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How would Prof Arguelles advise? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5840 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 1 of 8 05 December 2011 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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* Disclaimer: This is not a bashing thread. Rather, this is a thread which I hope to
have the views of language learners in determining what should have done better in the implementation of language policies. For a small economy like Singapore, the success of language policy can determine the survival of the country. Former Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, had taken some language policies that enable Singapore to survive at the expense of the language abilities of his people. The following introduces his newest book which explains and defends the decision taken. Recently, former Prime Minister of Singapore Mr Lee Kuan Yew has wrote a book titled ” My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey” to explain the language policies he have taken in the early years of Singapore’s independence. The book highlighted several controversy decisions such as:
The problems mentioned above are not only found in Singapore; these problems are also found in many countries where different groups of people are artificially placed together in a country, such as most African nations. It is worth to discuss the success, the failure , the benefits and the costs for implementing language policies which try to balance the different ethic groups and beneficial for the wellbeing of the country at the same time. In addition, there are some articles I found which speak about the development of languages in Singapore. Here is an extract about the Tamil language in Singapore:
Here is an extract from the Wikipedia, which tells about the practical implementation in schools, as well as the problem the children are facing under these policies:
With the big picture about the issues, the challenges, the problems and the side effects of the current language policy in Singapore well understood, how would you as language learners, would improve the policy? If you were Prof Arguelles, how would you advice Prime Minister Lee to achieve bilingualism in the population, without the nasty side effects or back firing ? For those of you who want to read more: here are the links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L anguages_of_Singapore 311621.html">http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/New%2 BMarket/Story/A1Story2011112 0-311621.html http://ccat.sas.upenn.ed u/~haroldfs/public/implement.html [URL=http://www.sph.com.sg/pradmin/upload/kfcFzfff_LKY%20bil ingual%20book%20summary.pdf ]http://www.sph.com.sg/pradmin/upload/kfcFzfff_LKY%20bilingu al%20book%20summary.pdf[/UR L] Edited by Fasulye on 06 December 2011 at 12:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6567 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 3 of 8 06 December 2011 at 6:53am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It really is a tricky situation, and not an easy one to advise. I'd never advise trying to eradicate a handful of languages and tell people their mother tongue is this foreign language they've never spoken before. I find that pretty terrible. But I can of course see the advantage from an economical standpoint.
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| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6535 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 4 of 8 06 December 2011 at 7:31am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Sorry to nitpick, but this mistake is so common on this forum it really drives me crazy. "Advice" is a noun. "To advise" is the verb. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6660 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 5 of 8 06 December 2011 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thank you. I wasn't aware of this... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5415 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 6 of 8 06 December 2011 at 2:38pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I have no clue about what Prof Arguelles would say, but I do think that one should look at the true national lingua franca of Singapore, Singlish. This is anathema to government officials and the upper classes. But this is the language that nearly all Singaporeans speak. I suggest that everybody have a look at the article on Singlish in Wikipedia. Singlish
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| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5840 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 7 of 8 06 December 2011 at 5:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The government has been trying to eradicate Singlish for many years, citing the reason that Singapore cannot develop her variety of English as the population of Singapore is too small. "Singapore is unlike the US where there are 300 million speakers of American English and is a great power. Therefore, if we develop our variety of English, nobody will understand us and nobody will trade with us. Our economy will suffer as a result." The government has been encouraging the use of "good" English though campaigns such as the "Speak good English" movement to discourage the use of Singlish. Here is the website of "Speak good English" movement: http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5158 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 8 of 8 06 December 2011 at 8:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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To be fair, people generally accept and recognize Singlish to be a language of low
prestige. Although that may be a direct result of the government tirelessly drumming it into their heads. Instead of celebrating it as something to be truly proud of, something that is "Uniquely Singaporean" (aside from Manglish), people are constantly told that it is crass and boorish and speaking it would be a sin unbefitting of an upright citizen (I exaggerate... a little). PS: Why is unbefitting highlighted?? The word's legit. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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