Can you speak your national language?

What is the national language of Singapore?
Do you not all use English on a daily basis?
You mean there is a national language in Singapore?

The answer to the above questions is: Malay is the national language of Singapore, but English is generally the language of everyday business and communication.

Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multicultural nation. The first inhabitants of this island were Malays. All others were foreigners looking for work and finally became immigrants, then citizens. Malay is the national language in honour of those who lived here first.

Every morning of the school year, every school-going child will sing the National Anthem, Majulah Singapura, which is written in the national language. Ask the average school-going child whether he knows what he is singing, and the answer is most likely to be "no". The average non-Malay adult will give you the same answer. Many cannot even pronounce the words correctly, much less understand the meaning of the song.

It seems to me that in every country of the world, natural born citizens are conversant in their national language. Why is it different in Singapore? I have no answer. However, I am supportive of Prof Kishore Mahbubani's suggestion (article pictured above) that all Singaporeans be able to carry on a simple conversation in Malay. At the very least, know what we are singing every morning in school and on official occasions. I imagine Singaporeans would be embarrassed if they were ever asked what the National Anthem means.

Let us learn something new today. Learn how to pronounce the words of the National Anthem correctly. Learn the meaning of what we are singing. Be proud to be Singaporean!

I am!

35 years of Speak Mandarin Campaign

2014 marks 35 years of the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore. Quite an achievement for a country that turns 49 years old in August 2014.

Singapore began life as a trading port made up of Malay natives (who spoke only Malay) and immigrants from many parts of Asia and Europe. The British came to lay claim and made it a colony for a number of years. Due to the multi-ethnic make-up of the population, people spoke their own language of home, plus a smattering of whatever other languages that their friends and neighbours spoke. Communication between races and ethnic groups was made up of a mixture of each one's different language. Did it matter that grammar rules were thrown out the window? Certainly not. Communication was effective and efficient. Everyone got along quite well with each other.

After China chose to unite the entire country and ethnic groups in one national language, Mandarin, Singapore chose to follow suit. Being that the older generation spoke either fluent English, or whatever Chinese dialect they grew up speaking, or both, the big push to get all Chinese Singaporeans speaking Mandarin was quite a task. Yet, look at us today!

Singaporean leaders have a working proficiency of Mandarin and a firm grasp of English. While we may not be able to conduct a government-level negotiation in Mandarin, we can converse socially in the language, thus warming us to the Chinese hosts.

Language is more than just a communication tool. Learning a language means learning about a culture and a people. Speaking the language of your host touches his heart and opens doors that you never thought possible.

Want to touch a heart? Go learn his language.

Here's to multi-lingualism!

English language - thank you, Britain!

As much as I enjoy learning languages and communicating with people all over the world, I have to say that this article makes a very important point: English is the universal language of communication.

Having worked with people from all over the world mostly in South-East Asia, I have found that the only way we can all communicate with each other is in English. I may speak one or more of the languages of the people I deal with, but they cannot communicate with the others in their language because the others do not speak it. English becomes the medium of effective communication among us.

Dealing with varying levels of proficiency in English has also forced me to write simply, so that the message comes across quickly and clearly. Two Malaysian friends found my writing to be hilarious because I had spelled out everything in minute detail, but after explaining that most of the readers have low levels of English and the fact that most of them do not know how to follow instructions, my "writing-for-small-children" style was imperative to the smooth running of the event.

Whether you like it or not, English is here to stay. Write simply.

An interesting point the article brought out was that anywhere that England conquered in the past and became a British colony, that place still uses English as the main language of business and everyday life. British colonialism has left an indelible mark on many parts of the world.

That set me thinking about Japan in history. The Japanese conquered and ruled much of Asia during World War II. While some of those 80 years and older may still speak some Japanese, this language is not prevalent outside of Japan. Colonialism may not always leave a positive legacy in the colonised nation. It all depends on what kind of positive influences the colonial masters left behind. At the end of the day, personal relationships and human kindness always prevail.

What kind of impact are you leaving on those around you? May it be positive!

Here's to leaving a lasting legacy where you are!

Don't use bombastic words

Do you use big words in your writing? There was a time in my childhood that "bombastic" was an often-quoted word to describe people who constantly used "big" words to impress others with their so-called command of the English language. Most of the time, the speaker of flowery language had only a vague idea of what he was saying. He had just learned a new word and wanted to show off to his friends how intelligent he was.

Was he really intelligent? Maybe. Unfortunately, the primary purpose of language is communication. Communication is only effective when the listener has fully understood what the speaker/writer is trying to say. Bombastic words fulfill no purpose except to show that the writer is good at his craft. What is he trying to say? I do not really know. Precisely the point of this article. Big words do not always convey the message. It is time to simplify.
A rule of thumb that I was taught in writing a brief message to another person is: write as though a third-grader is going to read your message. If he understands what you said, you have communicated well. Of course, that all depends on the content of your message. Not all communication is meant for third-graders. The point is we have to write simply. There is no place for showing off in daily communication. Be clear of what you want to say, and write it clearly.

