The Singaporean identity
-
I remember once, a Chinese Singaporean ex-classmate of mine wrote on her facebook "I am not 100%". She later clarified that she meant that she has some indonesian ancestory. She uses the word 'Singaporean' in reference to race, and there is nothing wrong with that.
However, whenever any of my Indian Singaporean classmates would refer to their race as Singaporean, the Chinese Singaporeans would say things like "your race is Indian, not Singaporean", while they themselves think of themselves as members of the Singaporean race.
I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with identifying onself with nationality instead of race, like in France, but this is different. In this case, when the word 'Singaporean' is used, it only refers to Chinese Singaporeans. They seem to think that Chinese Singaporeans are members of the 'Singaporean race' while non-chinese Singaporeans, even the Malays, are whatever other races they are of.
What do you make of this? Has things like the 'Speak Mandarin campaign' gone to certain people's heads?
-
im losing 75% faith in singapore to control anything good in singapore and out of spore.i might even consider myself stateless next few years even.
-
Ask the "Singaporean" to look at her NRIC and see whats indicated there under Race.
-
Seems siliconchip has some issues with Singaporean Chinese. Share with us.
-
Singapore identity may be gone in a few years with endless foreigners coming into Singapore.
-
ya, like the Bourne identity.
Hi, I am Angel Bourne
-
Originally posted by Dalforce 25:
Singapore identity may be gone in a few years with endless foreigners coming into Singapore.
What is Singapore identity to you? how would you capture its most salient essences?
-
nationality and race no same but can combine
-
sporean identity????i know its closer to stupidity n lack of control for overseas assets..
-
Start the "Speak Malay campaign" and "Speak Tamil campaign" also lor. How come no have them ?
Recently I don't hear Malay children speak Malay to their parents anymore.
A few weeks ago, this Malay father (with 2 children playing around) was talking to Malay lady friend (2 children around too) in Malay. Whenever the father turns to call the children and communicates with them, he switches to English. The Malay lady also talks to her children only in English.
I have also observed this before: http://sgforums.com/forums/3545/topics/428744?page=1#post_10232109
This thing started to happened 5 years ago.
-
-
Originally posted by jmstar~:
Seems siliconchip has some issues with Singaporean Chinese. Share with us.
that is not true
-
Originally posted by jmstar~:
Seems siliconchip has some issues with Singaporean Chinese. Share with us.
that is not true
-
Singapore Identity ? so easy lah.....We are a PAPies servant lor. Must integrate with guests coming to live in our house, can't cook curry ha when guests are at home cos will irritate their noses. Must be more talented than the guests and yet salary can't be higher. If you can't find a job, you starve your business because you are not talented enough in the eyes of your Masters lor. I am a Servant in my own home.
-
Originally posted by Dalforce 25:
Georgia switches to English
An opposition party in Tbilisi claims the authorities want to make English the dominant language in Georgia.
The Labor Party on Friday dismissed what they call a policy to make English the main language in the small republic located in the Caucasus. Forcing children to study a foreign language at the age of six means they can lose their “national identity,” Secretary General Iosif Shatberashvili said.
Several dozens of teachers from the US, Canada, Britain and New Zealand came to Georgia on the same day to teach English in secondary schools. They are participating in the program “Teach and study in Georgia,” which President Mikhail Saakashvili started a year ago. The program has attracted more than a thousand teachers, and the authorities expect 500 more teachers by the end of the year.
The opposition says the government “ignores Georgian and is doing everything to make English the dominant language.” Without knowing English graduates cannot get their diplomas in universities, and state bodies do not hire them, Shatberashvili told reporters.
He stressed that the authorities want to declare English the state language. “As a puppet of Anglo-American imperialism, Saakashvili turned the Georgian language into the primary target,” the Labor Party leader said. He urged students and teachers to “abandon English until the suppression of Georgian is stopped.”
Ironically, Georgian is yet to be declared the state language. The parliament is not in a hurry to consider a draft law to that effect, the politician noted. The Labor party also opposes the government’s decision to introduce the compulsory study of English for first graders starting this year.
Meanwhile, the authorities are continuing their policy to “optimize” Russian-language education. There are only 40 Russian-language secondary schools left in Georgia out of 2000 schools. The majority of young people do not know Russian.
The “optimization” of the language education has also left only 15 out of the previous 46 Russian-language sectors in Tbilisi’s schools intact. The country’s capital will have only two Russian-language schools.The education ministry has explained that the number of students wishing to get a Russian-language education has been declining in recent years.
http://rt.com/politics/georgia-english-teachers-opposition/
That is no answer to the question
-
Originally posted by Leogirldreamer:
Singapore Identity ? so easy lah…..We are a PAPies servant lor. Must integrate with guests coming to live in our house, can’t cook curry ha when guests are at home cos will irritate their noses. Must be more talented than the guests and yet salary can’t be higher. If you can’t find a job, you starve your business because you are not talented enough in the eyes of your Masters lor.
I am a Servant in my own home.
When my grandmother cook curry, I will sneeze too. -
-
Originally posted by Fcukpap:
Singaporeans should start to learn at least 15 to 20 languages for us to be useful.
-
Originally posted by Dalforce 25:
Georgia switches to English
An opposition party in Tbilisi claims the authorities want to make English the dominant language in Georgia.
The Labor Party on Friday dismissed what they call a policy to make English the main language in the small republic located in the Caucasus. Forcing children to study a foreign language at the age of six means they can lose their “national identity,” Secretary General Iosif Shatberashvili said.
