Reinforce bilingual education at home

There has been quite a bit of news on bilingual education in Singapore recently, more specifically, on the learning of the "mother tongue". What is the "mother tongue"? It is defined as the language a mother uses to speak to her children, which is usually her native language, not necessarily the national language. Some people will refer to this language as the "heart language".

If both parents come from different language groups, then the mother's native tongue will be taken as the "mother tongue", not the father's language. I assume this is because in the first few years of a child's life, the primary caregiver would be the mother, rather than the father.

Many children in Singapore are better at English than their mother tongue, partly because the medium of instruction in schools is English. Hence, the Ministry of Education is pushing for parents to read to their children in their home language, rather than in English. But why the push for bilingualism in Singapore?

The more languages you know, the easier it is for you to communicate cross-culturally. The world is shrinking as far as the working world is concerned. The average person will come into contact with people of different languages and cultures. To develop a good working relationship, it will help greatly if both sides at least try to learn a bit of the other's language and culture. After all, if you speak my language, you touch my heart.

Want to touch someone's heart? Start learning a new language! You'll gain more than just someone's heart; you'll make your life so much richer!

Have fun learning a language!

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