Battle with Mandarin...

I am a Singaporean Chinese and I learn Mandarin from young. I studied in a reputable Chinese primary and secondary school but I am not proud to say I am barely proficient in Mandarin. While other major subjects had been a breeze, Mandarin was my most nightmarish subject. I practically had recurring nightmares even in my adult working days - the scene of examinations setting and I couldn't find the words to begin my chinese essay; instead, I was peeling my nails throughout and handed in a blank sheet! Surprisingly I scored an A1 in national level Standard Chinese examinations and was delighted to be a B3 student in national level Higher Chinese examinations. The bonus was I liberated myself of Chinese lessons ever since! While most of my college mates had their due of weekly Chinese lessons and assignments, I could idle away ;p

Apparently I do not possess a flair for languages. As years passed in the real world of interaction with people of diverse backgrounds, as well as my curiosity of cultures and places, I became motivated to learn new languages. But still, polishing up my Mandarin wasn't on my to-do list. Somehow I wasn't charmed to re-learn Mandarin, perhaps due to the nightmares as well as my personal experiences with Chinese related incidents which had not been very pleasant? When my kids started to attend primary school, I was once again forced to acquaint myself with Mandarin, in my feeble attempt to help them. The Chinese standard in my kids' era has been way elevated beyond my time, thus I am rendered totally useless in any assistance to their learning. 

Mandarin language thus became a bone of contention between myself and Singapore education system. The schools place a high priority and standard to learning of Mandarin. However, having gone through the learning process myself, I realised that if a child is not brought up in a natural environment whereby the language is spoken and used at home nor in his social circle, it becomes a pain to learn a language if the child is not passionate about it. If the Chinese teachers in schools fail to inspire the child, that almost spells doom. Thus, it falls upon the parents' responsibilities to boost the child's interest. I have to resort to external help of a tuition teacher to brush up my kids' Mandarin, but the once weekly lessons are hardly enough. 

I am certainly not a Tiger Mom; for me, it is enough that the kids are equipped in basic Mandarin as a foundation. I will not go to lengths stressing my kids to excel in Mandarin, killing their joy of learning a language and their childhood. Eventually as they grow and learn to carve a role for themselves in society and if Mandarin proves to be essential in their life, they will naturally be motivated to polish up their Mandarin, and they will easily pick it up given their foundation in Mandarin, as depicted in my own life... Now that I have discovered a Chinese writer cum illustrator (幾米) that captivates me, I am fired up to polish up my Mandarin again! I shared 幾米's pieces with my daughter, she loves the humor and animated drawings too! Hopefully it'll inspire her to read more Chinese books :-)

For those who are new to 幾米，here's a peep at his 作品. This was the first piece I read and was so tickled by it, not to mention my girl. So tickled that I had to poke the character :-)