I, a Singaporean Chinese refuse to speak English

last SG · 2010-05-04T16:49:54+00:00

there shouldn't be any government policies in the first place to curb this or that languagelanguage should be left on their own to grow and developbut the si...

Samuel Lee SG

I am an Chinese speaking Chinese Singaporean. I have been reading this forum and seeing some Singaporeans (duh) and I just can't understand why some Singaporeans of Chinese say things such as "MRT should not display Chinese signboards, because we are not going to acomodate the PRCs", "English is our language" etc.

Let me make some points clear.

1. Although I am Singaporean, not Chinese from China. I have never been to China. However my race on my birth certificate (BC / NRIC) is Chinese. Anyone who has Chinese in the BC race column will know that your surname is what, and it is the same from the people from China.

2. I, like all Singaporeans, grew up in school with English as our first language. However, I only use Chinese at home, and even many times at work (School) since one of the Singapore's four official language is Chinese. Many of our laws, newspapers and everything else are all also available in Chinese (Malay and Tamil also got, however, to a slightly less extent when compared to Chinese, probably due to the population's porportion). How many people have actually passed their English with flying colours / A star distinction compared to their own mother tongue?

I don't understand why under such an environment, some people still reject the use of their own mother tongue and speak English.

3. English IS NOT Singapore's language. Some Singaporeans reject English as a "foreign language", the language of the British and Americans etc and say that as "Chinese" we should speak Mandarin, our ancestral language, our "roots". This is fact. Dont forget that our national anthem is sing in Malay, and our pledge are also available in 4 languages (Malay, Chinese and Tamil as well). Guess what, in early days (1960s ~ 70s), if anyone has their parents who is studying in Chinese Medium school (华校) will know what I meant. (But I am not from that generation)

English is still a foreign language to Singaporeans because your surname most likely got a chinese background, or malay or tamil family names.

4. I think Singaporeans should be clear that they are Singaporeans where apart of the Malays, they have ancestors (Grandparents or Great Grandparents) who are probably once a Chinese citizens, or Indian citizen. Even for the Malays, they are likely to have their ancestors to be once a Malaysian citizens.... so on and so forth.

I say while Singlish is ok and unique Singaporeans, but that is not going to be acceptable for work / official purpose. Most likely it is same for the "Geordie" or "Scottish English" or even "Welsh English" as well, in this aspect.

5. Despite Mandarin is not even my ancestral language if you want to be anal about it and Mandarin is the dialect of Beijing and my forefathers were probably from Fujian, but does our environment allows us to learn on our own respective dialects such as Hokkien and Teochew? Even in PRC, the authorities are also encourage the use of Mandarin.

6. Mandarin is useful? Of course! Lets not forget that the rise of China and the fall of the European / US makes it possible. Just like Latin used to be useful and not now, unless one is researching on bible / holy stuffs.

The second largest and expected to take over to be the first largest economy by 2050 in the world, China, uses Chinese. Many Europeans and Americans started to learn & speak Chinese these days in order to keep up trend.

7. Lets not forget the reason why our "forefathers" ran away from China / India etc took up "Singapore citizenship" for a reason. That was because their country was used to be in extreme poverty / war strucken homeland. Singapore, on the other hand, used to practice free immigration policy. So it is not really taking up a Singapore citizenship.

So don't tell me to speak English (a foregin language) in Singapore (an Multi-racial society).

8: I do reject the use of English PC nowadays. All my software, Windows, Office, Visual Studio (I am a programmer in my IT course) are all in Chinese, and uses of English software is only exclusively when the essential software does not have a Chinese version.

9: Many of the senoir citizens, especially from the older estates, still uses their dialect such as Hokkien, not even Mandarin. It can never be English and these are the people requesting the authorities to set up more chinese signboard / announcements etc in MRT stations.

If you can't speak your own mother tongue in Singapore, I suggest you hang your head in shame, for you have truly "lost your roots".

^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~ SG

wha liew -___-

One refuse to speak english, the other refuse to speak chinese...

Clivebenss SG

wha liew -___-

One refuse to speak english, the other refuse to speak chinese...

Language is a funny thing...

