DPM Teo Chee Hean at the Speak Mandarin Campaign Official Launch 2016

傅海燕部长

陈振泉政务部长

Associate Professor Muhammad Faisal Ibrahim

Madam Rahayu Mahzam

推广华语理事会主席萧作鸣先生

女士们、先生们，大家下午好！

分享我讲华语的经验

讲华语运动的标语是“华文华语，多用就可以”。今天，我来主持运动的开幕，又给我多一个讲华语的机会！

我想和大家分享我学华语的经验。

在六十年代，我在小学一二年级学英语、马来语和华语。三年级那年，新加坡加入马来西亚。选择第二语文时，父母认为我应该学马来语。但是，他们也认识到学华语是重要的。所以安排表姐教我华语，直到中学。因为不是正式的课程，我不是很认真学习，所以华语基础不太好。

过后，我也不常用华文华语。在20多年前，我从政以后，决定努力提高华语能力。在老师的帮助下，我重新学华语。虽然基础不太好，但是还是有一点帮助。我厚着脸皮讲华语。身边的人也帮我改正错误，让我的华语慢慢进步。

加强新加坡的双语

新加坡的语言环境相当复杂。我们有四种官方语言。年长国人多数讲自己的母语。华族乐龄人士习惯讲方言。虽然现在大多数国人在家用英语，很多年轻家长都有一些双语基础， 多少能帮助孩子学华语，从小打好华语的基础。这是很重要的。

长大后就能根据需要，提高水平。例如：和年长者谈天、或到中国和讲华语的地区工作。 在原有的基础上，提高华语水平，就容易多了。

刀越磨越利

For those of us who are less comfortable using the Chinese language, I would encourage the following approach: Build a basic foundation when young, as this allows you to build up proficiency later on in life more easily. In line with the slogan for the Speak Mandarin Campaign, the more you use Mandarin, the better you get. So don’t be shy, keep trying, and as my experience has shown, you will get better. While I may not have reached the stage of “华文华语多用就可以”, I would certainly say “多用才可以” (one can only get better with practice)!

[对于不太习惯使用华文华语的人，我鼓励大家趁年轻打好华文华语的基础，往后需要提高水平就容易多了。讲华语运动的标语是 “华文华语多用就可以”，只要大家不断尝试，你也会像我一样不断进步。虽然我还没有达到 “华文华语多用就可以” 的阶段，我勉励自己 “华文华语多用才可以”！]

谢谢大家
 

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[English Translation]

Minister Grace Fu

Minister of State Sam Tan

Associate Professor Muhammad Faisal Ibrahim

Madam Rahayu Mahzam

Chairman of the Promote Mandarin Council
Mr Seow Choke Meng

Ladies and gentlemen

Good afternoon.

My own experience in speaking Mandarin

The slogan for the Speak Mandarin Campaign is “Mandarin Gets Better With Use”. Officiating the launch of this year’s campaign has given me another opportunity to use my Mandarin. Let me share my own experience of learning the Chinese language. 

In the 1960s when I went to school, I studied English, Malay and Chinese in Primary 1 and Primary 2. When I was in Primary 3, Singapore became part of Malaysia. When we were asked to choose the second language to learn, my parents decided that I should learn Malay. 

However, they also appreciated the importance of learning Chinese. So they arranged for my cousin to teach me Chinese until I was in secondary school. These were informal lessons, which I did not take very seriously. So I only had a very basic foundation in Chinese. 

After that, I did not often use Chinese. When I went into politics more than twenty years ago. I decided to put in effort to improve my Chinese. It helped that I had some foundation, even though not a very solid one. This allowed me to pick up the language again more easily, with the help of my teachers. 

Also, my skin was thick enough that I was prepared to try conversing in Mandarin, even though I would make mistakes frequently. The people around me were kind enough to correct my mistakes, and that helped me to improve over the years. 

Strengthening bilingualism in Singapore

Our language environment in Singapore is quite complex. We have four official languages. Older Singaporeans are generally more comfortable in their mother tongue, and older Chinese are used to speaking dialects. 

Even though a larger proportion of households are now using English as the main language at home, most young parents today have some foundation in two languages, and are better equipped linguistically to help their children learn and use Mandarin. Building a foundation in the language from young is important because it will allow you to build up proficiency to the level that you choose, later in life. Whether you use it in casual conversation, speaking to older people, or if you work business in China and the Chinese-speaking region, it is much easier to build on the existing foundation to improve your language ability.  

The more you use, the better you get

For those of us who are less comfortable using the Chinese language, I would encourage the following approach: Build a basic foundation when young, as this allows you to build up proficiency later on in life more easily. In line with the slogan for the Speak Mandarin Campaign, the more you use Mandarin, the better you get. So don’t be shy, keep trying, and as my experience has shown, you will get better. While I may not have reached the stage of “华文华语多用就可以” (Mandarin Gets Better with Use), I would certainly say “多用才可以” (one can only get better with practice)!

Thank you very much.