Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Blessing of Being Bilingual

Now and then, I am reminded of how blessed and privileged I am to come from a country that advocates and practises bilingualism.

While waiting with Beth for her Chinese class to start, I struck up a conversation with 2 ladies who were standing around looking like they were waiting to speak with the teacher. They were from China. One lady is from Fujian, and the other hails from Beijing. The latter is a new teacher at the school.

They asked where I come from and when I said 新加坡 (Singapore in Mandarin), the Beijing lady immediately exclaimed in Mandarin, "How fortunate for you! You have no problem adapting to life in Australia because Singaporeans can speak English."

It is a comment I have heard on several occasions, and it makes me feel proud to declare that I come from a country whose leaders had the foresight and wisdom to insist on English as our working language and our respective ethnic tongues as a second language.

Because of this policy, I can communicate comfortably with Chinese-speaking locals and even function informally as an interpreter when the need arises.

And of course, being fluent in English has played some part in helping our family integrate quickly into our community.

A recent news article noted that languages other than English have traditionally not received much attention in Aussie schools, with the sad result being a lack of appreciation and understanding of other cultures.

Hopefully, with a Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister in power, there will be a positive shift in policy towards embracing the inherent cultural diversity of Australia.

3 comments:

Clarence said...

Hi,

I am a fellow Singaporean living near Werribee and looking for places that teach Chinese to school kids (my child is missing out on CL2 here). Please let me know the details of the Chinese school your child is going too. Thank you!

ShanMing 善明 said...

Hi Clarence

My child goes to the Chinese school run by the Werribee Chinese Association. It's held every Sat during school term from 1 pm to 3.45 pm at Glen Orden Pri Sch on Kookaburra Ave. The teachers are mostly from China.

Why don't you and your child swing by on a Sat and see if it's what you're looking for?

Cheers, Serena

Clarence said...

Hi Serena,

I will do just that!

Thank you so much!

Your blog has been very fun to read.