Me Time!
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Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=\"2121482\" time=\"1698214697\" user_id=\"195250:[quote=\"Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=2121482 time=1698214697 user_id=195250]
If a Singaporean Chinese doesn’t wish to be mistaken for PRC Chinese and there are good reasons for such a consideration, I would respect it. Why is there a :siao: icon there? Are you referring to my DH?
Yes, we may not share all values with people from PRC nowadays but is it necessary to speak English instead of Mandarin so as not to be associated with them. There are Malaysian Chinese, Indonesian Chinese.....do all overseas Chinese have to stop speaking mandarin because they do not want to associate with people from Mainland China? :siao:[/quote]
You may not recall but at the height of Covid panic, when PRC Chinese were deemed to be carriers of the ‘Wuhan’ virus in most countries, it would be prudent not to be associated (or mistaken) as PRC Chinese.
I see myself as a Singaporean Chinese, I am proud of my Chinese heritage but I don’t see a need to be associated or mistaken as a PRC Chinese!!!
PRC is neither my 祖国 nor does it have a special place in my heart. -
Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=\"2121482\" time=\"1698214697\" user_id=\"195250:[quote=\"Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=2121482 time=1698214697 user_id=195250]
Not all ethnic Chinese who left China pre-1949 spoke Mandarin! Maybe only the highly-educated ones, but many migrants were not from that group. For many like my family, it's not that we have chosen to \"stop\" speaking Mandarin - there was no history of speaking Mandarin at all. My paternal side is Peranakan and have been in Indonesia/Sg (as far as I know) for about 4-5 generations - they spoke Malay and Hokkien. My maternal grandmother's family was in E Malaysia - they spoke Foochow and Malay. My maternal grandfather was from China and spoke Foochow. My parents went to English-speaking schools where they were discouraged from using other languages. We spoke, and speak, purely English at home. Even my grandparents' generation learned to speak English for survival, but not Mandarin. So what is my \"mother tongue\"? Certainly not Mandarin!
Yes, we may not share all values with people from PRC nowadays but is it necessary to speak English instead of Mandarin so as not to be associated with them. There are Malaysian Chinese, Indonesian Chinese.....do all overseas Chinese have to stop speaking mandarin because they do not want to associate with people from Mainland China? :siao:[/quote] -
lee_yl\" post_id=\"2121486\" time=\"1698215708\" user_id=\"17023:
Sorry for any offences, I have amended my post already.
If a Singaporean Chinese doesn’t wish to be mistaken for PRC Chinese and there are good reasons for such a consideration, I would respect it. Why is there a :siao: icon there? Are you referring to my DH?
You may not recall but at the height of Covid panic, when PRC Chinese were deemed to be carriers of the ‘Wuhan’ virus in most countries, it would be prudent not to be associated (or mistaken) as PRC Chinese.
I see myself as a Singaporean Chinese, I am proud of my Chinese heritage but I don’t see a need to be associated or mistaken as a PRC Chinese!!!
PRC is neither my 祖国 nor does it have a special place in my heart. -
SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2121460\" time=\"1698203379\" user_id=\"188234:
I remember DD2 was shortlisted by teacher to do Chinese Lit during sec sch days and she was ok to do it. But we advised her not to and asked her to apply for Bicultural studies instead, which has a lot more takers than Chinese Lit.
:rahrah: :rahrah: .
English Lit was in my older one's second choice of subject combinations, and in hindsight I kind of wish that the class would have been taken as a second full humanities (not that it was my choice). As for E Lit vs. CL Lit, I guess it is kind of a toss-up, and again reverts to the student. Mainly, I probably just think it is nice to leverage one of the (somewhat unique) capabilities of the school you are in (not that it is absolutely mandatory or huge advantage).
As for Geo and in response to other replies, one of my kids seems to like the class a fair amount (at least talks about this subject more than E Lit or History). From what I can gather, many of the topics or concepts are around you in everyday life, and this provokes some additional thoughts. The other one thought the class was being operated as test first, teach the right answer after handing back a lot of red ink
.
As for Geography, one of my neighbor’s kid studied Geo and couldn’t find a suitable job in SG for a long time. So he migrated to New Zealand to be a land surveyor there. These past few years, heard he was doing very well $$ because a lot of PRCs went there to buy land for their houses. -
Actually regarding the choice of language, don’t we all see who we are speaking with and then code switch? So it doesn’t really matter whether we sisal English mandarin or even dialect? I see it only as a form of communication or a tool to get comfortable with the counterparty.
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I find that so far …the first gen Sporean fm China now or China Chinese, the way/tone they speak is different from us. Even the look also sometimes may be different. Can easily differentiate as of now…but once fully integrated then it will be like one of us. Culture may have some differences. Dd2 tuition teacher is from China but quite well integrated already in terms of way she speaks…Eng+Mandarin haha… probably been here for a long time and her kid is also taking psle. .Just give and take ba. So far I m ok with spoken lang easily switch just the reading needs more effort.
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SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2121460\" time=\"1698203379\" user_id=\"188234:
😁
:rahrah: :rahrah: .
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Many interesting comments on Chinese language and dialects. After observing a few different kids here, there is an environment to learn Mandarin and advance your capabilities. However, I think the reality for most kids is that the majority of their lives are in English, and there are a lot of other things to do in secondary school/JC so Chinese often falls down the totem pole of priorities (maybe sadly).
I think I also now understand why some people aren’t so hot on spending time on Chinese in secondary school, even if you are good at it (or at least not bad at it). Whether you take CL or HCL, perhaps you will be reasonably functional on a daily basis, and that is good enough. Unfortunately, there is only so much time in the day and often doing more here means doing less of something else.
For the schools that offer both, I also believe the Bicultural Studies class has a higher take up than the CL Lit class. In the grand scheme of things, both are probably dwarfed by math/science related stuff. -
Up to their own interests ba. While SG seems to glorify math & science, and majority tend to have a natural flair for those, we will always have language enthusiasts. And we need them too. Likewise for musicians and sportspersons.
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