Gitanic 6th Gear August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 just keep some terms like.....'knn cb'.....'ai kum mai'......'tiu'....is ok ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangadrool Supersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 I think majority of the people can handle 4 languages easily, not necessary to master all. But to master just one and be able to converse verbally and/or in writing at intermediate stage of another 3 languages is not a big problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icedbs Turbocharged August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 (edited) I still believe that Mandarin and different dialects can co-exist with each other. Who is to say that Mandarin will die when dialects are around? Any scientific or historical proof? Until today, i still dont understand LKY's explanation or POV about eliminating our dialects so that we can be good in Mandarin. Looking at today's context, i take Hong Kong as a good example. They were 100% cantonese speaking population before. Ever since China took over, they are forced to learn Mandarin now, but they are still good in Cantonese. In fact, I dare to say that they are very good in Mandarin and Cantonese. So what's the bloody problem with SG? Is LKY trying to say that SG ppl cannot handle too many languages, that we are too stupid to learn Mandarin and dialects together? I don't think the main concern when Mandarin was introduced and dialects were cut off was whether both languages could co-exist. But rather, the assimilation of Mandarin into the society would have been far slower if dialects were left to spread around. HK example is a different situation. They have China as their sugar daddy. Whether their assimilation of Mandarin is fast or slow, they can survive for the fact that they have China behind their backs. Singapore is a small country, and if it isn't for our strong English and Mandarin today, I don't think any country in the world would have respected us enough to bring their investments here and let us develop so quickly. Edited August 12, 2013 by Icedbs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lala81 Hypersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 i strongly support only mandarin and english policy. Dialects corrupt the official language. Go speak to the not so educated PRC workers here in SG. They are speaking chinese with a dialect accent. I can only understand 10-20% of their spoken mandarin. In a small globalised country, we should only stick to the official languages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jman888 Moderator August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 HK is kind of different, Cantonese was their mother tongue, can you imagine they used to teach maths, science in cantonese (at least that was what i heard from the old generation)? For them cantonese was the main official language, hence they were force to learn chinese since china took back in 1997. I was amaze how fast the younger generation pick up mandarin and speak fluently. I still believe that Mandarin and different dialects can co-exist with each other. Who is to say that Mandarin will die when dialects are around? Any scientific or historical proof? Until today, i still dont understand LKY's explanation or POV about eliminating our dialects so that we can be good in Mandarin. Looking at today's context, i take Hong Kong as a good example. They were 100% cantonese speaking population before. Ever since China took over, they are forced to learn Mandarin now, but they are still good in Cantonese. In fact, I dare to say that they are very good in Mandarin and Cantonese. So what's the bloody problem with SG? Is LKY trying to say that SG ppl cannot handle too many languages, that we are too stupid to learn Mandarin and dialects together? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watwheels Supersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 I agree on his foresight on speaking mandarin campaign in the 80s and make Singapore having advantage with China compare to other countries. The focus on Chinese and English also simplified the language spoken in public. However, i would feel sad for some that have forgotten how the dialect were spoken and the culture behind these dialects. Those non popular dialect such as hakka, hainanese, foochow, etc will soon to be forgotten. Discuss... LKY antagonising an entire generation of Chinese From Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rncw 5th Gear August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 i strongly support only mandarin and english policy. Dialects corrupt the official language. Go speak to the not so educated PRC workers here in SG. They are speaking chinese with a dialect accent. I can only understand 10-20% of their spoken mandarin. In a small globalised country, we should only stick to the official languages. agree.. sometimes i also cannot understand scots and brit english accents ...sometimes some american with those southern or mid west accents......and some of those latino muchacho english slang..in japan also...many "ben"...you hv osaka ben, fukuoka ben, yokohama ben...why can they speak normal japanese.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustank Hypersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 the suppression of dialects in order to promote the use of english was one of the best economic decision made in the past Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionedfish Clutched August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 Come on, in today's world, u can easily watch dialect shows on the Internet or pay tv. what's there to restrict. Even on free to air tv? If people want to learn, there will always be means Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo6089 1st Gear August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 Good, hope you can really pass the dialect down to your second generation, don't let it die away Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustank Hypersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 Come on, in today's world, u can easily watch dialect shows on the Internet or pay tv. what's there to restrict. Even on free to air tv? If people want to learn, there will always be means thats true that would not work in todays world Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustank Hypersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 Good, hope you can really pass the dialect down to your second generation, don't let it die away yeserday i just teach my son: orh yee orh, tarzan boh cheng kor he laugh until mad donno whether today he got go to school teach other people or not Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lala81 Hypersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 yeserday i just teach my son: orh yee orh, tarzan boh cheng kor he laugh until mad donno whether today he got go to school teach other people or not kids nowadays still know who tarzan is ar? haha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustank Hypersonic August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 kids nowadays still know who tarzan is ar? haha you are right!!! he asked me: daddy who ish tarzan ah so i needed to epxlain to him how tarzan came about he also ask me, what is orh yee orh i told him: this is the sound tarzan make Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Bear Turbocharged August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 I agree on his foresight on speaking mandarin campaign in the 80s and make Singapore having advantage with China compare to other countries. The focus on Chinese and English also simplified the language spoken in public. However, i would feel sad for some that have forgotten how the dialect were spoken and the culture behind these dialects. Those non popular dialect such as hakka, hainanese, foochow, etc will soon to be forgotten. Discuss... LKY antagonising an entire generation of Chinese From 'Life after Cabinet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueOldMan 1st Gear August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 you are right!!! he asked me: daddy who ish tarzan ah so i needed to epxlain to him how tarzan came about he also ask me, what is orh yee orh i told him: this is the sound tarzan make Bring him go hk Disney There's a tree house where Tarzan stay n it shows how n where Tarzan stay n come abt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Bear Turbocharged August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 the suppression of dialects in order to promote the use of english was one of the best economic decision made in the past Yes but it also suppresses the influence of the Clan associations and other traditional 'Chinese' power bases. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph22 Turbocharged August 12, 2013 Share August 12, 2013 Yes but it also suppresses the influence of the Clan associations and other traditional 'Chinese' power bases. lesser dialect group related clash also good mah. ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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