Fatum SG

wha liew -___-

One refuse to speak english, the other refuse to speak chinese...

not much thread originality here ...

but at least ... one chap can type in english .... I don't suppose the other chap can type in chinese ... so this chap can truly say he refuses to speak a particular language, and not as a cover for his lack of ability.

so ... ermm ..... a pat on the head for this chap ...

elindra SG

Shouldn't this post be written in Mandarin?

^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~ SG

Shouldn't this post be written in Mandarin?

TS refuse to speak english ma... but can type english...

TTFU SG

Lolololol Sticky this thread plz

QX179R SG

lame..

Vote PAP OUT to Save SG SG

I want to ask the english speaking and english educated baba Harry Lee Kuan Yew, why is it that chinese is about 75% of population in Singapore, a clear majority but he chose to destroy chinese schools of higher learning and impose an alien language - english - upon the population.

Why didn't he choose the most obvious, the most logical language, mandarin as the dominant language of Singapore?

Why did he use an alien, colonial language that majority of people in Singapore cannot understand as dominant language?

I want to ask that anglo bastard why.

When Sir Stamford Raffles founded the colony in 1819, there were virtually no Chinese on the sultry island. But since the native Malays were indolent, the British encouraged diligent, apolitical Chinese to come aboard, and today the city-state's population is 74% Chinese.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873974,00.html

After his education in Britain, Lee Kuan Yew returned to Singapore in 1949 to practise as a lawyer in the law firm Laycock and Ong.

He became the honorary legal adviser for several trade unions after being acquainted with their leaders (in 1951) and subsequently caught the public eye in February 1952, when the Postal Workers Union succeeded, with his guidance, in obtaining important concessions from the colonial government.

According to his memoirs and this website, Lee Kuan Yew then proceeded to form the PAP with the help of the communists.

Yet these sources conveniently neglect to mention Lee Kuan Yew's involvement in the Singapore Progressive Party in the 1951 legislative elections.

In fact, Lee acted as the election agent for his boss John Laycock, helping him to manage his campaign and canvass on his behalf. (See here and here for proof) He had thus entered into politics even before he became involved in the trade unions' dispute with the British. (Polling day for the 1951 legislative elections was on 10 April, we can assume that his political activities with the SPP started months before that)

If I may speculate, LKY joined the SPP initially to build up his political career there.

However when the Rendel Constitution expanded the electoral rolls to include all local-born as voters, resulting in a significant increase in Chinese voters, LKY decided to jump ship and formed the PAP in 1954 because he saw that the SPP lacked the support of the Chinese working class. (So the next time LKY condemns politicians who change political parties, you know where he's coming from)

Yet the problem isn't solely that LKY jumped ship and didn't care to tell anyone about his great experience in his memoirs.

The bigger problem lies in the fact that LKY supported the SPP despite the fact that it was

A) pro-British in both its policies and in its composition of members (mostly English-speaking upper class professionals)

B) unsupportive of achieving independence (it merely paid lip-service to the idea by declaring in October 1952, its objective of Singapore achieving independence through a Singapore-Malaya merger without setting a target date)

Lee Kuan Yew's miraculous change of heart on these issues when he joined the PAP only demonstrates how the pursuit of power can sometimes make one very flexible about their beliefs. Unfortunately for us, this flexibility of LKY's did not extend to the area of political freedoms.

http://us.asiancorrespondent.com/secret-blog/2009/09/is-lee-kuan-yew-more-interested-in.html

An indication of the size of the Baba Chinese community was provided by the 1980 census report that 9 percent of Chinese families spoke English at home.

Stereotypically the Baba were the offspring of Chinese migrants and local women. In the nineteenth century, they tended to be wealthier and better educated than the mass of immigrants and to identify more with Singapore and Southeast Asia than with China.

In spite of their language, the Baba considered themselves Chinese, retained Chinese kinship patterns and religion, and even when speaking Malay used a distinct Baba dialect of Malay with many loan words from Hokkien.

Never a large proportion of Singapore's Chinese population, in the late nineteenth century they took advantage of opportunities for education in English and promoted themselves as loyal to Britain.

