Singaporean chinese proficiency has a history to trace back. My family of 3 generations is a classic example. My grand parents are from china, both of them can't speak mandarin and can only speak their dialect teochew. At that era, mandarin is view as an official language used in beijing , not an absolute must learn for people living in the countryside. Moving on my grand parents settled in singapore around 1930s and have children (my uncles dad and aunts). At that time, there was chinese school where teaching is done in chinese. My parents generation can speak both dialect and chinese well. Sometimes also melayu as singapore was close to malaysia and subsequently was part of the federal of malaysia. Ard 1965 when independence came, Lee kuan Yew the then minister of singapore make a shift in education policy, all chinese schools ceased and every one have to learn english. So my uncle was the one impacted he went to mainstream school that teaches in english. Naturally he was more proficient in english. So he speaks in english more. His chinese was avg. As his friends too were more of english speakers. But he maintained his proficiency in dialect as teochew is spoken at home. My other uncles and my dad who went to the chinese school can't speak too much of english. Then moving to my generation, 80s borned, this is where it got divided. My dad still speak chinese and teochew at home, i learnt chinese this way and speaks chinese too. However my uncle children can speak english only as he speaks english at home with his wife of sinilar background. Chinese is still taught in school, but without practising, its not easy to learn. I have friends of similar background we nicknamed them ang moh kang dang (caucasian potato). Chiding their westernised lingustic ability and losing asian roots. Then now our next generation, most of the young children have below avg chinese as parents speaks to them in english only mode. They also can't speak dialect as this is not spoken at home. With the emergence of china in 2000s, suddenly the world went crazy on learning chinese. Parents start sending children to specialised language school to learn. However, chinese is probably a language that need daily practise. Children probably can speak but not in depth. Government had also realises this issue and start encourage parents to speak chinese at home. Hope this sharing enlightens on why chinese in singapore can't speak chinese.
More young kids especially in Shanghai or Shenzhen can only speak mandarin for their parents are not native from Shanghai or Shenzhen but work/settle dowm there. AThough their parents speak their dialect of their hometown, their children cannot get enough places to speak dialect except at home. But proficiency needs practice. This is quite alike genarations who are settled dowm in Singapore or Malaysia.
@@mk13570 没有必要吹啊。生活在多远种族环境里，学会说多种语言和方言是很正常的事。我没说我精通很多语言。但会一点是事实。我从小就在语言方面学的特别快。你自己或许做不到不代表别人都和你一样。我只是想说不要以为街上访问几个人就可以当作结论。If you don't believe, that's your problem. There's no need for me to convince you.
It could be quite confusing for some foreigners, so I want to explain a little bit here: There are different Chinese dialects (more than 200 according to Accredited Language.com) spoken by Chinese people around the world, like Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin. Hence "Chinese" itself is not a dialect. When people say "speak Chinese", it normally refers to "speak Mandarin" , which is the most common Chinese dialect. I feel like it is not really the case for a lot of other languages. They might have 1 or 2 dialects, but not more than 200. My god.
@@ceciLOVEtaco So ridiculous man! I would suggest u getting some Chinese coachings before ur next comment due to your terrible understanding of Chinese!
我是新加坡人。。我会说英文和中文。。读和写都没问题。我个人认为华人说自己不会中文，其实是一种借口，是不求上进的表现。我听得懂潮州，福建话，粤语。现在还在学习粤语，马来语。 要我打繁體字都不是問題。主要看想不想學。我坦白說一句，大多新加坡人中文不強，英文也勉強可以。這是我的觀察。 有時後我看到這類的訪問，感到很羞愧。因為說的是 Singlish，中文也實在太差。 To be honest, I’m not proud to be a singaporean. We are not good in either language. But our ego is sky-high and most refuse to improve. They are just happy to speak Singlish and unwilling to learn Chinese. It’s a disgrace.
In 1979, I believe it was actually a speak "Mandarin" campaign in Singapore. It was intended to encourage people to speak Mandarin rather than other Chinese dialects. It had nothing to do with promoting speaking Chinese (rather than English).
Singapore is a country where the people code-switch and code-mix as a way of life. You instantenously code switch amongst people of different ethnkcities in a conversation and code-mix when having a conversation with your parents and foreign friends together. It is done so effortlessly to the point where a new dialect, Singlsh, was created.
I’m a Chinese studying in Korea and I got a Malaysia friend usually we talked in Chinese but she’s so “southern “ accent hhhh though we get along well with each❤️
@@fromoncetotwice not really.Its common knowledge that the Beijing Mandarin is the most standard and refined of all the accents not your southern accent..
