Thank you, Britain!

"Thank you, Mr Lee" has been the most spoken and written phrase this past week (23-29 March 2015). Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a giant of a man. Much has been said about him publicly and privately. He was truly great inside and out.

So many Singaporeans displayed this week what Mr Lee had built over 50 years of independence. Around 479,500 people stood patiently in line for hours and hours (the longest being 10 hours) to pay their last respects to our Founding Father. I waited 4.5 hours. Countless volunteers and uniformed personnel worked tirelessly and cheerfully to make sure that order prevailed and people were well fed and hydrated. We picked up trash after ourselves, chatted with strangers, braved the sun and the rain, with nary a contrary word. Mr Lee, our father, taught us all this. And he has taught us well.

Yet, as I reflected on this, I realised that we Singaporeans really need to say, "Thank you, Britain" for teaching Mr and Mrs Lee how to be civil and care for the disadvantaged and marginalised. Both Mr and Mrs Lee studied at English schools (as opposed to Chinese schools of the day). They both furthered their education at prestigious colleges in Britain. Their two sons also studied there. It was in Britain that Mr Lee saw how the British treated everyone fairly. Injustice was not tolerated. Standing in line, or queuing, is what Britishers do best.

If you look not too far back in the news, you will have noticed that when the students in Hong Kong protested against China in 2014, they set the gold standard for civil protest. They sat quietly on the streets, many with school work in hand, ate and drank and cleaned up after themselves. Volunteers cheerfully gave out food and drink and collected trash.

From where did they learn civil behaviour? Britain.

Both Hong Kong and Singapore share the same heritage as former British colonies. The British gave us an English education, taught us manners and instilled in us a sense of law and order. Yes, Hong Kong and Singapore have a majority Chinese population. So what? British influence prevails in society, while Chinese values are drilled in us at home. We have become better persons because of the two cultures instilled in us.

So, while the world says, "Thank you, Mr Lee" for all that you have done for Singapore, I want to add "Thank you, Britain" for teaching Mr and Mrs Lee what it means to have the milk of human kindness and how to behave in civil society.

We owe you much. Thank you.

#rememberingleekuanyew

Mr Lee Kuan Yew and bilingualism in Singapore

On 23 March 2015 at 0318H, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, founding father of Singapore and the nation's longest-serving Prime Minister, passed away at the age of 91. The country is observing seven days of mourning for this giant of a man.

One of the policies that Mr Lee implemented was bilingual education. All basic education was conducted in English, and every child from the day he entered school had to learn his mother tongue i.e. Chinese students learned Mandarin, Malay students learned Malay, and Indian students learned Tamil.

For many of us, especially those from English-speaking homes, learning a second language, namely Mandarin, was a nightmare. Myself included. Apart from weekly lessons in school, we never heard Mandarin or had any opportunity to use the language. Tuition in Mandarin was not an option for us, but oh, how I hated the lessons! My classmate vividly remembers me reading an English storybook hidden inside my Chinese textbook during Chinese class, a fact that I have long since forgotten.

Learning Mandarin was to pass the exams with a decent grade so that I could get into a local university. Barely scraping by was more like it for me. I wrote essays using the English grammatical structure and thought pattern. Idioms and proverbs did not exist in my vocabulary. I was an anglophile.

Working in a predominantly Chinese-speaking office many years after leaving school was a culture shock. Not only did I now have to communicate in simple English to be understood, I had to read the Chinese newspapers daily as part of my job! This is where I learned to match the photos in the English and Chinese newspapers, then figure out the headline. It was torture.

Then I switched jobs to an English-speaking office environment. I had a colleague who took on the job of reading the Chinese newspapers. She went to a very good bilingual primary school. When we had to host visitors from China, she took the lead. We learned all the technical terms and facts and figures, and managed to do a fairly good job of leading tours in Mandarin. When I needed to do a television interview in Mandarin, she wrote the script and I rattled it off in front of the camera. When the interview was broadcast, she said I sounded just like her, until she realised that she had written the script for me!

Fast forward to today. Many of my friends praise me for my linguistic ability. While English is and will probably always be, my most proficient language, I can operate decently in four other languages. I put in the effort to learn how to speak, read and write each of those languages so that I would have a complete picture, rather than only learning to speak. I am still on the learning journey.

In honour of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his bilingual education policy, may I say "thank you from the bottom of my heart" for forcing me to get on the bilingual road. I would not be here today if not for you.

