Why so difficult to learn Mandarin?

Categories: Wormie Says

Why do Singapore children having so much trouble learning Mandarin? This is despite the encouragement and support given by the Government. Where has it gone wrong?

For those who are now in the middle-aged, they will remember that they were (and hopefully still) effectively trilingual if not quad-lingual(?). We spoke Teochew, Hokkien and English at home. Some could even speak Mandarin and Malay. No doubt, some will say that Teochew and Hokkien are not language but just dialets! Yes, they may be dialect, but you still have to learn them!

For those whose roots were across the causeway, remember the time when the teaching medium was changed into Malay? So now you have to learn English and Malay in national school and if you were 'unfortunate' enough, you have to learn Mandarin as well if you are in national-type (vernicular) school. Somehow they manage to learn 3 languages, with some of them scoring in all of them. Some of the Chinese Malaysian can even surpass their Malay counterparts in the National (Malay) Language exams.

What is it that makes learning a language so difficult in Singapore and smoother in Malaysia? Why is it that the outcome of learning a language so different? My feeling is that it is due to the environment and perception.

Previously, for the Chinese family, the whole family speaks in dialect generally. If you are Teochew, you speak Teochew. If you are Cantonese, you speak Cantonese. If you are Peranakan, you speaks English and Malay. Plain and simple. You therefore learn the respective languages and dialects without any agony. It is just 'routine'. This is similar to the present day situation. Why is it that English being a 'foreign' language, is so easily learned without any hassle. Even the grandparents who had never learned any English before, can speak some English.

Now comes the second language. In olden times, this would probably mean English for non-English speaking family. In Malaysia, it would be the national language - Malay. People just learn them because it is essential. You need English in order to succeed, to get a government job, to go to University, etc. In Malaysia, because its the national language and again you need it for university requirements and for daily social dealings. In order words you have no choice!

But some would argue that learning second language in Singapore, here I am talking about Mandarin is also forced upon us. True, you have no choice but the difference is that through the years, the pressure in learning Mandarin has dropped. Previously, second language may be the determining factor to a good secondary school. Now it does not matter. Therefore it can be seen that the requirements for Mandarin is getting lesser.

Another factor may be perception that speaking Mandarin is not in. If you don't speak Mandarin, society forgives you. If you don't speak English, you are either an Ah Beng or Ah Lian. Some how English is considered to have a higher standing, the 'elite' language. So people will gladly forgo the learning of Mandarin ('low' class language) for the learning of English ('high' class language). My Malay friends are telling me now that the same trend is happening with regards to Malay language. Nowadays, Malays are taking tuition to learn Malay. This is especially sad if you consider that dialects for Malays are in general Malay while for the Chinese dialects is significantly different from Mandarin.

However what is more important why learning Mandarin is so difficult is the lack of a Mandarin environment. By environment, I mean the environment to learn Mandarin. If you look at the children with difficulty in learning Mandarin, you will realise that they generally come from English-speaking family. The Mandarin-speaking family generally is not affected. Why? Because, Mandarin takes second place. For the English-speaking family, they can get by with English in their daily life at home. Whereas in Mandarin-speaking family, the medium of communication is - Mandarin!

There is even differences in the type of TV shows watched. TCS 8 (Mandarin) for the Mandarin-speaking family and TCS 5 (English) for the English-speaking family. Therefore in English-speaking family, the exposure to Mandarin is compromised. In this state, how are they going to learn Mandarin. To learn a language, you need to listen and speak it. If you are deprived of either, then learning any language is difficult.

Sometimes the parents indirectly 'discourage' their children to learn Mandarin unknowingly. They may have set the 'difficulty' level artificially for Mandarin when at home they express the difficulty in learning Mandarin. Small children who looked up to their parents will rapidly 'latched' on to the 'difficulty level' and therefore reinforce their fear in learning Mandarin. I am sure learning English is equally difficult if not more difficult than learning Mandarin. Ask any kids from a Mandarin-speaking family. But you never hear parents say that learning English is difficult! Language learning is only difficult if it is in-grained and reinforced to be so!

I have known of Filippino nurses who can speak Arabic. They learn the language while they are working in Arab countries. They do not speak or understand a single word before working there. But all of them said that they learn because everybody speaks Arabic (of course!)

Therefore before anyone says learning Mandarin is difficult, maybe create yourself a learning environment first. Maybe after that you may change your mind.