@@fromoncetotwice keep being in denial lmao.Most countries don't even recognize your little Taiwan.Plus the whiny taiwanese accent makes your guys sound effeminate and gay like you little boy😂
I have some Singaporean friends in school and we are all Chinese can speak mandarin. Most of the time we still speak English:) sometimes they use some non-English words but I still can get it coz I’m from 潮州. So it’s so fun sometimes when talking w them since we kinda share the language system. We can switch between English Chinese Cantonese and 潮州話 in a conversation which’s fun😝
My former college mate when I was in Kuala Lumpur tried to order "Char Kuey Teow" in his newly-learnt cantonese, he asked for "炒果條"，the hawker asked him back “炒邊條啊？”
In fact , mandarin language in Malaysia and Singapore were less emphasis also it able give up learn madarin in high school . When I was 16 in 2019 , some elite classes were started give up learn mandarin and the teachers asked them why they give up to countinue learn mandarin , those student said mandarin was hard to master it so they decided to stop learn mandarin . When I heard , I started have same thoughts to give up learn mandarin language 其实在马来西亚和新加坡对华语没那么重视甚至可以在中学放弃学华语。当我16岁在2019年的时候很多“前面班”的学生开始放弃学华文当然华语老师都有问他们为什么放弃学华语，他们说华语太难不想学。这让我感到惊讶连我都有想放弃学华语的想法
Well, he didn't speak to enough parties. 我敢直言我是土生土长的道地新加坡人群，精通英语和华语but I do know Chinese language is deemed as hard to learn among the young generation and I must say Chinese is indeed the hardest to grasp, with all the different pitches, han yu pin yjn and not to mention the strokes. With a stroke, it could mean the world of a difference in a word. So for those who truly mastered the language in both written and spoken, we ought to be proud .
What an unusual and wonderful video about Singapore! This is so much better than the usual touristy videos that foreigners make about Singapore. I love it! Regarding what we speak in Singapore. I think we speak English by default because, firstly, we all had at least ten years of education in English. Secondly, we do not presume that you understand and speak Mandarin just because you look ethically Chinese. And lastly, for some of us, our English is really much better than our Mandarin. Regarding urban planning. If you are interested, there are galleries / museums in Singapore that are dedicated to documenting the history of urban development and planning in Singapore. You can check out the Singapore City Gallery at the Urban Development Board, the HDB Gallery, and Singapore Mobility Gallery at the Land Transport Authority. Hope you enjoy them!
A little explanation of the historical preference of using 华 instead of 中 to describe the language. It all come down to how the previous generations of chinese identify themselves in Singapore. The chinese simply identify themselves as 华人 therefore it become natural to use 华 to describe the language aka 华文. 中文 has a loose relationship with the word 中国人. Chinese as a language has always been a somewhat relationship based where words are made based on other words. For example 淼 which made up of 3 水 has a meaning related to water.
The Malaysian student was wrong to say English is not important in Malaysia. People in big cities such as KL tend to use English more like in Singapore but they also have good command of their mother tongue. Moreover, majority private companies and also our Universities (both public and private) use English as the language of instruction!
Im a quadlingual.....sometimes I felt stuck to switch to other language in an instant. Moreover I will find it difficult to get my speech fully adhere into 1 single language. I tend to use other language to substitute once I found myself unable to pronounce it correctly .
My personal view is that some people can still joke around and act proud when they can't speak Chinese I don't mean the minority who are really trying to improve even foreigners speak more fluent mandarin as I saw from several international variety programs it's a matter of whether your willing to learn. I feel that speaking your own mother tongue or dialect with family and relatives, while speaking English with acquaintances is a good balance
My bf was born and raised in Singapore and he can speak mandarine super fluently although with broken grammar and weird wording (after he met me tho). I guess i fell for him for both his English accent and mandarin accent the first time we met lol
Hey Torres, next time when you visit Singapore, could you also come in to Malaysia, Johor Bahru, just need to cross a bridge haha, and also do a fans meeting when you come in XD
Like I ever worked part time at a Chinese restaurant in Melbourne before being a multi language candidate you have to instant response to Cantonese speakers, mandarin and sometimes hokkien/minan speakers, and of course English. Sometimes feel like your brain mixed up with too much information because you just take orders with different language and you have to change to another language again, so sometimes I would rather just speak in English.
Hi from Singapore 😬 I speak both English and Chinese at home. I speak English to my siblings while Mix of English and Chinese to my parents. To be honest, most Singaporeans speak more English which to be honest isn't a very good thing as the mother tongue is being forgotten... 嗨 😅 我也是新加坡人。从小只在学校学母语，在家里用英文比较多。我是还能写与读华文字但不是每一个字 😬 很多新加坡华侨是比较喜欢用英文沟通，所以很多人是少用中文
The Fried Oyster Omelette from the 47 stall at Newton Circle Hawker but Char Kueh Tiaw have better else where. Do check it out Airport Road Hawker for their Cendol, Wanton Mee, Char Kueh Tiaw and many many nice local food.
The speak Chinese campaign was to encourage them to speak Mandarin instead of Chinese dialects, but English has always been the language that the government pushes as the elitists’ language.
The Speak Mandarin Campaign wasn’t to encourage Chinese Singaporeans to speak Mandarin in and of itself, it was to dilute the use of other Chinese dialects (like Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, etc.) and promote the use of Mandarin instead because it’s more economically strategic (for ties/trade with China, Taiwan etc.). To be globally intelligible was a primary aim of the state’s language policy, hence having English as the medium of instruction (and lingua franca) and preference of Mandarin OVER dialects.
