least be able to converse properly in chinese. -
where is amicute? or his clones???
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looking for this?
100% green bananas.
my say is.. well, Singapore is "Chinese with a Western Flavour". aka Hybrid. Yeah, may be an insult, but also, we are enjoying the best of both worlds in some way.. i wont say more..
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My parents and relatives did not learn Mandarin in school, while I had to, so we converse in English all the time. My command of the former is at best average - the only times I got to practise using it was during MT lessons and tuition classes.
Write Chinese essays in my spare time? I had, and still have, other priorities. My grasp is sufficient for me to get by in my life, and I'll go back to the books only if the need arises.
I still partake, take an interest in and understand customs and festivals...our family still converses in English at gatherings, but we're not going to bother about whether anyone else likes it or otherwise. Besides we have European relations too.
I delight in the fact that friends from other countries can understand what I say or type (when I use English). I even get compliments...only people here mock that the English I use is too "cheem" or "powderful", or label me banana, potato, etc (usually the same group and they can't string even a proper sentence in "Ingrand" for a document). If that isn't imposing double standards or sheer arrogance, then I don't know what it is.
A real "banana" would turn his back on his culture completely IMO, labelling people as such for using sound English smacks of insecurity. -
same as y rambutna 12 bcum porcelain
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wo dongOriginally posted by laurence82:u dont get it, dont you?
the threadstarter advocating total refraint from using the English language meh? -
many people feel english is more superior.
but, i have seen parents who are not good in english speaking broken english with their children, i think that makes it worse... -
This kind of things very hard to strike balance one. When you become a parent in singapore, you will understand.
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Firstly, do not generalise.There are parents out there who speak fluent Standard Singapore English ( this is a linguistic term), and there are those who are fluent speakers of dialect.Originally posted by Ogbunwezeh:And one thing the parents english i heard very singapore n full of singlish, make me puke. If wanna speak speak probably n standrad one. If cannot speak, go back to the basic n speak the mandrain. If mandrain also equally lousy i think the parents can go knbock their head on the wall.
This is our identity.We are a nation shaped out of a migrant identity of South East Asia, India, China and the Malay Archipelago.
Do you want them to speak Putonghua like the Northerners?We, for your information are not the People's Republic.Those of us of Chinese origin, are Overseas Chinese who are equally adept in any culture, because of the heritage that was granted to us, the heritage of English as our first language, our dialect as the language of our ancestors and Malay as the language of our neighbours.
Those who look down on any one part of their heritage, yes, we can consider them ignorant.But to condemn those that choose to speak English, is highly bigoted and shows a lot about the mindset of the person doing the nasty.
I'm proud to say I'm extremely fluent in both my English and my mother dialect, Hokkien.Mandarin, as far as I'm concerned, is a political construct and a remnant of the social cohesion policy of the PRC govt.We try to integrate Mandarin into our repertoire of language for the sake of business and cultural exchange.
What we should be doing is introduce to our children their mother dialect, and not place it behind Mandarin.A true Overseas Chinese, and especially a Peranakan, is well-versed in all three languages of his/her soil.Sadly, my Malay is not up to scratch despite having spent early years of my youth in Borneo..so I'm still learning a little whenever I can.
Try not to look down on others just because they do not share your helicopter vision.
Meng3 pek4 bo2? -
What i notice from the replies, quite a number of ppl mention abt China booming thingy. I feel that when mention abt greater emphasis on chinese language nowadays, ppl always associate with the reason to learn the language is becoz of China booming economy. Its not the way to think this way, how can a chinese dunno, refuse to learn n hate their own language? Esp among the young chinese here in Singapore... Even give every sch here a world class chinese teacher and system to teach chinese also no use as students attitude n interest to learn their own language is not there.
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Ur case different from others as ur family member seems like nobody study mandrain in sch hence u dunno chinese well can understand. I assume ur grand parents or parents muz be from english sch tat time? As what i observe, the children from english school parents mostly their children speak english. Now sch teaches two language unlike last time our parents time whereby sch divide into eng n chinese tat teaches purely on each language. Hence, hope the parents nowadays tat know mandrain n eng pls Dun everytime talk eng to their kid which wat i notice. 8 out of 10 young parents still keep on toking eng to their kids. Maybe all high edu parents hence dun like to tok chinese.Originally posted by Kuali Baba:My parents and relatives did not learn Mandarin in school, while I had to, so we converse in English all the time. My command of the former is at best average - the only times I got to practise using it was during MT lessons and tuition classes.
Write Chinese essays in my spare time? I had, and still have, other priorities. My grasp is sufficient for me to get by in my life, and I'll go back to the books only if the need arises.
