The Learning of Languages (Part 3)

One way out of this conundrum is to of course have two reference languages. It is true that children, under the age of 5, are capable of learning multiple languages easily. In fact, if the child is not exposed to languages with "foreign" sounds early, it is possible that the child will never be able to pronounce the words of the other language like a local - eg Japanese struggle with "v"s and "d"s for it is alien in Japanese; English speakers cannot pronounce "r"s in French or guttural Arabic words because they are alien to English.

A child can have two or more reference languages if, and only if, one or both parents use both langages with equal frequency. If the parents have a preferred language, so will the child. There are just too many examples of this. Not many parents in Singapore can speak both languages with equal fluency.

We must then admit that by and large, it is difficult to teach Mandarin to children whose first language is English. It is not about effort or motivation. [Of course, there will be children who are gifted. But any education system cannot be based on the exception but the norm. We can allow the exceptions to embark on a different track - Higher Chinese.] Because it is difficult, it requires enthusiasm and motivation from the learner, and it requires time and patience from the teachers and the education system. The Singapore system needs to change its teaching methods. The drilling for exams, the railroad speed in which we advance the students, must give way to something which the children can cling on too. The sole focus to pass exams takes away the real purpose of language teaching - to allow students to use the language as a living language in the future. There is enough anecdotal evidence to know that in spite of many people who go through 12 years in the Singapore education system, coupled with countless hours of tuition, who pass O levels and A levels Chinese, simply cannot speak the language. This must count as the height of folly and a large waste of resources.

The traditional way of teaching Chinese is for Chinese people who use Mandarin as a reference language : you memorize long lists of uncommon words, proverbs or poetry. You read about ancient stories, legends etc. You commit to memory passages and learn to read, write and speak all at the same time. Of course, Singapore has moderated on these teaching methods. But if the teacher comes from China, then it is also likely that he or she will bring along this method. After all, it worked in his or her country.

I believe that there is a better way. I taught myself to speak two languages, including Mandarin, and I can converse with any native user of the language with ease. And yes, I do have a "foreign" accent which will never leave me. But who cares? I speak it. This is the purpose of learning a language. Moreover, I want to improve.

These are my beliefs. I believe languages are learnt in sequence, like the way our parents taught us how to speak. Words, then sentences. Speech, then reading followed by writing. The first phase for any learner - at any age - is the acquisition of vocabulary and the verbalisation (ie pronounciation) of single words. Once a student has acquired about 1200 to 1500 words, an epiphany will dawn and the student will pass the initial hurdle of the language being alien. Suddenly, he can listen to conversations. He has formed a foundation.

This is where he moves on to sentence construction and grammar rules. This is learnt best not through "complete the sentences" exercises, but through watching and hearing live conversations using tapes, TV, radio, and listening to people, and then letting the learner infer through listening what is right and what is not. Learning is enhanced when the student is actually interested in the topics presented. It is far better when the topics are cool and interesting. We should ditch ancient legends and asinine Aesop fables for topics that are fun.

Real learning of a language takes off when a child reaches adolescence. There is educational proof that children learn a second language better once they are grounded in their reference language and have a base in the second. So I would very much, for younger students, focus on speech, have some reading but really limited writing and make Chinese really fun. The success of a Chinese program in primary school is good vocablulary, some speech, and the feeling that Mandarin is really useful.

So for my exams, I would take my primary six students to a supermarket. If I could bring them to Taiwan or China, I would. I would give them a shopping list with items written in Mandarin and ask them to pick out those items. They would have to go spaek to the sales lady and clarify whether the items were on sale, and whether they could pay with a NETS or cash. The items need not be easy, and I could have 50 on the list. They could ask a salesperson for help to find an item. And the cashier would have to interact with them as well. If they walk out of the supermarket with the 50 items, they pass with distinction. No writing of essays at 12 years old.

The Learning of Languages (Part 2)

Singapore's problem lies in the fact that more and more people use English as their first language. The first language functions as a reference language. Much has been said about the Swiss and Dutch people being linguists. But the languages that they learn are all closely linked to their first or reference language. European languages in general (Greek and Russian excepted) all share the same latin alphabets, and the same latin roots. This makes the learning of multiple languages much easier.

But when the reference language is not linked, the learning is much harder. English and Mandarin is a perfect example. English is phonetic. Mandarin is character based. English is an atonal language. Mandarin has four tones. A student learning to read English is taught to pronounce words through verbalising consonents and vowels of the alphabet. A student learning Chinese has no choice but to commit the meaning of the word and sound to memory. You can read an English word even if you do not understand the meaning. You cannot read a Chinese word unless you know the character. Moreover, a Chinese character can have multiple pronounciations, and when combined with another character, can have multiple meanings. Mandarin requires a lot more memory work.

Chinese is an exceptionally difficult language for an English speaker to learn. The US Department of Defense uses a Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB)to test an individual's potential to learn a foreign language. Only students with the highest scores are deemed capable of learning Chinese. Chinese is grouped together with Arabic, Japanese and Korean as a Category IV language - languages which are the hardest for an English speaker to learn.

With more and more households in Singapore using English as their primary language, is it surprising that Singaporeans are struggling to learn Mandarin? Moreover with English still the dominant language in our world today, students who are disillusioned with Chinese simply give up.

If this is the root of the problem, then a radically different approach may be needed to make a nation that is increasingly speaking English at home, raise children that are comfortable using Mandarin.

The Learning of Languages (Part 1)

When Lee Kuan Yew weighed in recently to encourage the learning of Mandarin in Singapore, it was a reflection that the majority ethnic Chinese nation was still struggling with the use of Mandarin.

The intention to make many in the nation conversant with Mandarin is a correct one. Mandarin will be one of the two most important languages of the 21st century. Having a mastery of it will put the nation in a far advantageous position.

But why are Singaporeans doing so poorly in a language that it is surely predisposed to do well in? Well, Singapore is not the only country that has struggled to promote a second language. Japan and Taiwan have tried for years to promote English as a second language. 20 years on, both countries still rank bottom three in the English literacy scale in Asia. Japan and Taiwan relied very much on local teachers to teach a foreign language. This churned out a generation of students with sub standard pronounciation, limited vocabulary and poor grammar. Moreover, there was no real downside for doing badly in the language in school.

Singapore took a different path. It hired teachers from China. In addition, it made the language count for a substantial part of the primary school leaving examination and a prerequisite to enter University. The formula of using native teachers and having large incentives were coupled with lots of urging from Lee Kuan Yew, access to Chinese TV and books, a strong speak Mandarin campaign and the discouragement in the use of dialects. The booming Chinese tuition industry show that Singaporeans get the importance of Mandarin. So Singaporeans get it.

And yet the nation struggles. What's going on?

After so much effort, surely we must have got something wrong in the formula. I believe it is time to consider carefully that perhaps the inability of younger Singaporeans to learn Mandarin as a functional language has more to do with the education system than with incentives or distractions of learning the language. The manner in which Mandarin is taught I believe has the unfortunate effect of losing many early on, making many students believe that they cannot master the language, and making many plod on and hate the language as a result.

Postscript : On 11 May 2009, a half page article was published in the Straits Times announcing that Taiwan was setting up English villages to promote the speaking of English. To be accurate, I cite some of the rankings I alluded to above. Taiwan was 12th in 2007 in terms of average Toefl scores. It was in the bottom three for the International English Language Testing system. It was 18 out of 20 Asian countries subscribing to the test in 2007.