过去的70年间，教育的普及度，科目的比重，升学选科的多元性，门槛的标准，家长对教育费负担的程度等等，都一直在改变当中。因此，要在众多不同背景的华人里，整理出代表性的论点，的确不容易。佩服选择这个专题的勇气，表示作者对新加坡华文教育的变迁，十分的有把握。For the past 70 years，affordability and widespread of local education, the dosage and combinations of subjects in school, increased options and entry prerequisites for further educations have been changing and moving the choice of educational paths in this tiny island, which encompasses that of the Chinese language. Those who have studied Chinese, may or may not be ethically Chinese, all have a diversified educational background and needs for the language, which results in the different proficiency levels of the Chinese language. Hence, the courage to pick this topic for discussion is highly admirable as it reflects the deep understanding of the ever-changing educational landscape in the tiny red dot that the author has possessed!
Thanks for sharing. 当两个新加坡华人碰面时 (尤其较多出现的情况是年轻人)，通常会以英语沟通比较多。但若两个马来西亚华人碰面时，他们一般是会用华语或方言而几乎不会或很少会以英语来沟通的（这也是其中一个可以很容易分别出来到底他们是马来西亚华人或新加坡华人的方法之一）。至于为什么会这样呢？我想其中一个可能的原因是因为马来西亚的华人在面对自己华人文化和语言上会带有较明显或强烈的文化使命感。相信我们都知道在马来西亚过去的政治上，华人一直有面对被不公平对待，被边缘化及被忽略的经历。若不是有许多热爱华教和捍卫华人文化的领袖们和人民经过不断奋斗和努力争取的话，我想今天的马来西亚很可能就已经变成了另一个印尼，也就是华人和华人文化已经被完全同化了。这是一件很可怕和可惜的事情。也因此，我们看见马来西亚的华人在保存自己文化传统和语言方面一般会比新加坡的华人特别是年轻一代的在态度上会有所不同。简单来说就是，因马来西亚政治历史过去政府对华人采取各种不利的政策而产生了所谓的民族文化【危机感】。既然知道自己能拥有今天的一切其实是得来非常不易的，也因此就会更好好珍惜之而不会轻易放弃，想要好好去保护甚至有时想要去捍卫，而且会带有一种想要继续传承下去的一种意愿和使命感。而有关学习华文和讲华语（甚至包括华人的各种方言等）也就自自然然而成为了华人与华人之间彼此互相沟通甚至是传承给下一代使用的语言。除非双方或其中一方真的不会讲华语或方言而只会讲英语或马来语。要不然，一般上你是不会看到两个马来西亚华人在碰面时不讲华语或用华人方言来沟通的。这也就是为何在视频里面你所访问的那位马来西亚华人会和你说当马来西亚人一旦见到马来西亚人（指华人而言）时一定会“自动“switch to 讲华语就是这个原因。
haha, I studied Urban Planning in Singapore and worked as an Urban Planner in Hong Kong before. Will you still take UP as your career? or a full time youtuber ?
True. The first guy for example, says he has trouble speaking Chinese, though he speaks a heavy Chinese accented English with rather Chinese oriented grammar. What I find curious is how can you be fluent in a language if you speak a language mixed with many other languages? I still don't get it. I was in Singapore a few years ago and I had trouble understanding their English, and English is pretty much my native tongue as I grew up speaking both Mandarin and English in the States.
@@pashaw8380how can you be fluent in ''English'' language if you speak it mixed with many other languages? Well actually It is called Sing-lish , not English! 🤭🤭 BTW, nobody can speak 'Chinese' except speak Mandarin , or various Chinese dialects eg: Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, etc....
you are not alone, when i speak to people from UK, Australians, NZ.... I use british english accent for e.g can't = kant If I speak to canadians or americans I will speak american english e.g can't = kent if i speak to Taiwanese I will follow their accent and even their usual phrases, and when I speak Malay I will speak really like a Malay person. I will only use Malaysian Chinese accent when I am with my family and close friends. I would never do it when i am on camera because malaysian chinese accent is really sometimes ugly to your ear drums.
Most Malaysians I encountered working in Singapore can speak Mandarin but they can't read and write cause they never learn Mandarin in their school. I believe their school subjects are mostly taught in Bahasa Melayu...However I also had 2 colleagues from Ipoh Malaysia who can't speak a word of Mandarin. One can't even write his own name in Mandarin. LOL
@@appl2597 it depends, if they are English ed. they can't read and write, speak also not so fluent. If you met Chinese ed Malaysian-Chinese especially those from independent school, their Chinese level are better than you think. But the level of their English will be low as Mandarin are first language in school. I believe the one you met are either English ed. or from government school.
well as a Malaysian I detest singaporean CKT, really crap, because they mix yellow noodles INTO the kuey tiao (flat rice noodle) which to me, its ABOMINATION.