In Singapore, many Baba families spoke English as a first language and produced many of the leaders of Singapore's independent political movements, including Lee Kuan Yew.

http://countrystudies.us/singapore/16.htm

There is only one reason and one reason only why Harry Lee chose to destroy chinese schools and reformed the education system so as to impose english as the dominant language of Singapore.

The MAJORITY of people in Singapore didn't know a single word of english.

Only a small minority who mostly served as the elite in colonial british Singapore knew english.

Harry Lee is from that group.

Harry Lee didn't choose english because he wanted to "destroy communist'. Harry Lee also didn't choose english because he wanted to make things "fair" for the minorites.

The only reason why Harry Lee pick and chose english as the dominant language was to serve his interests and the interests of his own elite english speaking group.

That is the only reason why english is dominant language of Singapore today.

And that is also the fatal blow to the development of this country.

The bigger problem lies in the fact that Lee Kuan Yew supported the Singapore Progressive Party despite the fact that it was

A) pro-British in both its policies and in its composition of members (mostly English-speaking upper class professionals)

B) unsupportive of achieving independence

Ranson SG

Let me make some points clear.

My surname is not the same as those from China. It is quite obvious that Singaporean names and Chinese names are very different. You need to grow a brain.

I don't understand why under such an environment, some people still reject the use of their own mother tongue and speak English.

How do you "only use" Chinese at school and work when 1/4 of Singaporeans are not Chinese and the language of education and work is English? Care to elaborate? Many Singaporean Chinese are not even proficient in Chinese.

In fact, you are typing in English now.

English is still a foreign language to Singaporeans because your surname most likely got a chinese background, or malay or tamil family names.

Most Americans still have German and Irish etc surnames. Likewise for the Scottish, Welsh etc they have scottish names etc and they all speak English. Your surname has nothing to do with the language you speak.

Barrack hussein Obama is a Kenyan surname, going by your logic he should speak Kenyan because he has a kenyan background?

Singaporeans have never been to China. They definitely do not have a Chinese background but a Singaporean background. Take a trip to China and see what China is like, you will see the massive differences from Singapore, it is like day and night.

Singaporeans say their pledges in English, dont be retarded. I haven't said my pledge in Chinese before for my entire life.

All human kind descended from Africa. Do you want to "find your roots" back to Africa? We descended from monkeys as well, can you peel a Banana?

Do you want to wear a Chinese qipao and walk around or start fire by using stones?

The problem with this "finding your roots" thing is how far back do you want to go? The link has long been cut. You are Singaporean, not Chinese citizen. If you love China so much move there and speak Mandarin/Dialects all day long, don't let the door hit your butt on the way out.

Of course the Singapore environment does not allow one to use Chinese dialects much. It is an English speaking society.

Europe and US are not "falling". Read my "I don't understand the rise of China" thread in this forum.

China has a big economy only because it has 1/4 of the world's population, 1.4 billion people. If you put Europe and North America to form 1.4 billion people, their economy is 200 times China's and they win 200 times more olympic medals and their standard of living is 20 times China's.

China's economy is only 4 trillion. the USA's is 15 trillion. Even if China overtakes the USA as the biggest economy, the economies of English speaking countries will ALWAYS be at least 100 times those of Chinese speaking ones.

Only 3 countries in the world use Chinese- Singapore, Taiwan, China. 55 Countries use English - Canada, Australia, Ireland, UK, Ghana, Jamaica, Fiji, India..and so on.

So don't tell me to speak English (a foregin language) in Singapore (an Multi-racial society).

It is precisely Singapore is multi racial hence English is used as our first language, everyone is on equal footing and everyone can communicate.

English has been used in Singapore for the past 2 centuries as a British colony. It is definitely not foreign. Your forefathers spoke English as a lingua franca.

What is "not really taking up Singapore citizenship"? Why did your forefathers not go back to China or India etc? Why did they take up Singapore citizenship? Because they DON"T WANT TO GO BACK. THEY DISLIKE CHINA. THEY WERE STARVING TO DEATH IN CHINA UNDER THE 1920 FAMINES.

You are really retarded.

Yeah yeah, go type your computer programs in Chinese and speak Chinese to everyone you retard.

Yeah and the only reason they don't speak English is because they are illiterate and never even finished PSLE. They work for 800 SGD /mth at the hawker center taking drinks orders and cleaning tables.