Mr Lee, rest in peace. Rest assured that generations of Singapore-educated people will carry on the torch for bilingual education into the future.

Thank you, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. You will be missed.



#rememberingleekuanyew
(Photo credit: Ministry of Education, Singapore)

Selfie, Selphy

On the invitation of a friend, I went to view an exhibition by a university student group. In line with Singapore's Jubilee (50th year of independence), the theme of the exhibition was on Singapore's heritage and history. One of the projects the students organised was a Smiling Singapore wall. Visitors to the exhibition could have their photos taken and affixed to the wall, which bore an outline of the map of Singapore. When filled, the wall would show smiling faces representing the nation.

When I visited, my friend asked if I would like to have my photo taken for the wall. I gamely agreed. He then signalled to his friend to take my photo, saying, "Hey, take a selfie." (At least, that was what I thought I heard - "selfie".) A female student came along with a tablet to take my photo. I said to her that she had to take the photo because I wasn't very good at taking selfies. She smiled.

Photo taken, we walked over to the table to have it printed. That is where I noticed the name on the printer: "Selphy". Ohhhh ... so my friend was referring to "Selphy", not "selfie"! "Take a Selphy" is what he said.

Same sound, entirely different meaning.

The next time I get a photo taken, I should just let the people do their job and keep my mouth shut. Less confusion on my part.

Go take a selfie and have it printed on a Selphy! :)

Don't label women!

International Women's Day is on 8 March annually. While not widely celebrated around the world, it still is an occasion to celebrate women for who they are.

In the Chinese-speaking world, International Women's Day is known as 三八妇女节 (literally "three eight Women's Festival). The numbers come from the Chinese way of writing dates, stating the month first, then the day (the eighth day of the third month of the year).

Most people will probably not read too much into the Chinese name of the day. However, the Chinese name has not sat well with me. You see, a gossipy and naggy woman is described as 三八婆 (read "san ba po", literally "three eight old lady"). If you find your female friend too naggy for comfort, you would say to her, "妳很三八!" (roughly translated as "you are such a nag", but the description is "three eight"). In short, 三八 or "three eight" carries a negative connotation.

So, to call International Women's Day 三八妇女节 instead of just 妇女节 ("Women's Festival") does not sit well with me. Why should a day to celebrate women include nagging and gossip?!

Maybe we Chinese-speaking women should start the change by leaving out 三八 and just call the day 妇女节 and make a big celebration out of it!

Cheers to all women around the world!

"Sang-kyou"

Some members of a LINE chat group I am part of were sending stickers that had "3Q" as part of the picture. After about 10 different stickers with the same letters appeared, I began to wonder what "3Q" meant. It took me a while.

"3Q" = "thank you".

Huh?

In Mandarin, there is no "th" sound. A Chinese-speaking person will find it difficult to pronounce "thank" with the correct "th" sound at the beginning. Too often, it ends up being "sank" you. The Chinese word for the number three is 三 (pronounced "san"). Put together with the English "you", it becomes the slang version of "thank you" (more likely pronounced as "sang kyou"). Since LINE messages are fun and informal, this is a cute way of expressing our thanks and appreciation.

A Western person will probably never understand the logic, but it does not matter. Cross-cultural communication is always fun. Just don't focus too hard on perfection.

Let's keep the communication going!

Belly-aching in different places

"He is such a good story teller. I laughed until (my) stomach-ache(d)!"

Over breakfast, my friends and I were recounting highlights of a conference we had just attended some weeks ago. What my friend said (above) is a typical description of how hard she laughed at the story, using Singlish or the form of English commonly spoken in Singapore.

"Will you quit belly-aching?"

In America, especially in the south, this retort is used when someone keeps on complaining about something.

While the two sentences have vastly different connotations, the analogy is the same: the stomach, or belly, aches. In Singapore, it is a funny occurrence, while in America, it causes annoyance to others.

These two sentences may never cross the cultural and geographical divide, but they certainly make for an interesting topic of discussion.

Here's to the uniqueness of English spoken in different parts of the world!

How was your day?

I came across this picture in Facebook. So funny! So true!

Men and women are inherently different. So much has been said about that. But sometimes, just sometimes, pointing out the differences is worth repeating. In this case, this picture of emoticons says it all!

Would you agree?

Wishing you a <3-ly day!