The world will be a less confusing place if we all decided to simplify our writing styles.

Here's to clear and concise writing!

Read the fine print?

Just over a year ago, the Singapore government started a campaign to get government agencies to write simply. Since then, some commercial companies have followed suit by rewriting their terms and conditions to allow the average person to understand what he is getting himself into.

Too often we look at a thick legal document and put it aside before even reading the first line. Technical jargon, legal speak, do not understand, ... Who bothers to read the Terms and Conditions, or "fine print" for that matter? The sales person explained everything to me already.

Since the move to simplify legal documents, the number of pages has also been drastically reduced, by up to 50%! How about that for saving the environment by using less paper? I think many people actually bother to read the Terms and Conditions now.

It is certainly timely. We could all benefit from less confusion and more direct writing styles. The earth would benefit from the reduction in paper usage. Win-win situation all round!

Here's to clear and simple written communication!

Eat potatoes or sweet potatoes?

In the Singapore context, when a Chinese person wants to make a point that he cannot speak Chinese, he will say in Hokkien (or the Fujian dialect) that he is "jiak kantang" or "eat potato". The interesting thing about this phrase is that "jiak" means "eat" in Hokkien, but "kantang" is a borrowed word from Malay (correct spelling in Malay is "kentang") meaning "potato". Uniquely Singaporean expression.

Since Asians eat mostly rice and westerners eat mostly potatoes, I suppose that is how this phrase came about. If you eat potatoes, then you must be western-trained and therefore speak English.

Chinese people do eat potatoes, but most prefer sweet potatoes instead. If you are Chinese in Singapore and can speak Chinese, you would not refer to yourself as being a sweet potato eater. For that matter, there is no equivalent expression for those who are proficient in Chinese. A derogatory term for those who are educated in Chinese but speak little English is "Chinese helicopter", meaning that he speaks English haltingly or with a stutter (the sound of which is like the whirring blades of a helicopter).

An evangelist friend from a Chinese-speaking church commented that there is a dearth of local Chinese-speaking pastors and evangelists. In fact, many of the pastors here were once English-educated and have crossed the language divide due to a need. This made him call us "Jiak kantang cho huan zi kang" (吃马铃薯，作番薯工）or "eat potatoes but do sweet potato work". This is not ideal because communication is more than just being able to speak the language. Communication involves understanding the other culture, nuances and expressions. Just because I speak basic Chinese does not mean I understand the Chinese person's psyche. For someone like me who grew up "eating potatoes", this is definitely true. However, being a lifelong student always opens the door to another's heart. Sincerity will always win the day.

Regardless of what kind of staple food you eat, let's be open to another culture and language. Our lives will be so much richer for the education.

Here's to celebrating diversity!

Egg, Banana or Coconut?

If you are familiar with Asian American terminology, you would know what being called a "banana" means. The banana fruit is yellow on the outside and white on the inside. If an Asian person is called a "banana" (or as one of my China friends put it 香蕉人 - "banana person"), it means that he has yellow skin (or looks completely Asian on the outside) but his language, thinking and behaviour is completely western (or "white").

Eggs, on the other hand, have white shells (at least duck eggs and some chicken eggs do!) and contain a yellow yolk in the centre. My white American friend who lives in Hawaii calls himself an "egg". He has a Japanese-American wife. He is the opposite of the "banana". He may be a white American on the outside, but his thinking and value system is completely Asian.

My Samoan friend is brown-skinned. He grew up speaking Samoan, but he spent a large part of his life in the mainland USA. His thinking and behaviour is completely western. One day, when a few of us were describing ourselves as "bananas" or "eggs", he walked by and said, "Just call me a 'coconut'." We all promptly burst out laughing.

I have always considered myself a "banana". I was born into an English-speaking home environment. Nobody spoke Mandarin. Three of my four grandparents spoke English. The other grandparent was unschooled. She only spoke Cantonese. Since I was despised from birth since I am female, she hardly spoke to me. I attended an English-speaking Catholic school. All of us scraped through Chinese lessons, doing much better at English.

In my adult working years, I was thrown into a Chinese-speaking environment. I was forced to speak, and later on try to read the newspapers daily as part of my job. Many years later, I decided to start all over again, reading my Bible daily with a dictionary by my side. I am still not fluent, neither can I read well, but I manage. The greatest compliment I received sometime ago was from a friend from China. He said, "妳已经不是香蕉人了！“ ("You are no longer a banana!") He went on to tell me how much he enjoyed my sermons in Chinese because he received insights that he did not get from sermons in English. I was moved to tears.

I still consider myself a "banana" today. Will that ever change? I don't know. Suffice it to say that the colour of my skin does not define who I am. Neither should you be defined as such. Just be yourself!

Here's to individuality and diversity!