Why so difficult to learn Mandarin (II)?

Happened to tune into blogTv on Channel News Asia entitled "Hooked on Huayu" shown on 8 Jan 2010. Having watched the programme, it set me thinking and thus my blog.

As usual, the discussions were rushed through due to time constraint. This, to me, is the greatest set back for this otherwise interesting program. The points brought up are summarised below:

1. the same Chinese character may have different pronunciations
2. pupils were criticised and "made to feel small" when they don't do well
3. as Singaporeans lack a cultural background, there is no passion in picking up the language
4. MOE should hold immersion programs for the student so that they will become interested in the language after realising its usefulness
5. make the teaching of language fun, so children will want to learn more


All the points brought up were relevant and probably true. My discussion today will take a different approach. In contrast to my previous blog where I try to explain for the difficulty in learning Mandarin, in this blog, I will approach it from the learning of English instead.

In the English language, we were taught to use phonetics to aid in our pronunciations. This is where a word is broken up into syllable to aid in the pronunciation. For example re-le-vant. Simple! But like all things there are exeptions.

Sometimes the same syllable is pronounced differently. Our is pronounced as owl-wer but four is pronounced as for and not fe-owl-wer despite the second syllable being exactly the same as our. And then we have hour which is pronounced exactly like our despite having a different spelling!

As if that is not complicated enough, pronunciations sometimes also depends on how the word is being used. Take the word produce. It can be pronounced in two ways depending on whether it is used as a noun or a verb. Hence it can be pronounced as pro-dus or pro-dyus.

Hence, the pronunciation of English words is not as easy as it seems. No doubt, English words are made up of alphabets which gives a hint on how to pronounce but sometimes one can be caught up.

I remember a time when I have to memorise spellings after spellings every week. On top of that I was made to learn the mysterious ways of the English grammar. Although, grammar is being left out in formal teaching of English, spellings is still the norm. Then, there are comprehensions, cloze passages, oral, etc. If all these make the learning of English fun, then there must be no sadist in this world!

Mandarin language teachers were made the scapegoat when it was said that their style of teaching is a contributing cause to the disinterest shown by the students. Sigh, poor teachers whose only 'crime' is to try their best to teach the language. It is true that some of the teachers are over-zealous, but I know for a fact that such 'tactics' are not only confine to Mandarin language teachers. I am sure there are an equal number (if not more) of Science teachers and Maths teachers, and not to 'alienate' the English teachers, who have done the same thing to their students. And what 'crime' am I talking about? Of course the scolding and the 'criticisms' that are leveled at our poor kids, who had tried their best and still have no clue as to what the fuss is all about when they had gotten that B instead of A or Band 2 instead of Band 1. Unfortunately, the criticism does not stop in school, but is continued back home. And yet, the child still continues to learn English, Science and Maths.

Immersion program was quoted as being useful as it rekindled the interest of one of the panelist in the learning of Mandarin. Another participant even said that MOE should let all students to have immersion program where they can study for a week in China's school. I am surprise that in the study of English, our children need not go to England for immersion programs and yet they can sit through hours of English classes and tuition at home. Furthermore, a one week program will just turn out to be just another tour. There are many opportunities to learn Mandarin here at home, if only one is interested. For a minimal fee, one can learn Mandarin through the many Mandarin dramas and game shows on offer by TCS8 and Channel U. If that is not enough, there are always the numerous radio stations out there. And this type of immersions and 'encouragement' can be carried out throughout the year, nearly free of charge!

Given the above scenarios, it seems that whatever difficulty faced by the child in learning Mandarin, is not much different from that encountered in the learning of English. The obstacles are the same, but the outcome is different. Why is this so?

It was said that Singaporeans lack a cultural identity and hence it is difficult to learn the language. This remark seemed rather strange to me as given the so called lack of culture why does one choose English and not Mandarin (in the case of Chinese) as the 'mother' tongue? Wouldn't Mandarin be more natural choice because even if one lacks the culture, there is the name and the skin colour to remind one of ones culture? What is there about us, Asians, that make us more culturally nearer to the Caucasians? So this argument does not hold.

I have no answer to this problem. However my perception of the problem can be summarised by the following questions.

Why is it that people will speak in broken English and yet will not do the same in Mandarin?
Why is it that a child's first book will be in English and not in Mandarin?

Maybe my previous blog will provide the answer.....