I still partake, take an interest in and understand customs and festivals...our family still converses in English at gatherings, but we're not going to bother about whether anyone else likes it or otherwise. Besides we have European relations too.
I delight in the fact that friends from other countries can understand what I say or type (when I use English). I even get compliments...only people here mock that the English I use is too "cheem" or "powderful", or label me banana, potato, etc (usually the same group and they can't string even a proper sentence in "Ingrand" for a document). If that isn't imposing double standards or sheer arrogance, then I don't know what it is.
A real "banana" would turn his back on his culture completely IMO, labelling people as such for using sound English smacks of insecurity. -
It's not a crime to teach and interact with your children in English, but please make sure you are imparting the Standard English and not Singlish, as far as possible.
My ancestors were educated in Malay and English.So it would also account for my upbringing.In fact, most of our folks in the 50s and 60s were taught in this way especially if they attended mission schools.
As I have said, your mother dialect should be more important than Mandarin.We do not hate Mandarin, I do speak it sometimes when English fails to get the point across, and it also gives a sense of warmth at times, but you cannot blame us for putting English across, because our train of thought and synapses work in English. -
to those who said.. "why dun u post in chinese then.." if i remember correctly.. this forum cannot use type in those chinese wordings de.. will turn out as funny characters..
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YAh lor,lim bei de ah kong ah si dont noe chinese lah,dey speak hokkien and teochew nia lah.They are frm China and dey nt knowing chinese make dem less chinese?Originally posted by LazerLordz:It's not a crime to teach and interact with your children in English, but please make sure you are imparting the Standard English and not Singlish, as far as possible.
My ancestors were educated in Malay and English.So it would also account for my upbringing.In fact, most of our folks in the 50s and 60s were taught in this way especially if they attended mission schools.
As I have said, your mother dialect should be more important than Mandarin.
Thus,chinese is nt even my mother tounge lor..Tuo bo?
U can only kpkb if i dont noe my dialect ok,,,,,,,,,,,,
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wa4 jin1 su1 kah3 ler4 kong4 eh3 uay2.Originally posted by Chelzea:YAh lor,lim bei de ah kong ah si dont noe chinese lah,dey speak hokkien and teochew nia lah.They are frm China and dey nt knowing chinese make dem less chinese?
Thus,chinese is nt even my mother tounge lor..Tuo bo?
U can only kpkb if i dont noe my dialect ok,,,,,,,,,,,,
jin1 chia4 zai3!
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talking about nowadays ppl dun speak mandarin..
dialect oso shi chuan le..
dun mention those si ah beng la.. nowadays the younger generation dun speak dialect le.. suddenli last time got 1 chao ginna pop up to me and my fren.. "Le Lang Wu Simi Boon Due Boh?" <-- means, ur got any problem ixxit..
yea, i think for my family.. until my generation.. the ppl dunno dialect liao.. im 18 this yr.. -
Le ah si hokkien nang hah, ai support le mah...Le kong ah wei tuo ,teng nang mi si wa nang ah wei ..Hokkien kah si wa nang ah wei
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Sigh.Originally posted by Itachi:talking about nowadays ppl dun speak mandarin..
dialect oso shi chuan le..
dun mention those si ah beng la.. nowadays the younger generation dun speak dialect le.. suddenli last time got 1 chao ginna pop up to me and my fren.. "Le Lang Wu Simi Boon Due Boh?" <-- means, ur got any problem ixxit..
yea, i think for my family.. until my generation.. the ppl dunno dialect liao.. im 18 this yr..
Hokkien has been relegated to being a crude language used by those little brats.If used properly, it's actually quite a lyrical and beautiful dialect.I'm Cantonese actually, but I take on my maternal dialect.
Anyway, it's interesting to note that the most prevalent language/dialect used by Overseas Chinese around the world is Cantonese, and if you ever live in Australia, you will know that you can actually learn and improve your Cantonese over there. -
When I was studying in singapore I really hated chinese, I constantly failed everything but surprisingly I could speak it decently well. I didnt know how to speak any dialects cause i never thought they'd be usefull. Ironically, after coming to America, Ive realised that ANY language has its uses. YOu can speak chinese, you've got chinese friends, u speak canto, u have friends from macau and HK, u speak hokkien,you've got taiwanese friends. And it really sucks when your group of friends keep speaking cantonese and you dont understand a word of it. English is very important, but that does not mean Chinese or dialects are of any less importance
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I personally feel that parents should speak to their children in their mother tongue and dialect.
There's plenty of practice for English in schools.
And it only applies to Chinese. You don't see Malays/Indians complaining that their mother tongue is 'difficult'.