Recently I read a book and watched a DVD on our MM Lee learnt Mandarin experience (see photos). No one will deny that MM Lee was a life long learner. At his age, he is still reading and learning.
I enjoyed reading the book and watching the DVD. The book was professionally produced. However, I have two points to contribute if there is reproduction of the DVD:
- to indicate the duration for each segment of his interviews
- to show the sub-title of the speech
The sprite of continuous improvement.
3 comments:
MM Lee has great forsight and being educated in English completed his studies in UK, he instinctively knows the importance of the English Language, and champions the use of English as a working language for Singapore, which now become the centre of learning in the far East attracting students from many countries. At the same time he predicts the rise of China, hence avocates the study of Chinese, pushing hard on speaking mandarin which has a unifying factor among the various Chinese groups. However the setback is the decline usuage of dialects which are slowly dying and may even become extinct in the not too distant future. Many youngsters nowadays do not know how to speak their own mother tongue which is very regretable. This means that the Chinese in Singapore may lose their roots.
Dear Zen,
Thanks for your comments. In my opinion, after knowing how to speak, the next two steps are to read and write.
Regards
PSK
You are right we should learn to speak and write and the education ministry knows this very well. Isn't our education right from K1 to university teaches our children or even ourselves, how to read and write these two important languages? setting aside the proficiency of the learners. But for men in street, especially those not very well educated, short of time or lack of interest, just learning to speak these two working languages is by itself commendable.
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