Several dozens of teachers from the US, Canada, Britain and New Zealand came to Georgia on the same day to teach English in secondary schools. They are participating in the program “Teach and study in Georgia,” which President Mikhail Saakashvili started a year ago. The program has attracted more than a thousand teachers, and the authorities expect 500 more teachers by the end of the year.
The opposition says the government “ignores Georgian and is doing everything to make English the dominant language.” Without knowing English graduates cannot get their diplomas in universities, and state bodies do not hire them, Shatberashvili told reporters.
He stressed that the authorities want to declare English the state language. “As a puppet of Anglo-American imperialism, Saakashvili turned the Georgian language into the primary target,” the Labor Party leader said. He urged students and teachers to “abandon English until the suppression of Georgian is stopped.”
Ironically, Georgian is yet to be declared the state language. The parliament is not in a hurry to consider a draft law to that effect, the politician noted. The Labor party also opposes the government’s decision to introduce the compulsory study of English for first graders starting this year.
Meanwhile, the authorities are continuing their policy to “optimize” Russian-language education. There are only 40 Russian-language secondary schools left in Georgia out of 2000 schools. The majority of young people do not know Russian.
The “optimization” of the language education has also left only 15 out of the previous 46 Russian-language sectors in Tbilisi’s schools intact. The country’s capital will have only two Russian-language schools.The education ministry has explained that the number of students wishing to get a Russian-language education has been declining in recent years.
http://rt.com/politics/georgia-english-teachers-opposition/
The Georgians are not realizing that their language is one of the most ancient language in the world. They are trying to erase away their heritage and this is an irreversible process.
-
Originally posted by BanguIzai:
Singaporeans should start to learn at least 15 to 20 languages for us to be useful.
some can't even handle more than one.
-
only through a major crisis, one would then realize the essence of identity...
it happened once in a while in the history of a people....whatever race, nationality, creed...
identity is forged not merely on grounds of race, language, or religions....it has a high emotional dimension...
-
Originally posted by Clivebenss:
some can't even handle more than one.
I propose:
Pre-schooler level: (The mother tongues stage)
- Introduce native dialect, includling Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hainanese, Hockchew, Hakka, Henghua, Hokchia, Shanghainese or Wenchounese. Parents are to select one - three dialects for their kid.
Kindergarten: (The local languages stage)
- Continuing the native dialects, kindergarten is to add Mandarin, English, Malay and Tamil to all students.
Primary 1-3: (The regional languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, and Tamil, Primary 1-3 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Tagalog, Burmese.
Primary 4-6: (The Asian languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, Tamil, and 3 of the regional languages, Primary 4-6 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: Hindi, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Mongolian, Tibetan.
Secondary 1-2: (The major global languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, Tamil, 3 of the regional languages, 3 of the Asian languages, Secondary 1-2 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, German.
Secondary 3-4: (The lesser global languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, Tamil, 3 of the regional languages, 3 of the Asian languages, 3 of the major global languages, Secondary 3-4 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: Sinhalese, Quechua, Albanian, Hausa, Hebrew, Uzbek, Kazakh, Bangla, Gujarati, Nepali, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Inuktitut, Aymara, Guarani, Romanian, Polish, Icelandic.
That is good.
-
Originally posted by BanguIzai:Originally posted by Clivebenss:
I propose:
Pre-schooler level: (The mother tongues stage)
- Introduce native dialect, includling Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hainanese, Hockchew, Hakka, Henghua, Hokchia, Shanghainese or Wenchounese. Parents are to select one - three dialects for their kid.
Kindergarten: (The local languages stage)
- Continuing the native dialects, kindergarten is to add Mandarin, English, Malay and Tamil to all students.
Primary 1-3: (The regional languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, and Tamil, Primary 1-3 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Tagalog, Burmese.
Primary 4-6: (The Asian languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, Tamil, and 3 of the regional languages, Primary 4-6 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: Hindi, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Mongolian, Tibetan.
Secondary 1-2: (The major global languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, Tamil, 3 of the regional languages, 3 of the Asian languages, Secondary 1-2 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, German.
Secondary 3-4: (The lesser global languages stage)
- Continuing with the native dialects, Mandarin, English, Malay, Tamil, 3 of the regional languages, 3 of the Asian languages, 3 of the major global languages, Secondary 3-4 students must choose 3 more out of the following list: Sinhalese, Quechua, Albanian, Hausa, Hebrew, Uzbek, Kazakh, Bangla, Gujarati, Nepali, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Inuktitut, Aymara, Guarani, Romanian, Polish, Icelandic.
That is good.
Ik denk if this goes on deze kinderen/jong mensen will have a phobia of languages, Do you think the people will bother to care so much? kinderen can't learn that much of language, especially when their parents speak to them only in english and mandarin (for my case) and some dutch (via some sources)?
Good? Ik denk niet, my friend.
Even if people learn languages online, This is as far as they can go, Like my dutch.
-
that is what i called the symbol of identity...
-
Originally posted by TIB783G:
Ik denk if this goes on deze kinderen/jong mensen will have a phobia of languages, Do you think the people will bother to care so much? kinderen can't learn that much of language, especially when their parents speak to them only in english and mandarin (for my case) and some dutch (via some sources)?
Good? Ik denk niet, my friend.
Even if people learn languages online, This is as far as they can go, Like my dutch.
Ik denk gut, as it is not introduce all together at once, it is introduced in stages, gradually mah.