If they speak English, they could get an education, a better job etc, but they don't, hence they wipe the floors you and I step on.

Funny how you like to talk about poor, illiterate low wage workers and set them as your standards. You idolise them like gods. Story of your life isn't it?

If you can't speak your own mother tongue in Singapore, I suggest you hang your head in shame, for you have truly "lost your roots".

CheckmateA1 SG

PRC Student failing Chinese?

http://talkback.stomp.com.sg/forums/showthread.php?t=102301

don't know whether they are related/relevant or not

Vote PAP OUT to Save SG SG

Those history and political idiots out there better wake the fuck up and go and properly learn the fucking real history of your own country Singapore and your own ethnic group.

This guy below was the one who REALLY FOUGHT for interests of us chinese in Singapore.

You better mother fucking wake the fuck up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCGLaiKFaX8

I won't tolerate the postings anymore of those political and history idiots.

Rock^Star SG

this is really kind of LOL.

meltz SG

:lol: copy cat thread ..

what next .. im a chinese but i refuse to speak hokkien to my grandparent ..

Samuel Lee SG

没有用中文来写这个篇章的原因很简单。

因为我要让有些人看。况且，虽然我的英文不如我的中文，但是还是必须让这里的异族同胞看，所以我只好勉为其难地写英文，除非我会马来语或泰米尔。。。。

Samuel Lee SG

别忘了，当年虽然李光耀试图摧毁中文，他却让他的孩子（包括总理李显龙）去读华校学中文，而非英校。所以不会英文（‘O’ 水准的英文刚刚及格等）没什么可耻的。最可悲的是那些母语说不好的人。（潮州话等方言也是中文的一种，文字也是一样的。）

TIB1234T SG

wha liew -___-

One refuse to speak english, the other refuse to speak chinese...

Yah lah... me kenna brainwashed 2 times when reading that English thread, then this Chinese thread....

TIB1234T SG

TS refuse to speak english ma... but can type english...

MyPillowTalks SG

sppoooof prruuss oonneee

anyway

TIB1234T SG

Why didn't he choose the most obvious, the most logical language, mandarin as the dominant language of Singapore?

Why did he use an alien, colonial language that majority of people in Singapore cannot understand as dominant language?

I want to ask that anglo bastard why.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873974,00.html

After his education in Britain, Lee Kuan Yew returned to Singapore in 1949 to practise as a lawyer in the law firm Laycock and Ong.

Yet these sources conveniently neglect to mention Lee Kuan Yew's involvement in the Singapore Progressive Party in the 1951 legislative elections.

The bigger problem lies in the fact that LKY supported the SPP despite the fact that it was

A) pro-British in both its policies and in its composition of members (mostly English-speaking upper class professionals)

http://us.asiancorrespondent.com/secret-blog/2009/09/is-lee-kuan-yew-more-interested-in.html

An indication of the size of the Baba Chinese community was provided by the 1980 census report that 9 percent of Chinese families spoke English at home.

In Singapore, many Baba families spoke English as a first language and produced many of the leaders of Singapore's independent political movements, including Lee Kuan Yew.

http://countrystudies.us/singapore/16.htm

There is only one reason and one reason only why Harry Lee chose to destroy chinese schools and reformed the education system so as to impose english as the dominant language of Singapore.

The MAJORITY of people in Singapore didn't know a single word of english.

Only a small minority who mostly served as the elite in colonial british Singapore knew english.

Harry Lee is from that group.

Harry Lee didn't choose english because he wanted to "destroy communist'. Harry Lee also didn't choose english because he wanted to make things "fair" for the minorites.

The only reason why Harry Lee pick and chose english as the dominant language was to serve his interests and the interests of his own elite english speaking group.

That is the only reason why english is dominant language of Singapore today.

And that is also the fatal blow to the development of this country.

The bigger problem lies in the fact that Lee Kuan Yew supported the Singapore Progressive Party despite the fact that it was

A) pro-British in both its policies and in its composition of members (mostly English-speaking upper class professionals)

B) unsupportive of achieving independence

Orh horrr.... u call LKY a anglo bastard....